So Why a Moth?

Cuz they’re cool, that’s why!

But I suppose there is a bit more too it than that. I have never sailed a moth. But I have been sailing since forever and did a lot of windsurfing when I was younger. I purchased my first real boat in 1999, a penultimate International 14. It took me years to really get a handle on how to sail a high performance boat. I sailed the I14 at the Worlds in Long Beach in 2006 and had a blast. We did fairly well considering we had the oldest boat in the fleet and were not up the current rules standards.

In 2007 we had a little baby girl Megan. She is probably the cutest little girl ever, but it became really clear that Megan was not going to be sailing an I14 for a very long time. We also have a SanJuan 21 for a family/class racing boat, so the I14 sailing became pretty questionable and the concept of having a small one person super-high performance boat became really appealing. The Moth was the natural fit.

So why build a moth. Well, several reasons. First, cuz it’s going to be way cheaper than buying one. Secondly, cuz I can. I’ve done a lot of work with epoxy and carbon over the years and my background as a civil engineer gives me a pretty good handle on the structural part. Also, I have collected several sets of random carbon tubes which are the exact right sizes to build the racks, for a savings of $1000 or more. Building a boat from nothing is pretty appealing to me. It should be a great learning experience and is great for your sailing cred.

Next time, the design.