Moth on Foils Wins Aussie Nationals!

In a simply historic development Rohan Veal has won the Australian Nationals sailing on hydrofoils with incredible margins(up to 9 minutes!) over 30 something (I think) other Moths.
This is the first time in history that a development class Nationals has ever been won on hydrofoils and is a tribute to all hydrofoil pioneers especially Rohan Veal for exceptional sailing and John Ilett for exception foils!
It is the contention of most in the foilng community that this historic first will usher in a rebirth of the Moth Class; great interest has been shown in Moth foilers from all over the world. One dark cloud remains and that is whether or not the Retro Dudes can succeed in voting the foils out of the Moth Class-most of the "anti-foilers" HAVE NEVER EVEN SAILED A FOILER and yet are prepared to suppress the most significant development class breakthru of the last 50 years! Its happened before in the I14 class(though not necessarily permanently) when the class allowed t-foils but banned full flying foilers after much publicity on David Luggs incredible flying 14. Hopefully, these guys will not succeed in the Moth Class and development of a whole new way to sail can proceed.
Congratulations on making history Rohan!

See update below on Moth vote!(1/5/04)

[ErikG]

Yes Rohan seems to have been sailing very well and the foils probably helped too...

Unfortunately, as far as I can understand, not one other boat was a foiler and that is a bad sign of what might happen if the traditionalists get to decide.

I'm tinkering with a Moth design of my own at the moment. If anyone have info about the pocket luff sails and how the camber inducers attaches and works I would appreciate it a lot.

I have a couple of parent models that I'm working on at the moment, but I need to decide for what kind of windstrength to design it to... And it will be a foiler as well wich has it's own implications, but that's part of the fun ain't it?

Unfortunately there's only two or three other boats in Stockholm to race so we'll see how it works out (NO FOILERS YET).

Sheez I guess I'll be getting plenty wet in the water this year if I get it built!

Eric, at least one other boat was a foiler: John Ilett builder of the boat and foils wrote me this morning that in the race Rohan won by NINE minutes second was another foiler!!

[ErikG]

Yes, 9 mins is an awful lot in a Moth race!!!

But the larger the time difference between foliers and non foilers the more the traditionalists will "hate" them...

So I hope that John or someone else will build and sell foil sets reasonably cheap so that it won't be a financial issue.

Erik

I'm anxiously awaiting the results of the voting-either way it goes it will be of great significance.If the Retro Dudes win it will surely be a sad day but neither Rohan nor John think they will...

[SailDesign]

Speaking as a kind of "Retro Dude" myself, just not a Moth Retro Dude, I hope that those who wish to sail without foils can organise a sub-class for that, without detracting from the "original" rules that seem to allow foils.
So often a new invention or system has been allowed in, and has resulted in the class dying because the great majority are just not interested. Let's hope they can avoid this, as the Moth is/was a great class to begin with.
Steve

The foiler Moth guys I've talked to think this will spark new interest in the class-we'll see. A 14er I just talked to said the 14's voted to axe full flying foilers because they would kill the class; he said even though they did that the class continues to lose people. We won't know if foils would have made a positive difference in the 14 class but we may get to find out in the Moth Class.

Apparently, with two throwouts Rohan won 8 straight races on foils! Top speeds over 20mph!
Ana as of today 15/04 the Moth Class has voted to retain hydrofoils and not go the way of the I14 Class! This will insure continued development of foil
systems, increased speed and more "all roundedness".
But the big question is will it kill the class or cause it to be reborn? The 14ers said that approving full flying foilers would kill their class and voted to ban them. The Moths have chosen the other course---now all of us can stop speculating(in a little while) and we will be able to see it all unfold before our eyes. I think the Moth decision coming on the heels of Rohans incredible White Knuckle Express victory will lead to a huge resurgence in the Moth Class--we shall see....

i dont want to detract from the display of Rohan. but actually looking at the times on the aus moth website indicates that the largest wining margin was less than 8 minutes. over a race that took him 36minutes. its still phonomenal the speens wea re talking about here though.

Listen, we're just at the begininng: Rohans got his boat so that it will foil in 7kts. wind and go over 20. John Illet thinks the boat can do 30kts.! These monohull foilers(monofoilers) are new tech and bound to improve by leaps and bounds from now on.
Just found out in he new Seahorse that some guys in Australia have an 18 on foils!...

good going guys they look like alot of fun to sail. I live in canada and am looking for a sail boat in the next year or so. The moth has sparked interest and the video's that I have seen makes the boat look like even more fun.
Do you know of any one selling over here or could you ask around for me.
Thanks.

Hit the waves.......

[John ilett]

You could contact the US moth assoc http://www.mothboat.com or maybe UK mothie Nigel Oswald who has his modern moth in Sanfransico at nige@iointegration.com , or just import one.

[Stephen Ditmore]

Some of us in the New York area are getting interested, too. Richard Larson <rlarson6@mac.com> is taking on coordination.

To respond to Saildesign, we have two Moth classes here in the U.S. - the "Classic Moth" and the "Modern Moth." Both are development classes, but the Modern Moth class allows more radical innovation along the lines of the Aussies. Older boats in the Classic Moth class are eligable for a vintage trophy.... but development is active and encouraged in both the Classic and Modern groups.

Note also that the Europe Dinghy, now an Olympic one-design, is a Moth spinoff.