MIK,

Agree that it is really a step by step development, many people go unrecognised and unfortunately lots of good stuff gets lost along the way. What you say about the sea hugging skiffs Moths is all true. The high wings, narrow hull, pintail stern, flat run, Tee foil on the rudder are all specialised design features which contributed to a very fast boat which planed easily, did not nosedive or pitch in a chop. Most of these features are embodied in Moth today but are no longer relevant once the boats left the water on foils!

The same applies to the evolution of Scow Moths, flat planing sections, narrow sterns to prevent nosediving, curve in the side for displacement performance when heeled and the wings provide enough power to plane upwind. I also sailed NS14’s which went through their own intense development with fine bows and flat planing surfaces aft.

It is such a pity that most of these lessons seem to be lost or ignored. A whole new generation of dinghies are now being released such as the RS Aero, Melges 14, Devoti Zero which use carbon for spars and yet otherwise they are simply old displacement designs, wide transoms which promote nose diving, soft full sails, no flat fast planing surfaces, fat hulls with full bows, and above all they have narrow overall beam, so they have insufficient power to plane upwind.. It all seems such a waste when they could be so much better!

Another pet hobby horse is the use of solid wing rigs on the big AC cats. Sure they are impressive, but so impractical. What I would really like to know is if these rigs are actually any good compared with conventional state of the art Moth, sailboard and Cat rigs. In both A-cat and Moth classes the solid wings have proven slower, especially in light air. It is such a pity that the AC rules do not allow any real development or comparisons so we could learn something new and useful to other classes.

Feel free to add these comments and those about John Ilett as I really feel he deserves recognition for his efforts.

So many people now somehow think that Rohan Veal or perhaps Andrew McDougall developed the foiling Moth, when it was in fact a process with many people involved over a long period of time, well before either of these guys made their own important contribution.

all the best, Ian