Moth Moth Baby

All of Long Beach seems to have decided it's Christmas, and that recovering from seasonal parties is the order of the day on Sunday. So not too many people were out enjoying the 8-10 knot breeze that piped up out of the west today. Hell, there may even have been a few twelves in there. Anyway it was enough to have to pull on some cunningham to depower while foiling. Not sure exactly how much water time I logged - something over an hour but probably no more than two. Funny how we put so much effort into the sport for so little time actually doing it. But then most sports are that way I suppose.

Linked up with Bobby K and Alex on the beach, who were in recovery mode but looking very relaxed. Took time getting rigged and fielded the usual assortment of questions. Ran into Chad from North Sails - 49er sailor friend of Zack Maxam's from San Diego. Seems keen to find out more about Mothing so will have to get him out on the Prowler some time soon. Was not able to coordinate sailing with Charlie and Zack as I was on call and did not know what time I would be able to leave work, so impossible to set anything up especially with the iffy forecast of 10-12. But checked forecast when leaving and I'm learning that if any wind is forecast by NWS for Long Beach then it is generally enough to foil in the afternoon, which is pretty nice as there is almost always SOME wind forecast.

Which reinforces my notion yet again that a Moth is a brilliant water toy. These things allow you to play extreme apparent wind games in so little wind that anything less would not be enjoyable in any other boat either, which is pretty obvious when I am the only small boat on the water in all of Long Beach Harbor. Is there any other boat that makes light air sailing this much fun? If so, I haven't seen it yet. I haven't even seen the A-cat guys out practicing much lately, but they are probably enjoying a break from sailing after the runup to their Worlds in November.

Working on fairing some foil tools, then mounting and assembling the materials for a layup. May try infusion as my parts will have a 90 degree bend in the middle and I'd rather not have epoxy running down the ends as the layup progresses...then again I suppose that would lean it out a bit, which is always a good thing. But I rather like being able to tack the layup in place and sort the bag before hitting the goo switch. The down side is figuring out a way to get the resin to the mold surface, but a bit of strategically placed flow media should do the trick nicely. Failure isn't cheap but it may be a necessary part of the learning curve. I'm not underestimating the difficulty of bringing it off as friends have had some puzzling failures recently.

Who knew formica made such a nice sanding batten? Oh and pool noodle foam trimmed with scissors. What commercial was it that ended with the word "SMOOOOOTH"? Or was it a sitcom? Maybe Don Knotts said it. Anyway the facets and grooves are disappearing nicely with a bit of old Spanish Archer.

Alex pointed out today that I receive more questions about my van than I do about the boat - or at least as many. From different groups of people of course. Funny how people gravitate to things they understand but which are just outside the mainstream.

Nice policeman pulled me over to inform me that I was grinding my wand off on the pavement on the way home, which is just as well as I plan to revamp the entire thing soon anyhow. Seems a bit strange that he didn't inquire about the DC and SD license plates on my rig, but I guess the boat was getting all the attention.

Time for a bit of sanding. Looks like Mothing for the Holidays as I will be working sporadically through the remainder of the month.