Australian International Moth Association

Moth sailing is the great equalizer. You thought you were pretty hot on your one design. Made the odd good challenge in the local laser fleet and did nationals a few times. You saw the moth go past effortlessly, the sailor (pilot) looked dashing with the camera boat following and their hair was dry. On shore everyone wanted to buy the mothie a drink and they were surrounded by members of the opposite sex. And lets face it, the boats looked delicious. You wanted in.

So you bought a moth and out you went thinking that 10-15 knots wouldn't be too bad. You realised that keeping your hair dry was going to be harder than you thought, and you have never been more scared in your life. You also keep telling yourself that you do know how to sail as you swim back to your boat for the 20th time in 15 minutes as you try to go sailing. In the back of your mind you are winding if you can get back to shore. In the front of your mind you ask yourself, "how do people actually do this?".

It doesn't matter if its a foiler or a lowrider, moth sailing is more challenging than it looks and involves lots of swimming. 

The International Moth is not the sort of dinghy that sailors step into from another class and automatically win. It is likely that you are an experienced sailor already if you want to sail a Moth. You may find the experience intimidating or embarrassing, but stick with it. One of the beauties of the class is that it takes dedication above and beyond most conventional sailing dinghies. This does not appeal to everyone, but to the select few. To be able to hone your Moth sailing skills so that you can drive the razor-sharp hulls in all conditions is an exhilarating experience. Believe me, you certainly know when you are going fast!

There is no substitute for time on the water, but being able to pick the brains of the top sailors is always useful. Even after a few seasons of Moth Sailing, when you think that you are finally getting the hang of it, there is always some technique that can be improved that will increase your boatspeed. Well we have collected alot of good reference information from all over the place and broken it down into key pages. As we see more we will add to it. Perhaps this might make your ascent to the pinnacle of the class a little bit easier!

If you want to see how hard it can really be try a narrow skiff without a winged rudder downwind in 20 knots. Just let us know before hand so we can get a camera boat ready!