We all agree that the latest moths give amazing performance but we also agree that the cost is now staggering. It looks like only the professional sailors or the very wealthy can afford new boats.
It's also become impossible in Australia to sell an old moth, even a fully specked up Mach2. So there is now new moth sailors starting with base level boats and club racing has all but vanished. Not many years ago Sydney used to have three active moth fleets every saturday afternoon. Now there are no foilers racing but there are two fleets of anachronistic low riders.
We also have limited the places and times moths can be races. The recent non event worlds was one example. Shallow lakes which once hosted lowrider regattas are now off limits to foilers. We now need at leat 1.5m of water and at least 10kts of wind without big waves. Modern moths are not your everyday, anywhere boat anymore.
This is very reminiscent of the Moth class about 20 years ago. The narrow boats were deemed by most as impossible to sail and the all carbon build had increased costs , so teh class was dying out. Despite some reservations from narrow boat enthusiasts, it was the revolution of foiling which saved the class from oblivion. 20 years ago the class had pushed itself into a very corner of the class rule, and now it has pushed itself into another.
So what will save the class this time around. It probably needs a new revolution. It's hard to imagine something which would increase performance. Many people will have some ideas, but my thoughts are to open up a few rules. Based on current performance we should no longer feel the need to ban some types which were once seen as threats and banned. The no air gap rule was to ban catamarans, the sheet from the hull rule was to ban sailboards. Are these needed anymore? If we delete them from the rule book will it open up some other perhaps cheeper ways to go fast. At this stage foiling sailboats are not up to moth speeds but perhaps a hybrid idea might be viable? Do we still need to ban tri foilers when the AC boats have proven it possible for a monohull? Just two ideas, I am sure other people will have others.
Let's at least start a discussion before the class numbers shrink to below recoverable levels.