Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

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JonathanH
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Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by JonathanH »

I was reading some earlier posts and came across the mention of a Womble Moth. It's been years since I heard anyone mention this boat and it reminded me of the mid 1970s when I used to watch one racing in the Solent. I lusted after the Womble, it was such a pretty design, but sadly I've expanded since those days and it's now nothing more than wishful thinking They were much more colourful days back then and it seemed that a much wider variety of dinghies would turn out for the local handicap race. The line up would be something like an International Canoe, Womble Moth, Units (2 of them - there was a third lurking about as well), Tornado, Cherub and then an assortment of Fireballs, Albacores and a 505. The gybe mark was spectacular entertainment!

It was always fun watching the Moth in light airs because while every other dinghy would be static, the Womble would relentlessly inch away from everyone with the distinctive dipping motion of a short boat. It always won in light airs, by a country mile. I was sailing a Mirror 14 but wasn't into racing at the time. I do, however, remember chasing a Unit on a broad reach, planing off the back of some some steep chop, but that's another tale. One of us was distinctly faster downwind than the other....

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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by Nessa »

I have been looking for pics of this moth, but couldn't find any, excpet for some of a kit build in progress. Shame.
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JonathanH
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by JonathanH »

From what I can recall they weren't built to last. In fact now you mention it, the one I remember was a home build with the thinnest ply imagineable. The chap who sailed it lusted after another one, a Cigar perhaps. In those days it seemed that the thinner and more difficult to sail a Moth was, the more desirable it became. I think the Unit was more my kind of boat!
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by jpa_wfsc »

JonathanH wrote:From what I can recall they weren't built to last. In fact now you mention it, the one I remember was a home build with the thinnest ply imagineable.
I once lusted after a moth sailed by an intrepid youth near to Egremont (ICC) in salcombe working one summer there. She capsized and slid onto the side wall of the tank - going straight thru. It was orriginaly 2mm ply but I think had been thinned down a bit.

She used to polish the hull with 1200 wet before every race!! So it ended up multi-coloured (pink, white, grey).

Nice boat - and I do enjoy sailing the Skol which is probably a similar design but GRP and feels slightly fragile - but is still sailing unlike (I guess) most of the early 70's wooden moths.
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by Nessa »

I wish I hadn't read that - my fear is vaulting off the wing following capsize and going through the side tank...
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by jpa_wfsc »

... dive into the sail - wetter, but cheaper!
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PeterV
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by PeterV »

At the club I sailed at in the 70s (Leigh-on-Sea), Colin Walker built very succesful Moths to his own designs. They were all built of 2mm model ply and none was expected to last beyond the end of the season.
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PaulM
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by PaulM »

Colin Walker's design was called the 'Wakehurst' and quite few were built from plans - I still have a copy of the sales handout in my archive/collection of old Moth rubbish.

Peter Conway of Ruislip SC designed the Womble and won the '76 nationals in it, then Bill Short won the '77 worlds at Hayling in one............and Peter's boat suffered a major structural failure there! As you say, they were a bit fragile but I don't think they were no-expense-spared throwaway boats - just pushing the envelope of design and engineering. It was actually quite difficult to obtain marine ply thinner than 3mm at that time in the UK, 'tho the top Aussies used to use varying thicknesses in their scows AND build a new hull every winter.

Here is an album of a Womble Moth under construction:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/3182126088/

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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by slendotnet »

Hey All,

New member of the CVRDA and found this thread through a search for International Moth plans. Specifically I am looking for plans for any and all low rider Moths before they moved to the foils. If you have access to any plans directly or can put me in touch with anyone that does please contact me through the website.

http://international-moth-archive.org/contact/

Thanks so much.
Last edited by slendotnet on Fri Feb 19, 2016 1:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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bornagainmothie
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by bornagainmothie »

The best source of photos is the archive of yearbooks on the IMCA UK website.
http://www.internationalmoth.co.uk/the-moth/yearbooks/
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by Rupert »

Looking at the email address, I think slendotnet might be looking to build on what is there already?
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bornagainmothie
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by bornagainmothie »

They are different websites Rupert, It would be good to combine all the archive info in one place to avoid confusion :?

As the original post was asking for photos of Wombles in action, I think they are featured in 76, 77, 78 yearbooks.
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slendotnet
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by slendotnet »

Hey All,

The primary purpose of The International Moth Archive is to provide a online resource of Moth designs, plans and history. Unfortunately at the moment that history is being lost and though there are some existing archived materials out there most of it is grainy photos and the old yearbooks.

What I am really interested in are the original plans for as many different styles and iterations of Moth through its pre-foil history before its lost. As an example my father had plans for a whole series of Moths but when we went to collect them all they had either been lost or where in terrible shape. The only plans I was able to salvage was the Womble. As all these plans were mail-order and are not really being built anymore and there is a real risk they are going to fade into history. What a loss!
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by JimC »

Have a good hunt through the forum. We did find a fair few in past threads I think.
bornagainmothie
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Re: Womble Moth and 1970s racing!

Post by bornagainmothie »

Doh!, why didn't I notice the start of the thread was 2011 :oops:
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