There’s a little thread going on in Sailing Anarchy where it was suggested that only pro’s can home build competitive moth foils. And I’m calling bullshit.
I am not suggesting for a moment that I have built world championship winning foils, and I am also not suggesting that building foils is for everyone, however the process of designing and building, tuning, breaking and sailing on my own foils has produced some of the most rewarding and most heart breaking moments of my life and I wouldn’t change them for anything.
I’m not saying don’t buy, what I am saying is don’t be afraid to stick your neck out, persevere and build. You’ll be sad, frustrated, angry and delighted that you did.
Posted in: Opinion | 8 Comments →January 24, 2010
January 25th, 2010 at 1:31 am
hey did i reply where to find the expanding foam epoxy?
cant remember last couple weeks have been a whirlwind, drop me a line
January 25th, 2010 at 4:34 am
Completely agree. Its in the DNA of the class. Hopefully it wont be lost going forward. Keep going Bruce! I love reading about yr developments.
January 25th, 2010 at 6:42 am
Hi Bruce,
totally agree. Same thing could be said for the DN Iceboat. Many different homebuilds, even Carbonmasts and other go-fast-items. I am into these things and I think the Moth people and the DN people have something in common. At least: Bora (Moth) and Ron Sherry, (DN US-44). Both from the Detroit area (?) and World Champions in their respective classes….
@ Bora: the expanding foam epoxy is available from Gurit/SP. There is also another manufacturer called Sicomin (who has several grades) but I do not know if he has a distributor in the States. If you do not find anything on either Gurit.com or (i guess) Sicomin.com, give me a shout.
January 25th, 2010 at 6:59 am
Bruce,
To be qualified to make this comment you should give everyone a summary of how many foils you have made, how many you have broken and why you now have to use a Bladerider foil while you build Mk ****.
My SA post warns people that they will take a lot of time, money, effort and failures before they make successful foils. Like you, (and very few others) I have done it and the pile of broken bits under my house plus those on the bottom of the river attest to my advice coming from practical experience.
I’ll be ordering some more bits from John Ilett soon.
See you tomorrow.
Phil S
January 25th, 2010 at 7:21 am
@Phil .. You know I am very qualified to make this comment … the number I have broken is well documented on this blog, I am at foil number 5.
The bladerider foil, and the Ilett vertical that I have purchased have not yet hit the boat, and they were obtained more as a reference point and to save time than anything else.
just because something is hard to do, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
Your SA post actually reads “Don’t bother trying”
January 25th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
He Guys,
) You gave a good smile this sunny and cold Monday morning at the office. Bones still aching from the weekends racing.
calm down….
Your discussion reminds me a lot about our communications within the German DN class. There is all sorts of wrong info (rumors) being spread around, especially when there is not much racing going on. Sometimes this leads to some heavy discussion but on the start line we are all friendly competitiors.
January 26th, 2010 at 6:03 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfXyz12-vyA
Bora has a comment on the subject
January 27th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
The key word in all of this is competitive. Homebuilders have yet to make a set of competitive foils but that does not mean they are out of reach with a bit of persistance…
You don’t need high modulus and prepreg to make fast foils.