I only know what I see on the Internet so I may have misunderstood Rohans announcement the wrong way.. However it is sad that he no longer wishes to be involved with the Moth class. Rohan has done a lot for the development of sailing Moths and for the IMCA. It is hard at the best of times to mix business with pleasure and it looks like it proved too hard for Rohan. Good luck Rohan and I hope to see you back in a Moth having fun again some day soon.
His departure puts Bladerider, and the Moth Class in a vulnerable position and kills off any attempt to make a business model of "Moth for the masses". If Moth sailors only buy the same boat that the World Champion won in then there will only be one builder at a time and the boats will be very very expensive.
Buying the boat that won is not the same thing as buying the boat that is going to win next time. I suspect that if the average sailor spent less money on gear and more on sailing time they would do much better. However this idea obviously does not sell boats and that leads to a lot of pressure that can not be fun.
So are we going to see a new one design Bladerider or peoples foiler? Will the IMCA have to compete with this new class? Will the Moth have a reduced number of builders and be more and more expensive and elitist? Or will there be even more builders, events, choice and number of average sailors?
Who knows what the future will bring but Moth sailor spending will shape it.
My cooperate strategy is clear:
1. Sail, sail, sail and have fun sailing.
2. Try to build a local team so fleet racing happens more than once a year.
3. Do not play the who spends wins one desgin game.
4. Build a new boat if it is fun to do so.
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I spent every evening I could this summer sailing around Annapolis Harbor on my homebuilt Moth ... because it is so much more fun than my other boats. Just kissing the 20 kt mark; probably won't ever hit 28 much less 30 but loving every stinkin' airborne minute trying. Probably won't see you at any Worlds but will sail the crap out of my Moth(s) until they send me to the old age home with an idiot smile. Hopefully we'll get some fleet racing going here eventually but it's too much fun to worry about little stuff like that. I'd be content with one of those events where you grab bottles off the bulkhead as you fly by.
There are other Moth sailors like me out there I'm sure that will keep the class going, as builders and champions come and go. Let's keep the new ideas flowing!
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