Olive Moth’s big birthday

INVERLOCH’S most famous vessel celebrated a special birthday over the weekend, coinciding with Inverloch’s Wooden Dinghy Regatta.
The 90th birthday of the moth class boat was commemorated at Inverloch basketball stadium, with the original vessel on display across the weekend along with other historically significant wooden dinghies from local collections.
The original wooden moth was brought to life back in 1928 when local Len Morris designed and built the dinghy, known as Olive. The early class was known as the Inverloch Eleven Footer, however modern incarnations have made it one of the most competitive classes across the globe.
“There have been a few developments on the moth design in the 90 years since Len put together Olive,” Regatta commodore Rob McNair said.
“The international moth is the fastest single-handed dinghy class in the world today as a result of its hydrofoils and a carbon fibre hull weighing less than 10kg.”
Local sailing expert and Wooden Dinghy Regatta coordinator Andrew Chapman said the moth was now an integral part of the sport and its humble beginnings in Inverloch are worthy of bragging rights.
“Nowadays they are known as foiling moths. They come really high out of the water and make for a fantastic display,” he said.
“Foiling technology has adapted the moth shape which can now be seen over in the America’s Cup.”
Mr McNair said the class’ versatility makes it appealing to professional sailors.
“It is a development class which allows for variation within basic design rules. As a one off this year we demonstrated the modern vessels along with the classic craft,” he said.
The display included fully assembled wooden dinghies, model boats, model planes, classic motorbikes and historical photos of Inverloch and surrounds, collated by volunteers of Inverloch’s Historical Society.

Admiring Olive: from left, Inverloch’s Simon Wilson, Terry Hall and Barbara Hall admire the display of Olive, the 11 footer moth currently on display for her 90th birthday at Inverloch basketball stadium.

Short URL: /?p=23937

Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Jan 30 2018. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry