swift moth sailboat

• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

World’s coolest yachts: International Moth

• September 2, 2021

We ask top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times. Paul Larsen nominates the International Moth

“There are so many boats out there that have cool aspects and yet remain horribly compromised or are no longer relevant. After a ridiculous amount of consideration (and excluding our own creations) I have to go for the foiling International Moth,” says the world’s fastest sailor , Paul Larsen.

“Like foiling or not, you can’t shoot the messenger! As a cool boat it stands on its own, and for what it has since inspired.

The International Moth has done more than any class to raise the profile of sailing hydrofoils. Photo: Thierry Martinez/Sea&Co

“The concept just works so well. Its performance and accessibility inspired sailors, backyard builders, designers and performance sailing in general.

“Buy a good one to race at your club or against the best of the best.

“This little foiler came to the local skiff/cat party and smacked all the old cool kids down. Things change when that happens.”

Make sure you check out our full list of Coolest Yachts.

International Moth stats rating:

Top speed: 30.7kn LOA: 3.4m Launched: 1971 Berths: 0 Price: €20,000 Adrenalin factor: 90%

Paul Larsen

Australian Paul Larsen is the world’s fastest sailor. In 2012 he sailed Vestas Sailrocket II to a sailing speed record of 65.45 knots .

His first taste of multihull speed was in the Eighties, delivering the 86ft Commodore Explorer to Japan with Skip Novak .

He competed in major ocean racing events before developing Sailrocket to make its record-breaking run.

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Moths to the Flame

• By Chris Museler
• Updated: June 8, 2020

There is an eye-opening video clip posted online from the last day of the 2019 Moth Worlds in Perth, Australia. The drone follows Tom Slingsby as he tears across the finish line, winning the whole enchilada with two races to spare. In a class now populated with high-net, young professional sailors, to win 12 straight races is mind-blowing alone, but the most incredible part of this visual is the outrageous speed. Slingsby’s foils are just shy of perching the surface; there’s minuscule drag, there’s a slight twitch on the helm, and his go-for-it hiking posture is inspiring. In 20-plus knots of breeze, Slingsby, in this moment, and the entire week, is redlining his torpedo-shaped Exocet Moth. Talk about sending it.

This is a big deal. Slingsby and the rest of the top 10 at the worlds were doing nearly 20 knots upwind, a 2-knot ­difference from a year earlier. Downwind, they’re pushing 30. It’s hard to imagine so much progression can come out of such a small package, but the Moth—which has influenced modern foiling, from the America’s Cup to the little productions Skeeta and UFO, and even windfoiling—is still the highest-profile foiler on the planet. This, despite being crazy expensive at $30,000 for a new boat.

This is also a big deal because the class continues to push the high-performance fringe of the sport, from foil technology and design to sailing techniques. Incremental changes that have added up to the gains Slingsby and his buddies demonstrate have come from deck-sweeping sails, “aero packages” that reduce wind drag, and ever-shrinking foil shapes.

But let’s be real. Who can actually do what gold medalist and Cup winner Slingsby does? Very few. First, the cost of a new—or even a good used boat—is ridiculous. And the time commitment? From my two years of Moth sailing, I know the investment in time on the water alone. Simply learning how to jibe (for me, more than 21 sessions of extended lunch breaks and evening sessions) is impossible for most working folk. And don’t even mention the amount of time it takes to set up, tweak, and repair these intricate and delicate carbon machines.

Despite all these barriers, however, the class continues to grow internationally, with 122 competitors signing on to be part of Slingsby’s Southern Hemisphere Slaying. There are rank-and-file American sailors who have accepted that racing a Moth is worth every penny and minute they can muster to get around the racecourse. It’s just super-addictive, and yes, where there’s a will there’s a way to do it at your own pace and within your own budget.

Dan Flanigan, one of the few Americans to compete in the Perth Worlds, says, “If you sail once a month, it will take five years to get around the course.” He was 79th of 122 —and pumped with his finish.

Flanigan, 28, is an ­engineer and recently started his own engineering, design and build company called Kroova, in San Diego. He kept an educational and witty log of his first worlds experience in Australia. It was classic Mothie: “I had some control issues (read: multiple pitch poles and crashes)…I told my fiancé I was currently 32 out of 60 in the Silver Fleet, and from 34th on, it was DNFs and UFDs. ‘What a weird class,’ she said. I couldn’t agree more!”

Flanigan’s self-­deprecating tone is common language in a scene where the learning curve is so steep, so demoralizing, that to simply survive the process is a badge of honor. It’s entry into a community that knows the regular feeling of dopamine releases while screaming along on every downwind leg. Flanigan knew he was progressing when he reported he was 30th of 60—but ­remember, the DNFs started at 47.

Progression is a big buzzword in Moth sailing. It’s challenging to ­simply trim in the sail and get underway, then there’s perfecting your turns, there’s knowing your controls and shifting through those gears rapidly into and out of a tack.

“It was functionally too early for my first worlds,” says Flanigan, who since this past winter has been practicing after work and on weekends with 10 or so Moth sailors in San Diego. “For most people at their first worlds, the minimum sailing time has been two years. If I could let go of the feeling of being beat, I would improve quicker than the guys around me.”

Such an attitude allows him to keep an eye on the prize: progression.

Progression is a big buzzword in Moth sailing. It’s challenging to simply trim in the sail and get underway, then there’s perfecting your turns, there’s knowing your controls and shifting through those gears rapidly into and out of a tack, which, by the way, is the Holy Grail for those in the middle to bottom half of the fleet. “Once you get your first foiling tacks,” Flanigan says, “it’s a huge drug, a chemical reaction that ­happens inside you.”

About half of the silver fleet at the worlds had the “ability” to foil tack. Moth sailing is an endless progression, and Flanigan and others simply enjoy stumbling down the rocky path. “It’s easy to say, ‘Don’t focus on the results,’ but it’s hard to feel that. With the time you spend, you want to do well,” Flanigan says.

When he had a good race, he would round a mark with a whole new group of competitors. “I thought, This is a massive improvement . I made five foiling tacks the whole regatta, but it was huge gains.”

Flanigan’s goal, of course, is to “learn the boat as fast as possible, with having a job, a functional relationship—while being completely obsessed—and sail the boat as fast as possible.” He hopes five years of this approach will give him the skills to compete at the worlds each year, the rewards, he says, of hard work and commitment to fitness.

But Flanigan is not there yet. He’s on the steep end of the curve. His professional skills, though, make him a keen observer of the progression at the top of the worlds fleet. “Aero is getting more and more important as apparent windspeed gets above 30 knots upwind,” he says. Flanigan is using a Mach2, upgraded with the ubiquitous bow sprit that holds the wand out farther for steadier ride-height ­control in choppy conditions. The Mach 2.5 has no compression struts at the mast step, allowing deck-sweeping sails to take a more refined shape. Wing bars are now flared down at the back side to line up better with apparent wind while sailing upwind. “They’re playing with lift and righting moment,” he says, referring to the leeward wing bar lifting and the weather wing bar pulling down.

Although Slingsby and ­others in the top 20 raced their Exocet Moths, from Britain, and the once-dominant Mach2 is regularly in the hunt for titles, there are more new designs than ever, allowing for fine-tuning to the sailor’s weight and strength. Matt Chew, of Australia, was eighth in a Paul Bieker-designed Moth. Bieker is an innovator who has created a flush-deck Moth that has so little area for its width, many say it looks way too long to be class legal. There’s a lot less aero drag, but the new deck-sweeper sail also has no impediments such as a raised forward deck to get in the way of a perfectly fair shape. The Bieker’s flat top helps advance the deck-­sweeping concept. The effect of the new sail design is twofold: The end-plate effect reduces drag; and the lower center of effort allows for increased drive force for the same righting moment.

Because the boats are going faster, the foil shapes are changing too. Luka Damic has quickly dominated in this space with his Swift Foils, which were on the majority of the top 10. The chord lengths on the vertical foils are shorter and, especially where they meet the horizontal element, are much thinner. When you see Slingsby riding ridiculously high, he is ­trying to get every milli­meter of his vertical appendage out of the water—to reduce drag. When you’re going 30-plus knots, a few less millimeters of vertical foil in the water is a big reduction in hydrodynamic drag.

The breeding pool for American Moth sailors has been small and continues to be a moving target. Two winter series, one in Southern California and one in the Florida Keys, are really the only gatherings where racing Moths is a “thing.” But these and other pockets of Moths might be breeding something even ­better: stoked sailors.

“Personally, I had lost the joy in sailing,” says Helena Scutt, an Olympian who stopped a Nacra 17 campaign last year and then decided to focus on her engineering career. “Last year I started a journey with the Moth to put the fun back in sailing. I never want to lose that again.”

Scutt purchased an Exocet during her campaign, believing her foiling skills would translate to Nacra sailing. The campaign is over, and now she’s trying to get better in the Moth in the San Francisco Bay area. She’s an Olympic-caliber athlete, but even Scutt is on the same learning curve as every Moth sailor. “I’ve been knocked down so many times,” she says, “but I come out of the water with a grin and say, ‘That was an ­awesome wipeout.’”

Scutt, who is also the US Moth Class president, finished eighth overall in September’s North American Championship in San Diego. She is progressing nicely up the curve. “It was my first real Moth regatta,” she says. “I’m just analyzing where the gains and losses are. Boathandling is low-hanging fruit.”

The Waszp is essentially a production version of the Moth, and groups in the United States have had an easier time attracting females to the fold. Scutt points to a few Moth-specific challenges that favor the Waszp for some sailors. “The expense is a factor,” Scutt says, adding that a lot of other boats are cheaper than a Moth and “almost as much fun.” Experience in high-performance boats, like skiffs, is helpful in foiling but not prevalent among female sailors. Scutt says this has nothing to do with “capability.” It’s a matter of exposure. And being an equipment-based development class also doesn’t play into the current skills of female sailors. She adds that these factors are historical and that Moth sailing “exaggerates these factors.”

Scutt encourages all Moth sailors to reflect on the opportunities that got them into the class, and then spend a little time exposing new sailors, especially women, to the Moth. “Share your knowledge, give them a chance to try it and get hooked.”

Still, Scutt says the Moth is the tip of the spear in performance sailing. “The Moth came out of sailing; now foiling is more ubiquitous,” she says. “When I think of sailing and foiling, it’s a pretty cool time to be around and flying. A couple of years ago, we never would have imagined this.”

Moths are surely the most expensive bit of singlehanded monohull sailing kit you can own, though the price of recreational foilers is getting more reasonable. But in Mission Bay and Key Largo each winter, there will be 20 or 30 Moth sailors of every ability ripping around, tuning up, and helping one another tweak a gearing mechanism for the wand or repair a push rod on their main foil flap. Some will try to play with the likes of Slingsby, while others will simply enjoy their progression.

Flanigan’s last few posts from the worlds speak to the average Moth sailor’s attitude. “Missed tack, flipped at top mark…. When I say I have ‘good pace upwind,’ I understand fully that it is relative only to the bottom half of the fleet.” With his best race in the silver fleet being a seventh of 61 (DNFs starting from 36th), his closing comment is, “This was an awesome event.”

Slingsby, of course, would agree.

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Hydrofoil sailing boats in the moth class sailing world championships changed the America's Cup forever

Topic: Sport

When Brett Burvill won two races at the moth class sailing world championships in Perth almost 20 years ago, he could not have known how a small change he made to his boat would reverberate around the world.

"He finished 10th [overall], which is pretty good for a crazy new development, but he won at least two of the races I think," recalled friend and fellow boat builder John Ilett.

"They were really spectacular, because he would not go very well at the first part of the race, and then the next part he would pass 20 boats, and then another 20 boats.

"He was just twice the speed."

Next week, more than 100 competitors will return to the Mounts Bay Sailing Club for the 2019 World Championships, two decades after Burvill unveiled his revolutionary innovation.

He had attached a hydrofoil to his boat, which provided lift, reduced drag and dramatically increased his speed.

Moth boats use a hydrofoil to skim through the water off the surface. ( ABC News: Tom Wildie )

It also set in motion innovations which made their way to the biggest race in global yachting.

Superfast hydrofoil caused a stir

Burvill wasn't the first person to put hydrofoils on a boat, but he was the first to successfully race them.

"There were ones done in the 1970s, with moths, and ones in the 1990s, but these were never sort of proven in racing," said Ilett, who was an early adopter of hydrofoils.

"People experimented with it but until you actually sail around a course and win a race or win a regatta, then that's when the concepts are proven and adopted.

Moth racers Brett Burvill (left) and John Ilett show off the hydrofoil that is the key to the moth boat's speed. ( ABC News: Tom Wildie )

"I think it was just the inspiration of other crazy boats flying around, because it had been done to other craft but it had not been done in the moth class.

"The moth class is open to any new development, so if you can make them go faster, then we gave it a try."

The attachment of foils to the moth boats brought plenty of resistance, with some competitors concerned the increased speed and difficulty of control would kill the class.

"There was a lot of backlash to it in the beginning," Ilett said.

"The class wanted to ban it, some people wanting to ban it, people walking away from the class and saying I'm never coming back, so there was a lot of fuss about it."

So how do hydrofoils actually work?

Hydrofoils are not a new invention, with their use first recorded 150 years ago when a British patent was granted to Frenchman Emmanuel Denis Farcot.

He claimed that adapting to the sides and bottom of a vessel a series of inclined planes or wedge-formed pieces would have the affect of lifting it in the water and reducing the drag as it went forward.

Inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who is best known for the telephone, also built a foiled boat called a HD-4, which set a marine speed record of 114 kilometres per hour in 1919.

Since then, the technology has been used in military and passenger capabilities, but there prevalence has declined over time, with the foils susceptible to impact and also posing a risk to marine life.

Hydrofoils work in essentially the same way as aeroplane wings.

As the boat moves forward, the hydrofoil travels through the water, but the water that travels over the top does so at a faster speed.

The faster the water travels, the lower the pressure, resulting in an area of low pressure above the foil and high pressure below the foil.

The difference in pressure creates lift, allowing the boat to rise out of the water.

With the hull of the boat out of the water, drag is reduced, and vessels can reach higher speeds.

Making it to the America's Cup

The successful application of hydrofoils in the moth class demonstrated their value to racing and saw them adopted across numerous sailing classes.

But it was their use in arguably the world's most prestigious race that completed their emergence in mainstream racing.

"It's pretty cool," Ilett reflected.

"I think it probably seemed inevitable. I think I'm right that in the early days of the America's Cup they did try to stop the hydrofoil developments, but like the America's Cup do, they found a way around it."

Those changes were implemented in 2013, when America's Team Oracle completed a remarkable 1-8 comeback to claim the event 9-8 over Team New Zealand, with the yachts reaching speeds of about 80kph.

Oracle Team USA successfully defended the America's Cup on a hydrofoil-powered ship in 2013. ( Reuters: Peter Andrews )

The adoption of the hydrofoil in the Cup has a benefit for those who still race the moths, with successful skippers often hired to compete in the big race.

"It's put a lot of America's Cup sailors into the moths class because it's easier to get the guys out on one of of these more often — for training, for learning and getting a feel for flying," Ilett said.

"Even the guys on the America's Cup boats that don't do particular jobs, they all sail on these boats too."

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HOW TO RIG A FOILING MOTH

How to rig a foiling moth in 20 steps, dan neri gets ready to sail this singlehanded foiler.

When I first set up my Moth, I broke a lot of stuff. Since then I’ve learned what to do (and what not to do) and in what order. First, bring everything to the beach. Set the foils off to the side, safely out of the way of the boat and any spectators.

Rig sail and spreaders

Step the mast

Note: My boat has an adjustable headstay, so I can step the mast with the headstay adjustment at its loosest setting. If you have a fixed headstay, you’ll need to use a longer temporary headstay.

Install blades

Final adjustments

20. Go find your hat if you are bald, and your cheapest sunglasses. Take off the foil covers. Ready to go sailing!

Read Moth Newbie: Dan Neri Learns to Foil

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And now for something completely different - The International Moth story

Related Articles

Damic Design was created by International Moth sailor Luka Damic to offer high performance products and services to the sailing community.

Our Moth class journey started in 2004. Then followed the invention of the retractable wand in 2008, partnership and build of the Scalpel Moth in 2010, and co-designing of the World Championship winning Macita hydrofoil in 2013. This was the catalyst to starting a hobby business that would supply hydrofoils to the Moth sailors worldwide.

Since then, Damic Design has been continually pushing performance boundaries through innovation and design. Our hydrofoil design approach is both theoretical and practical building many foils that were used to experimenting with different section shapes, areas and profiles. Our products today, draw back on vast knowledge and experience gained during this development period.

The business however grew to more than just hydrofoils as we developed the Deckgrip range of products, and most recently the ground breaking new Swift Moth which has been our biggest project to date.

At the heart, our mission is to improve on water performance and functionality for all sailors. We pride ourselves on innovation and pushing the performance boundaries that extract that last bit of boat speed.

Our Key Personel and Partners

Luka Damic has been involved in sailing from the age of 14 and has always been passionate about sailing performance. He also had early interest in design and product development that eventually resulted in tertiary Industrial Design accreditations in 2004.

The combination of the two passions lead to early employment in the marine industry starting with CST composites in a product development role. Luka was involved in design and development of first reduced diameter Moth masts, battens and dinghy fittings. Later projects included co-designing and building the Scalpel Moth in partnership with Marty Johnson from Rocket Surgeon Composites as well as stint at Zhik exposing him to the world of product sales.

This lead to a further career in the sales field, progressing to National Sales Management role in commercial furniture sector. While Luka enjoyed his management experience, combining the design know how with his sales background and passion for sailing was the next logical step. The result was a full time focus on the Damic Design business since 2017.

In sailing achievements, Luka has also maintained a strong competitive streak. He placed top ten in every Australian Moth Championship he completed since 2005, including two thirds and two second places in 2007 and 2019. He also won 7 St George Club Championships and two NSW Championships in both the MG14 and International Moth classes.

Alexandra Hume brings a wealth of strategic marketing and sales experience to the business. Her leadership roles within Mars Wrigley Confectionary company combined with business accreditation giving her the perfect background in business management. She is the key to bringing a strategic approach to the business. Alexandra is also an accomplished sailor and 2018 MG14 Australian and NSW champion.

Cawthorne Composites , is out main partner and manufacturer of the Swift Moth. Brad is regarded as one of the best composite builders in the industry. His cabon work is trully remarkable and so is his understanding of the Moth having been involved in the class since he was a teenager.

Fluid Composites , lead by Philipe Oligario is our UK partner with exclusive rights to supply Damic Design hydrofoils with all Maverick design Moth production boats.

Cambridge University team lead by Timos Kipouros brings a wealth of academic and FEA expertise to our innovations. The relationship was established by our friend George Boussoulas who has been instrumental to the partnership. The collaboration with Cambridge allows us to test our ideas and get some hard data that complements our practical design approach.

Vaikobi is our clothing partner and we are very excited to help test and develop new performance sailing apparel with our close friends Pat Langley and Bart Milczarczyk.

MACH2 Essentials

All you need to know about the Moth class and Mach2 in particular. All the essential information regarding the boat, it's history, evolution of foiling, the designer, the sailmaker and the boat builder. There's even an introductory video and a few testimonials. Enjoy!

The Designer

Andrew 'AMAC' McDougall first became involved with the Moth class when he built his first Moth at the age of 15 in 1970.

Need some parts for your Mach2? We have a full compliment of sails, spas, foils and Mach2 spares available online.

Speed Demons

36.6 ned goss.

Is this a world record speed for a dinghy? Ned Goss in a 18-25 knot Charleston sea breeze hit a peak speed of 36.5 knots, with a 10 sec average of 35.9 knots in his MACH2. Goss’s Velocitek files were verified by Bora Gulari & Velocitek founder Alec Stewart. Take that!

30.2 Josh McKnight

Following his win at Lake Garda, 2012 World Moth Champion, Josh McKnight then set an outstanding top speed and ten second average on his Mach2. It goes to show the Mach2 / KA Sail is a killer combination!

31.5 Scott Babbage

Scott Babbage set this speed sailing his MACH2 on Sydney Harbour whilst training with Josh McKnight. Any top speed that's above 30 knots is well worth a mention, but to have a ten second average that is also above 30 knots, wow!

31.4 Hiroki Goto

Sailing at a lake in Japan near Mount Fuji, Hiroki Goto, set a very impressive top speed of 31.0 knots, only to surpassed his on record the following day with a top speed of 31.4 knots and a ten second average of 28.4 knots.

MACH2.6 Is Here

This is the fifth major upgrade in the illustrious life of the Mach2 Moth. Already it's proving to be dominant. For the complete list of upgrades and features, hit the link below

Testimonials

We take a great deal of pleasure designing, building and supporting the best foiling Moth in the world. And nothing gives us greater pleasure than the positive feedback we have received from MACH2 owners over the past 10 years. Here's a few owner testimonials........

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