Moth Ramblings...

Reading the latest in the Moth-blog-world by Cookie, I am under the same impression like him, that professionalism must have taken over way too much and has taken time away from fellow mothies which usually they had spent for the blogosshere. Yes, I am missing the ramblings from a few great sailors and especially the comments which are following them usually. I do hope that Simon P. will keep us entertained as well as educated. (What would I have done without his tips about the draining hole positions in the M2. Maybe I would have hacked a draining hole which would: "look like you cut(hacked)that first hole with a wet fish!!!", according to a quote by Marty J in the following blog entry: m-m-m-m-mach2-mod/

And that reminded me about writing about some misshapes or mistakes or misfortunes I had lately after coming back from some great and some not-so-great-sailing in Spain. Don´t get me wrong here, I am not blaming anyone, I am purely blaming the messenger. Where should I start? Maybe a good idea to start with the "finding of the names" session for Kerstin´s GER-3627 (new MSL10 and soft mast) and my new GER-3835 (old MSL13 and stiff mast) Just for the reference, both are M2´s and my Bladerider went to a happy new owner in Holland. Yes, I do not name my DN´s though I have various hulls, I am purely known as G-99 as we are keeping our registration numbers for a life time. Not that I started the DN sailing some 50 years ago, which the number would assume. No, I bought my first boat (a wreck) from a gentleman who decided to retire from the sport and he donated this great number to me. Anyway, I am sometimes a traditionalist and real boats shall have names. I was reminded by one great blog entry (AGAIN!) by Simon P. and I never felt comfortable having a new or used (3627) Moth and not naming it. This we now wanted to change for the two Moth´s and martyred our brains. She came up with the great name ORANGE, as her first Moth (complete different story) which had never been finished by the builder, was supposed to be painted in part orange and some visible clear carbon. Yes, and I came up with the simple solution to name the new one, MOTTE.

Man, we got hammered or verbally beaten by Alan at Pro-Velaonce we mentioned the names in a light evening conversation. He must be an authority in English Yachting rules. Wait for what he has in mind for the upcoming Moth Fest. What a laugh we had that evening, how negative the words sounded when he spoke them out and yes, it began to sink into me that "Agent ORANGE" can be a very bad association. And this in the middle of all the Orange plantations down there in Murcia, Spain. Just think about how these beautiful trees would look like without leafs. And also think about the "all-orange" sail, where the sailmaking people must have understood something wrong from K´s wishes to have some orange applications (reinforcements or such). It must be the language barrier which had played a big part to make a whole sail in orange. It reminds me to the meaning of the "Morning Glory". A great boatname, for a string of successful German Yachts, but a nasty meaning in Aussie slang. Or would you really let the world know you have a: "....". It is the language barrier, I told you. OK, ORANGE will now be named GOLDFISCH, which shall reassemble the color scheme of the sail well.

A different story for my own findings in the word: MOTTE, for the new GER-3835. Avid readers will associate this rightly with Moth. Just the English word put into understandable German. What is wrong with it? No phantasy, a lack of wit I was told whilst we had a big laugh about the theme. To make a long story short, Alan came up with the new name of LUNA. He told me, it stands for Moth in some other language, but carries a lot more phantasy... Yes, hopefully.

So time is limited today and though I wanted to add some useful information about the repairs I had to do on 3627 which did not all come out successful and which kept me busy more than one evening, but I spare that for next time. Hopefully before the upcoming weekend where I am organizing a Moth regatta Regatta: "Carbon-Motte"on my home waters. As per today we have an international field signed up and the best German sailors have also signed in. You should not miss it. If it does not blow stinks from the East, like the last 8 days, (up to 30kn/h) we will have a great weekend.