Offsets For A Three Plank Modified Fragniére Classic Moth

Plans de voiliers classiques Moth, Plans de dériveur classique Moth.

Sometimes I cant help myself. Ill sit down at the computer and push the lines of an existing Moth design in another direction. This is one of those creations. I took the Fragnière design, the French design with the transom bow, and made it a three planker. (Three planker means if you look at the 1/2 model, the design consists of three plywood planks - never mind that the bottom rocker plank is actually one contiguous panel when whole.)

Why? Because I can. I would expect this design to be somewhat quicker offwind but slower upwind in a chop and light air. No plans to build this anytime soon as I have enough projects all ready.

Here is the PDF file of the offsets. Click on the pop-out icon on the top right (hover your mouse pointer over the top right corner to find it) to get this into another tab where you can print or download the file.



Another modified Fragnière (it looks like the transom bow doesnt match the plans). A 2001 build in France. I like the purple hull color.

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Erratum: This is actually the French Bilbon design which was patterned after the French Caravelle dinghy and not the Fragnière.

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Offsets for my other modified French Moth design, the Zippy can be found by clicking here.

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Three Bridges Race 2015 Drone Video

Ive covered the Three Bridges Race before on Earwigoagin, a 50 mile jaunt around winding narrow rivers, under low hanging bridges, in the English Norfolk Broads. Here is a drone video of this years event, no sound, just bucolic images of classic sailing classes starting the race under typical English summer weather, alternating glorious sun with grey belly cumulus. From the text blurb accompanying this video:

"The 55th Three Rivers Race was the first time aerial photography was allowed by organisers, Horning Sailing Club. Richard Kemp of Skyhover used an octocopter to photograph the start of the race . The three rivers from which the race gets its name are the three northern rivers of the Broads (Norfolk, UK), the Bure, Ant and Thurne. There are numerous Windmills and pumps such as the white Thurne Mill along the route.

At first the race sounds simple, an out and back course, in which you must round four marks and return to the start. It begins to sound trickier when you discover the course is in the order of fifty miles in length. It requires great planning and skill to navigate in unpredictable tides and variable winds. Many of the classes are for historic boats built in Norfolk and Suffolk for the difficult local conditions: such as the River Cruiser (first built 100 years ago) Yare & Bure One Design, Norfolk Punt. The greatest outsider challenge comes from the extremely fast Thames A Raters."

Navigators & General Three Rivers Race 2015 from Skyhover Aerial Video Norfolk on Vimeo.

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Three Photos of Moths Non Foiling

I have lots of sailing photos squirreled away on my computer. Sometimes I get confused as I did when I attached a photo of what I thought was a Fragniere Moth to a previous post. Mike Scott pointed out that it was not a French Fragniere, but himself, sailing a British Moth on the other side of the English channel - a photo he sent to me and then was misfiled. Rather than delete the photo completely, Ill just move it to this post and include two others.

Mike Scott around 1959 in a British Moth at Medway S.C. (I should have realized that this Moth has a centerboard while the Fragniere had a daggerboard.)

Here is a vintage photo of a Czechoslovakian (now Czech Republic) dinghy dock filled with Moths, a Finn, an O-Jolle and the Pirat Dinghy (Pirate in German). The two-man hiking Pirat was extremely popular in Europe in the 1960s and still sports big fleets today in Germany (as well as the singlehanded O-Jolle). It looks like the Race Officer is the one in the cap with all his starting gear on a portable desk, readying for a shore start.

Were in an extended cold snap in the Mid-Atlantic with significant portions of the creeks and tributaries off the Chesapeake Bay frozen. When all this thaws I wonder if we will have some ice floes big enough to support a person, as with this hardy Norwegian women sailor taking a break outside her Europe Dinghy!

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