The origins of the Moth class go as far back as 1930 and the basic idea – very similar to the Ten-footer, was to allow with very small boats freedom of creativity by the designers. In more than 70 years, the success has been enormous and is demonstrated by the fact that from the Moth, a very diffused monotype called Europa evolved – which was also chosen as a female Olympic boat. In these last years, the class has developed into various extreme shapes, giving rise to those “little monsters” which we mentioned in the introduction to the Ten-footer class. The Moth we designed does not expect to compete with these boats, which are too sophisticated from the construction point of view to be built by amateur constructors - the more competitive prototypes, in fact, weigh between 15 and 20 kg and, fully equipped boats ready for sailing, may reach 30 kg. It is, however, a fast and enjoyable boat comparable to the Europe, of which it retains the sail surface. The profiles remind us of the Ten-footer SCHEGGIA - that have been slightly modified to take into consideration the fact that the boat is conceived to navigate with winds, which are on average, stronger than those normally found during a Ten-footer sailing regatta. Although having a narrow hull (with less than a 90 cm waterline) and designed so as to minimize wet surface, it is relatively more stable than the SCHEGGIA and tends more to plane. The extra foot in length of the hull leads to quite a sensitive variation of performance and, whereas in the Ten-footers, play prevails over the sportive aspect, the MOTH may, by all means, be considered as a really enjoyable regatta sailing boat, also affording good performance. The construction is in plywood with the “stitch and glue” method. The V bottom and two chines, besides allowing round hull shapes, give rigidity to the hull, which becomes solid without it being excessively heavy.
