It's only fair to let you know, the foiling Moth crowd has a name for the rest of us.
Lowriders.
I picked that up from the freewheeling online forum of International Moth USA, where one Richard Draeke of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts announced his intent to build a Moth and perhaps add foils later, "after I learn to lowride."
I just thought you ought to know.
What we have above is a Sally Collison pic of highrider Rohan Veal on one of his production Bladeriders. Richard Draeke is planning to build a Moth of plywood, and part of the fun of the Moth class in 2008 is that everything is happening at once.
Now, let's see, in my world it's morning again? ALREADY?
I've had work of late that distracts me from the blog, which I miss. Trying to get my writer's head back on, but meanwhile I can share this:
Success Story
Escaping the growing chill of New Zealand, Katie McWilliam checks in from Fiji:
"One thing we keep hearing about cruising Fiji is that there are
three kinds of cruisers—those that have hit a reef, those that will hit a reef, and those that are lying about it. Keep reading to find out . . . "
I guess we know where that's going, don't we.
Coulda been worse. Katie describes the experience as "a gentle, sudden stop." Scratched up the freshly-painted keel, cracked the bottom of the rudder, and left our heroes with another of life's lessons: Pack carefully. "Chay was able to repair the rudder," Katie relates, "but only after 2 days of hunting for the underwater epoxy and fiberglass repair kit. Good thing we weren't sinking!"
I met Katie, Chay, and young Jamie in '03 in the Baja Ha Ha rally, San Diego to Cabo. They knocked around Mexico in their Peterson 44, Esprit, then took off for South America, the Galapagos, and the Pacific, mixing cruising with trips home to Boulder City, Nevada. I think you could call the experiment a success. Jamie's 11 now, the home schooling is going fine, most of a circumnavigation still lies before them and their web site sums up:
"We are no longer the McWilliam family. We are Esprit."
Thanks for the smile, Esprit—Kimball
