Mothodology

I didn't just write Summer of 86 so I could parody Ray Chandler. There's something about the primitive Liberas that is relevant to the Moth evolution of today. At that stage Liberas were still derivative of established type forms. Either scaled up Fd's or modified IOR designs or a combination of both. This made them highly flawed boats requiring idiosynchratic gear adaptation and out of the ordinary sailing techniques. It's only later that better understanding and application of physics led to rational designs with a performance envelope that was previously unimaginable. Eventually it all became very simple and very fast.

Foiling Moths and the way they are sailed are evolving in a similar way. Foils have been developed empirically and slapped together in configurations believed to be optimal. This has given rise to Mothodology - the quasi mystical pseudo science of tweaking a bunch of parameters to try to get the things to behave properly. There are various religious schools that worship AOA, gearing, wand length and other talismans so powerful that they must be kept secret and pixellated lest the uninitiated lay their eyes upon them.

The ones who don't tweak and just sail win the major championships -Ok they do let the Gurus help them with the set up but they don't seem to waste too much time on the various religions.

Mothodology gets more complicated by the day, mesmerizing the neophytes, luring them into the labyrinth from which escape is difficult. So let me be the prophet of the One True Way. Physics is simple, it is clear and its truth serves humanity well, it will serve the practicing Moth sailor too. If you flunked it in school stick to sailing and let the believers do the work for you.

Sooner than later, light will shine and Moth sailing will get simpler and much faster. But beware: lose yourself not in the temples of Mothodology.