Museum of the Albemarle
501 S. Water Street
Elizabeth City, NC 27909
www.museumofthealbemarle.com
Contact: Thomas Spagnol (252) 335-1453
ENJOY A DAY ON THE RIVER FEATURING THE CLASSIC MOTH BOAT
The Friends of the Museum of the Albemarle invite you to participate in the 20th annual "A Day on the River featuring the Classic Moth Boat" Saturday September 20. Free family activities presented by the Museum’s Junior Docents begin at 10:00 am on the Museum Green with children’s crafts including making a miniature wooden sailboat, and making pirate hats. Enjoy the maritime music of performer Bill Darrow. Watch boat building demonstrations from the COA boat building class, and meet “Coastie” the talking boat from the U. S. Coast Guard. The Regatta begins at 11:00 am, and races will continue throughout the day featuring classic moth boats and classes for other small boats. Race registration is limited so sign up now! Also, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm visitors can participate in a book discussion and signing by C.S. Harrington author of Marsh Runners and meet Mullet Roar author William K. Brown and Dismal? The Great Dismal Swamp author Ben Casey who will host presentations in the Gaither Auditorium at 11:00 am and at 2:00 pm.
On sale in the lobby are limited edition t-shirts featuring the classic moth boat’s 20th anniversary at $15.00 each.
A Museum benefit dinner will begin at 5:00 pm. Tickets are available through the Museum at $10.00 each. All proceeds from the benefit dinner and the sale of t-shirts and other memorabilia will benefit the Friends of the Museum of the Albemarle.
The Museum of the Albemarle is located at 501 S. Water Street, Elizabeth City, NC. (252)335-1453. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Sunday, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and State Holidays. Serving Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, and Washington counties, the museum is the northeast regional history museum of the North Carolina Division of State History Museums. Department of Cultural Resources, State of North Carolina."Telling Our Stories".
http://www.mothboat.com/
Classic Moth Boats are a class of small fast singlehanded racing sailboats that originated in the US in 1929 by Joel Van Sant in Elizabeth City, NC. The Classic Moth is a development class with an eleven foot over-all length, a maximum beam of 60 inches, a minimum hull weight of 75 pounds, 72 Sq Ft sail area, and very few other restrictions A Moth can be a skiff, pram, scow, skinny tube, dinghy, or any combination thereof. As such the Classic Moth Boat is an ideal class for amateur designers builders and tinkerers, an can be easily built from inexpensive materials.
If you wake up in the middle of the night with a novel idea for hull shape, you can leap out of bed, race down to your garage, build it and then find out at the next regatta if your idea is hot or not. Freedom of design sets Moths apart from the clorox bottle (one-design) crowd. Instead of the design controlling who sail successfully, we design and build boats that fit our size, ability, taste, skills, artistic expression, and pocketbook
Over the years various "Moth" classes have appeared around the world. In addition to the Classic Moth, one can find reference to Australian Moth", "British Moth", French Moth, Modern Moth, Vintage Moth, and "International Moth". All have eleven foot hulls, and all can trace their origins to either the US or Australian Moth (or both!).
Presently, Classic Mothboats race in several locations on the east coast of the US. Regattas are currently held in Brigantine, NJ; Portsmouth, VA; Norfolk, VA; Elizabeth City, NC; and Charleston, SC., and St. Petersburg, FL. Please refer to the regatta schedule in this site for dates and contact information.
