THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509070254
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 49 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
LIKE A GIANT, liquid lantern, the Pasquotank River will draw Moths next week.
The light of history will lure the flock from points in town and across the Eastern Seaboard to relive an earlier era that historians and sailing enthusiasts hope to bring back.
The attraction is the seventh annual Moth Boat Regatta on Sept. 16, sponsored by the Museum of the Albemarle and coordinated by the Pasquotank River Yacht Club.
Moth Boats are 11-foot sailing craft born in Elizabeth City in 1929 - a distinction the city still boasts from streetside banners downtown and in a tiny waterfront park bearing the Moth Boat name.
The light, snappy sailboat's popularity grew and dwindled in the span of a few decades. But forces in the Moth Boat capital are pushing for a revival.
``We're just trying to make a comeback with it,'' said Wayne Mathews, who works as a carpenter at the museum and directs the Pasquotank River Yacht Club. ``We've got a lot of people involved now, a lot of people building 'em.
``They're all home-built. It's not a manufactured boat. It's pretty economical to build, too.''
Among the boat builders is Erky Gregory, president of the Classic Moth Boat Association. Gregory says he's built four boats in the last five years and will probably put together another one this winter.
He says constructing a Moth Boat isn't much different from putting together ``a big model.''
``I've always liked the Moth Boat because it was started in Elizabeth City,'' says Gregory, 60, who first owned a Moth in the early 1960s and got involved again when the museum started the regatta in 1989.
``They're quick. You have to be kind of agile to sail them,'' Gregory says. ``It's right much sail for an 11-foot boat.''
Moth Boat sailors will launch from Gregory's Riverside Avenue home for the race.
``We usually have about 25 boats over here in the back yard'' on race day, Gregory says. That's up from about five when the musuem first put on the event in 1989.
For the Classic Moth Boat Association, the Saturday regatta and a second day of sailing Sunday make up the Moth Boat national championships.
One local boat to be launched on race day is a Moth model built by students at Camden County High School this spring. School officials had been kicking around project ideas and decided that the boat's Elizabeth City origin fit the bill.
``Between that and the fact there's so much water here, we decided this would be a project that would lend itself good to the area,'' says Jay Cuthrell, a carpentry and technology education teacher at the school.
Other competitors will come from all over the eastern half of the United States to race in the regatta, Mathews said. Other classes - including Sunfish, Hamptons, Buccaneers, Flying Scotts, Cats and others - are invited to participate.
``You really don't know what you're going to get there until they show up,'' Mathews says.
The first small-boat races will begin at 11 a.m. Sept. 16, with the Moth Boat race at 11:15 a.m.
The Museum of the Albemarle will also hold a benefit barbecue chicken dinner from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Mulligan's to raise funds for the new museum site in downtown Elizabeth City. Awards will be presented at 6 p.m.
For more information or dinner tickets, call the museum at 335-1453. ILLUSTRATION: Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Albemarle
The seventh annual Moth Boat Regatta is to be held Sept. 16 on the
Pasquotank River.
Moth Boats are 11-foot sailing craft born in Elizabeth City in 1929.
About 25 of the light, snappy sailboats are expected for next
weekend's race.
by CNB