THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607100112
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: 75 lines
The approaching Cock Island Race, with all the hullabaloo on the Portsmouth waterfront, always brings back memories of my childhood in Elizabeth City, where the moth boat reigned supreme in the 1930s.
Every fall, the International Moth Boat Regatta put the town in a tizzy as folks got ready for the moth boat sailors who came from all over the East Coast to compete. In fact, there were quite a few from Hampton Roads who excelled at sailing the tiny boats.
People from miles around lined the Pasquotank River harbor to watch the races. Since the town is built around the harbor, residents were very involved with the whole thing.
I never was a sailor - too interested in working on the local newspaper, writing school news for 10 cents an inch. But a lot of my friends and neighbors were moth boat enthusiasts.
The moth boat actually was developed in Elizabeth City. Capt. Joel Van Sant stopped over in the winter of 1929 to overhaul a yacht and got involved with Ernest Sanders, a member of the family that owned the largest shipyard in town at that time, to design the small, affordable sailboat.
It was a perfect boat for Depression times because folks could build them in their backyards at relatively small cost. Within a year, there were enough of the tiny boats to stage a race between the Pasquotank River Yacht Club and the Evening Star Yacht Club in Atlantic City, Van Sant's homeport.
So by the time I was 4 or 5 and old enough to notice the races, there were moth boats from many places. A lot of the teenagers in the neighborhood were into sailing the tiny craft, so the little kids naturally were very interested.
Through the 1940s and into the '50s, people hung onto their little moths. Then prosperity hit. People moved up to bigger and fancier craft - and they kept moving up. The Cock Island Race shows how far up many have moved.
Eight years ago, the Museum of the Albemarle, a branch of the North Carolina Museum of History, decided to recreate the regatta. The historic revival will continue this year Sept. 21-22. Headquarters will be on the deck at Mulligan's Waterfront Grille, a restaurant owned by Jim Nye, who once was an owner of the Seawall restaurant in Portsmouth.
In addition to the moth boat events, the Pasquotank River Yacht Club will stage races of other small boats - such as Sunfish, Hampton, Buccaneers, Flying Scotts and Cats - on the same days.
Meanwhile, things are revving up in Portsmouth for the ninth annual Cock Island Race July 19-20. Last year, more than 300 of the sailing yachts participated. And that is some sight!
The large sailboats in such great number on the Elizabeth River look now to me as the hundreds of tiny moth boats on the Pasquotank looked when I was about 5 years old. I stand in awe watching them sail up the river with the colorful spinnakers unfurling.
It's an impressive show, visible from the shore anywhere on the harbor. And it's all free, including street dances at 7 p.m. on both nights. Bill Deal and Ammon Tharp will play for the Friday night bash, and Liberation will play Saturday night. There'll be musical entertainment all afternoon on both days. For a complete schedule, see today's Currents cover story.
Sometimes those of us who grew up around water take it for granted. If you don't believe it, just look at how Portsmouth and a lot of other Southern communities wound up with deteriorated neighborhoods on rivers and creeks. Only in recent years have cities on the water begun to realize exactly how valuable the water is for the community's overall image. Certainly, events like the Cock Island Race are important to get people from other cities to Portsmouth.
With 300 boats entered in the races, that means more than 4,000 people will be in Portsmouth with the boats alone. The crews average about eight per yacht, and skippers and crew members usually bring a spouse to town for the parties.
Portsmouth's downtown waterfront always has overlooked a working harbor. It's only in recent times that the land side has been considered a place to play. However, pleasure sailboats on the river have been a fixture for years - from kids in moths to older sailors in yachts.
Now we've organized a lot of events around the water, a turn of events that makes living in Portsmouth even more interesting. by CNB