Towards the end of 2015 it was apparent there was a hole well and truly established in the new boat supply chain. The boat everyone wanted was not available in a sensible time frame. So after quite a bit of preliminary work and consideration Lpp teamed up with David and White Formula to produce a complete boat package.

Lpp looked at several build options but concluded working with a local builder used to dealing with the cost / quality problems of mass production in small boats, made teaming up with WF very easy.

WF are already involved in foiling with their own Whisper project - over many years they have built everything from Gold medal winning Tornados to beach boats and family cruisers.

Mike has been sailing Moths for 8 years and has owned most of the popular designs - Bladerider - MACH2, more recently 3 Maguire Exocets over the past 4 years.

Mike is the current European champion and Lennon sails currently hold the World & European championships, both in the Moth and International 14.

Lennon Racewear has also been used to win World and European championships along with numerous National and regional events and is now established as a firm favourite in the demanding youth winter training scene, where long days and cold weather make the client base very demanding.

Our aim is simply to copy the success of our other products and produce a high quality highly performing Moth the equal of anything else available. The bar has been set high but we will ensure our boat meets all our performance criteria.

The Boat Design

David Hollom designed everything below the shear line with Cameron Stewart turning his designs into usable CAD files. Above the Shear line Mike and Cam worked to squeeze in as much of the changes wanted without compromising structure.

David has produced a boat with minimal drag between 1 and 7 knots. The hull is a little finer up front than the Exocet but widens fairly quickly under the mast. Above the shear line we added a domed foredeck to give some reserve buoyancy and to help with the aero into the luff of the sail.

The boat is chined with V shaped hull under the chine as we move aft. The rocker is centered up front and coupled with the V shape should promote easier lift off by reducing the suction of the boat to the water caused by curved surfaces.

The shear line drops in a slightly unfair shape behind the foredeck to lower the deck under the boom. The foredeck is set lower than the Mach2 and Exocet by the time it reaches the mast, as is the main deck which drops rapidly into the vang take off area under the mast. This allows the whole rig to be set lower.

The rudder gantry is fully faired with a lid for best aero drag reduction.

Behind the foredeck we have included a fairing which is split to allow the vang into the floor of the boat. This is removable. The fairing finishes aft of the centreboard case and will cover up virtually all ropes. The split can be closed with flexible gasket with a split overlap to allow the vang system through.

The construction of the boat will be fairly conventional Moth terms using Carbon/epoxy foam sandwich. No compression struts will clean up the airflow around the bottom of the sail and reduce drag.

The foils

The front vertical foil is a little longer than the current trend - this is to help in big waves and righting moment.

The bulb is a little smaller than most and the horizontal foils a little thinner in chord thickness. The aspect ratio is similar to Exocet. This foil differs mainly in cross section shape. The flap hing is set a little further aft to maximize the shape in the back part of the section. This shaping allows around 4 degrees of flap movement each side of neutral with almost no drag penalty. The downside will be having to run a more aggressive gearing set up in lumpy conditions.

The rear foil has 10 degrees of anhedral - this allows the rudder to run closer to the surface before break out occurs. Other potential benefits seem less clear.

The section shape is thin on chord thickness but again similar aspect ratio to existing foils. There is no bulb though. The moth is not close to cavitation speeds and we have offset the horizontal so the pressure peak is not coincidental. Not needing the bulb will reduce drag.

Wings

The plan view of the wing is designed to minimize the total wing area whilst not reducing usable area - the actual usable outer beam length is similar to existing designs but the total wing area will be one of the smallest available.

Wing angle / dihedral is set higher than the current trend - giving more righting moment but perhaps making the boat a little harder to sail.

The wings are fully moulded ( no round tubes ) and curved to give a flatter platform off the hull.

The Rig

The boat has been designed primarily to lower the rig on a conventional set up - with a bent boom and vang. We are also looking at the option of an “Ultra low rig”. This will be a “deck sweeper” set up requiring a specially designed sail. We suspect this may work with straight boom although much work is needed before we can offer this sail / set up for sale.

The boat package will come with the latest Lennon sail design as standard and with a choice of mast stiffness to suit individual customers. Mast manufacturer TBC at the time of writing.

Fit out

Boats will be supplied fully fitted out with all the controls needed to win the worlds ! Only the highest quality fittings and ropes will be used. We will announce our fittings / rope and rig partner in due course.

Pricing and delivery

Pricing and lead times are TBC however we currently have a provisional order list taking us up to July 2017. This will be confirmed once we have fully timed the build schedule and taken firm deposits.

Final pricing is TBC as we are still waiting on final build costs for some of the less standard parts of the boat. But the aim is to try and maintain the current pricing structure available form other builders.