moth boat

Fun, local history surround national moth boat race in N.C.

Joe Courter, left, and others prepare for the Classic Moth Boat National Championship on Sunday. The moth boat was created in Elizabeth City in 1929 by Capt. Joel Van Sant. For the past 19 years, the national competition has been held blocks away from the shipyard where the first moth boat was built. HYUNSOO LEO KIM PHOTOS | THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

By LAUREN KING, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 17, 2007

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.

As children, Chuck Higgins and Jimmy Van Sant built their own boats that they raced in the Pasquotank River.

But when Van Sant's father developed a faster sailboat - the moth boat - they quickly abandoned their heavy, 8-foot boats.

"I've been in the moth class ever since," Higgins, now 87, said.

Higgins stopped racing six years ago but still likes to watch, and on Sunday he saw the final race of this year's Classic Moth Boat National Championship. He got a prominent seat at the front corner of a pier near the start line and heard stories about the previous day's events, which included the appearance of international class moths that, with enough wind, can lift off the water and seem to fly through the air.

Higgins was in Elizabeth City when the original moth boat was built. It was 1929, and he was 9 years old.

Pete Wallio of Hampton sets up the sail on his moth boat for Sunday’s competition, next to the Pasquotank River in Elizabeth City.

Capt. Joel Van Sant, Jimmy Van Sant's father, regularly passed through Elizabeth City on his way from New Jersey to Florida to get his boat cleaned, said Greg Duncan, a member of the Classic Moth Boat Association. He wanted something to do in his downtime, so he came up with plans for a small sailboat that could easily be raced on inland rivers and lakes.

Joel Van Sant showed his plans to Ernest Sanders of the Elizabeth City Shipyard, and the two worked after hours to build the small sailboat in the shipyard's carpenter shop, which is where the sailboat earned its name, Higgins said.

"People always ask why it's called a moth boat," Higgins said. "Every night they worked under an old light... and a moth was flitting around it. Capt. Van Sant said that the way that moth is flitting around the light, let's call it a moth boat."

Duncan said there are other theories, such as the boat's ability to flit across the waves or a moth that got caught in the varnish. Duncan said he believes the latter, based on his own experience.

"I consider it good luck if I get a moth caught," he said. "I usually varnish right over it."

When the first moth boat was complete, Joel Van Sant took it with him to Florida and eventually back up to his home in New Jersey. It grew popular quickly, and by 1933 races were held annually along the East Coast. Variations of the moth boat also appeared in Europe.

Interest in moth boats waned in the 1970s, but in 1989, a club was formed and members began racing "classic moths."

For the past 19 years, the national championship has been held in the Riverside Avenue backyard of Erky and Alma Gregory, blocks away from the shipyard where the first moth boat was built. The event has grown in popularity and stretched into the yard of neighbors John and Sarah Pugh.

Races began Saturday and were part of the Museum of the Albemarle's "A Day on the River, featuring the 19th annual Moth Boat Regatta." Saturday and Sunday's race results were combined for the championship.

At the sound of the horn acknowledging his national win Sunday, Jeff Linton of Tampa, Fla., leaped from his moth boat into the water.

Higgins laughed along with other spectators and then headed down to the yard where he could visit with the racers as they pulled their boats in.

Each year is like a homecoming, Alma Gregory said.

"Everybody knows each other here," she said.

Lauren King, (252) 338-2413, lauren.king@pilotonline.com

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