Waszp: Delivering Fun and Fulfillment

Starting a new racing class of boat is easy. Getting people to commit to it is hard. A compelling reason is needed for the sheep to herd, which is something the Waszp may have hit on.

We have all seen the Moth class – the forerunner in foiling. But the boat is expensive, hard to sail well, nearly requires a shore team to maintain, and is regularly evolving. It is a development class for tinkerers.

The Waszp set out to address these issues. Developed by Andrew McDougall, a forerunner in Moth design, the mission was to make an affordable, modern, durable, easy to learn racing class that offers both fun and fulfillment.

Waszps are a kindler and gentler Moth, and they are now ‘flying’ off the shelves.

The 2017 WASZP Atlantic Coast Championship on May 20-21 attracted 13 boats to Toms River, NJ, with 15-year-old Ben Rosenberg among the fleet. Here he share this report:

Boats came from around the east coast and Texas to compete in the first Waszp only regatta in the U.S. The first day of racing was about 15-20knts, good wind for the boat but as the youngest and lightest sailor, it was a little bit too much.

The name of the game in the races that day was just to keep the boat upright. If you only flipped once, you would be almost guaranteed top 6 in the race. I managed to get all top 6’s that day and was in 5th coming into the second day.

The second day was much lighter and much more favorable conditions for myself. I managed to sail faster than anybody downwind and rounded in first or second at the bottom mark most races. However, the hardest part about sailing the boat for me right now is balancing the boat upwind on the foils, particularly staying on the foils after a tack, so I would give some of those places back to the fleet.

I ended up finishing the regatta in fifth with the two great days of racing. The Waszp US Nationals is the next big regatta for the class and I plan on being there.

While the Moth is strong internationally, I believe the Waszp will take over the Moth class for reasons including price, one design, easier systems, etc. The Waszp fleet has been growing very fast since the launch in August and I see this as becoming a very large class in the future.