Originally published in a 1943 article - the following was captured from www.anyboats.com.
The joy and pleasure of sailing can be more than doubled by racing your sailboat; this is, if you have a boat built for racing. The little boat described in this article will more than fill the desire for additional pleasures derived from water sports. In general, there are two kinds of sailboat racing; class racing and handicap racing. Class racing is further divided into one design and restricted classes. The Moth class is a restricted class, that is, while some of the sizes are restricted, the designer and builder are free to use their own ideas on the other dimensions. In the Moth class, the size and shape of the sail is restricted, but the hull can take any shape within eleven feet overall. The idea of this is to develop better hull forms, and as you travel around to regattas, you will see some queer ones.