Dudley Dix Yacht Design

Oppikat - A Boat for Little People

2012-01-13T22:33:00.000-05:00

Years ago Neels Lund of Nebe Boats commissioned a catamaran intended for children to sail. He was going to make moulds then build it as a GRP production boat. I designed the Oppikat for Neels but his company closed its doors before he even started building the moulds.

Over the years since then we have sold a few sets of plans for it but I have never received any photos of completed boats until recently. Frank Nagel in Berlin, Germany, has completed one for his children and has started to send me sailing photos.

Frank's newly completed Oppikat

Frank has two sons. Johnny is 7 and sails with Frank aboard for safety. Vincent is 11 and weighs 33kg. He sails their Oppikat by himself in breezes up to Force 3. Frank says that he also sails it himself with both sons aboard in up to Force 7. The 120kg total weight is a bit much for the little 9ft cat but it is good to know that she can take it.

11-Year old Vincent sailing the Oppikat

Although I first detailed this little boat to be built in fibreglass, I more recently did detailing for a combination of plywood and strip cedar, to make it more suitable for amateur builders. Frank built his boat using that method.

This is a great boat for children to learn how to sail a catamaran, in a size that they can handle either single-handed or with a friend. The fact that it manages rather well with a full-size adult means that Dad can have his fun with it also.

The Oppikat is a nice boat for a winter project, for Dad or Grandpa to build and possibly have some quality time with the little ones. You can be building in a warm basement or garage in the winter then be ready for time on the water in summer. The hulls are small, so it can be built inside almost any room in a standard house or apartment, then taken out through a standard door. It can be car-topped on small cars, so no trailer is needed to get her to the water and back home again.

I hope that we will see a lot more of these fun boats on the water before too long.

Visit our website at http://dixdesign.com/ for information on all of our designs.

2012 Calendar

2011-12-11T12:04:00.002-05:00

Introducing the first of what we hope will become an annual feature. It is the "Boats of Dudley Dix Yacht Design - 2012" calendar, with photos of a wide selection of our boats. This was a project that happened very quickly, under considerable time pressure because it started so late in 2011. The photos selected came mostly from those that have been sent to me by owners and builders over many years.

Cover of 2012 calendar

There are only 12 months and 1 cover available, so there is a limit to what we could include. I have shown as many boats as I could fit in, so some readers will be lucky enough to be included this year. We have many beautiful photos but most were automatically excluded by being of low resolution.

February photo page

If you are interested in buying the calendar, go to Lulu.com . You can view before buying. Current price is US$17 but if you register on the Lulu website, you will receive regular discount offers by email to get it or other publications at a reduced price. They are printed by suppliers in many countries, so yours will come from your closest supplier for reduced shipping cost.

I invite all owners and builders of our boats to send me your best hi-res photos for consideration to be included in future calendars. They must be at least 300dpi resolution, the higher the better.

Thanks for reading. To see our full range of designs, go to http://dixdesign.com/ .

Hardy Boatbuilders

2011-12-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

I have built all of my big boats outside, sometimes with temporary shelters over them to allow me to work through the winter rainy season or to protect new materials that were sentitive to moisture. I built a 36 footer (not my design) when in my 20s, a 34 footer (CW975) when in my 30s and a 38 footer (Didi 38) when in my 40s, all of them from plywood.

I had it easy, compared to many builders of our boats. A few days ago, Bill Connor in Boulder Colorado sent me this photo after an early winter blizzard. Doesn't look like a boat but under all that cold white stuff is a Didi 40cr hull and deck.

Stern view of Bill Connor's Didi 40cr

Bill writes the following. "As you know, building ourside requires an understanding of local weather, cooperation with the weather you are given (as opposed to forecast), perseverance, and a sense of humor, not unlike sailing itself. Local weather in Boulder means Chinooks, cold, and snow. The winds came early this year with 85kts. at the house mid-October, so the tent had to come down for the season. I finished glassing the deck and cabin, but the cockpit coamings were in progress so they'll have to wait under plastic until an Indian Summer or until Spring rolls around - so it goes. Meanwhile, I'll work on assemblies in the shop with an eye towards next Summer's goal: painting the exterior and decking."

Bill highlights something that I mention in various places on my website and documentation supplied with our designs. It is important with a large project like this to always have a few sub-projects on the go or being planned so that you can carry on with other work inside the workshop or inside the covered boat. If you are going to sit and wait out the rain or snow then the boat might never be finished.

Igor Pokusaev is building his Hout Bay 30 in

Moscow, Russia.

So, almost wherever you are, you should be able to build a boat. You must make allowances in your planning for your local conditions and you might have to seek premises that will allow you to build indoors. However, by making suitable choices, you will be able to successfully build a boat.

Aluminium Boatbuilding

2011-11-30T21:14:00.001-05:00

This post was prompted by me receiving the photo below from a client who is building one of my aluminium designs. I have posted about him before, his name is Brian Russell and he is building in Tennessee. The reason for the post? Well, the photo is just so gorgeous in its composition and shows up the framing system of the boat so nicely. And, of course, there is his pretty wife right in the middle of it as well, to add interest.

Brian Russell's Dix 43 Pilot. The black surfaces are

insulation, which highlight the framing system of

longitudinal stringers and transverse frames.

Brian is a professional sculptor, so he obviously does beautiful work and has a great eye for aesthetics to show it all off. Brian's website is at http://www.odysseyyachts.com/ .

This design is the Dix 43 Pilot, originally drawn for steel construction. Many have been built by professional and amateur builders from steel and a few have been built by professionals from aluminium. One of them, "Blue Pearl" was built by Jacobs Brothers in Cape Town and has cruised many thousands of miles, including voyages to both the Arctic and the Antarctic.

"Blue Pearl" in the Antarctic

Aluminium is a great boatbuilding material and well-proven in use. It is also a much nicer material with which to work than steel. It is relatively light, so it is easier to manhandle pieces by yourself than with steel, with less need for heavy-lifting equipment. It is also easily worked with woodworking machinery like power saws, power planes etc and it is a lot quieter to work than steel. It also has the advantage that it is not necessary to paint it above the waterline, so the increased cost of the material is offset to large extent by the savings in fairing and painting.

OK, so what is the problem with it that blocks most amateur builders from using it? Aluminium is a material that can result in an unsafe boat if the builder does not properly educate himself before starting construction. That education is needed in two areas, which are proper choice of alloys and correct welding techniques. Get these two things right and you will have a good boat.

Proper choice of alloys is important because incorrect alloys will result in corrosion problems that will seriously shorten the safe life of the boat. The aluminium must be marine grade, from the 5000 and 6000 series of alloys and they must be selected for their strength, welding and corrosion characteristics.

Correct welding technique is much more important for aluminium than for steel because it is a more difficult material to weld successfully. Correct preparation of the weld zone and cleanliness of the work area are needed because any contamination in the weld will adversely affect weld adhesion and strength. Aluminium welding is also badly affected if the inert gas is blown away, allowing oxidation of the molten metal. That means that there must be no wind or other air movement where the welding is going on.

So, any amateur who is prepared to take courses at the nearest Community College should be able to build a good boat in aluminium. You don't want to find out in 60 knots of wind and 50ft seas in the Southern Ocean that your welding techniques were not up to scratch. Do it right and you will have a boat that can take you anywhere in the world that you want to go.

See our full range of designs and much info on boatbuilding at http://dixdesign.com/.

Time to Plan for Winter

2011-11-06T23:04:00.000-05:00

Winter is coming fast and the weatherman says that it will be another cold one, much like last year. If you are into winter sports, this is a great time of year. If you are like me, you prefer the warmer months. Despite that, I don't let the cold trap me inside, you will often find me out on the ocean, surfing in air and water temperatures that are not many degrees above freezing. I will be covered head to toe in black neoprene, with only my face exposed to the elements. If the surf is good, that is where I will be.

When I am not surfing or working, I keep myself busy in the workshop with projects. My current project is rebuilding a 40 year old British sportscar, a Lotus Europa S2. It was given to me by a friend, in a very sad state. This project will keep me busy for a few winters.

My Lotus Europa rebuild project, garaged and with

the body off the chassis. My surfboards are racked

on the wall.

Now is the time to plan what you will do this winter. Building a small boat is a great project that will keep you busy, in a warm shop or garage. It will also result in a product of your own hands, of which you will be proud and which will give you lots of fun when the warmer weather returns.

Nomatter what your age, you can benefit from building a small boat. As a schoolboy, you can build it for yourself. As a father or grandfather, you can build it for yourself and your children or grandchildren. Whether you are into fishing, sailing or the exercise of rowing or paddling, there are boats that you can build with basic woodworking skills.

Some designs need boatbuilding skills but most can be built by people with only basic woodworking skills and no prior boatbuilding experience. You should choose a design that you are sure that you will be able to complete. It is good to challenge yourself but don't aim so high that your project will get the better of you.

We have a few designs that are suitable for winter builds. At the lower end of the skills scale are the 3:1 dinghies that are built by the stitch & glue method. They can be built by almost anyone and can be propelled by oars, sails or a small outboard motor. Use them for sailing, fishing, teaching boating skills or simply lazing around on the water, with or without a fishing rod.

Nicely built Argie 10 3:1 dinghy, built from

plywood by an inexperienced amateur builder.

At the other end of the skills scale are the lapstrake Challenger and the Paper Jet. A completed Challenger is also a 3:1 multi-purpose dinghy. The Paper Jet is very different, being only a sailing dinghy. But it is a sailing dinghy with a difference in that it has 3 sailing configurations that make it suitable for sailing at all skill levels.

Whatever, your boating preferences you can find a boat to build in our Winter Projects. If you get started now, you can be having fun "messing about in boats" when the warm summer months come again.

See all of our designs at http://dixdesign.com/ .

Mini-Transat sailor Radek Kowalczyk

2011-10-13T21:30:00.001-04:00

Radek Kowalczyk is sailing his little boat "Calbud" in the Mini-Transat single-handed race that is currently being sailed between France and Brazil. He is the third Polish sailor to sail in this event. His boat is built from radius chine plywood, to the first version of our Didi Mini design. Radek is proving to be a resilient sailor.

Radek Kowalczyk arriving in Madeira

Radek was unlucky, on the first leg, to hit a whale. The inpact damaged his keel, necessitating heading into a small harbour in Portugal to make repairs. The damage appears to have been primarily delamination of the carbon skin that he applied over the outside of my aluminium keel design. The repair kept him in port for a few days before he could resume his voyage.

Radek and "Calbud" arrived in Madeira yesterday to a massive welcome from fellow competitors, family and friends. He and his boat were both given a clean bill of health by doctors and the Mini 650 class inspectors respectively. Today they set off on the second leg of the race, more than 3000 miles to Brazil.

"Calbud" undergoing inspection in Madeira.

Radek is a great example of what this race is all about. He is resilient in the face of adversity and does whatever is needed to achieve his goal of sailing this race. He is part of an ever-growing group of single-handed sailors who treat each other with great respect. They support each other like family, to help each other through these events.

Radek, you have earned our respect and I wish you the best of sailing for the rest of this race.

Sneak Preview

2011-10-09T22:46:00.001-04:00

We have a new small sailboat taking shape in a remote workshop in rural North Carolina. It is a performance dinghy with a twist. It will be an exciting boat with a trapeze or two, or a ballast bulb can be added to the daggerboard to make a more docile small sportboat or family funboat. This is the first time that we are showing it anywhere public because it is not yet ready for plans sales. The design has taken a backseat due to pressure from other designs, so it has gone rather slowly

This hull shape was requested by my client, in preference to a simpler hard-chine or multi-chine hull form of stitch-&-glue hull construction. It is a direct development of the Didi Mini Mk3, scaled down to a smaller size.

This is a project that is suited to builders who have already built a stitch-&-glue boat or two and want to develop their skills further. It is built mostly with sheet plywood, to a shape that comes very close to those used for the latest breed of Volvo and other high performance raceboats, with a chine above a rounded bottom.

In these photos we have clamped the flat sheets to the framing on one side of the hull, to check that all fit correctly. This is a CNC kit, so we need to be sure that it goes together properly. The turn of the bilge will be skinned with two thinner layers laminated together to form a compound curve.

This first boat should be ready for the Wooden Boat Show in June 2012, at Mystic Seaport. Make plans to be there if you want to see her in the flesh.

See our design range at http://dixdesign.com .

DH550 Catamaran

2011-09-03T23:23:00.000-04:00

We have added an option of cruising fin keels to the DH550 performance cruising catamaran design. The plans continue to show the daggerboards that were originally in the design and additional drawings are now included to show the fixed keels.

DH550 prototype "Wild Vanilla"

Daggerboards offer improved windward performance and the ability to pull the boards up for beaching and for side-slipping in extreme weather. Cruising keels offer simpler sailing.

This option will also be available on the smaller sister, the Dix 470, when any builder wants that feature.

Visit http://dixdesign.com/ to see all of our designs.

Dudley

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-25T23:32:00.000-04:00

Hurricane Irene is one mean gal. She has us in her sights here in Virginia Beach and will arrive Saturday. Forecasts are that she will go right over us before heading for New York, Boston and points North.

There is likely to be a lot of flood and wind damage around here, with prolonged power outages that could go on for a fortnight or more. If you are unable to make contact with us in the aftermath of Irene, please bear with us. We will be back on-line and working as soon as we can. We have a generator to keep the office and household going but will still have no contact with the outside world if there are widespread outages that shut down communications.

For now, we are battening down the hatches and moving all loose stuff indoors. This will be the first major storm test for my new boat shed, in which my Paper Jet is hiding from the angry elements.

Dudley

Metal Boat Festival Wrap-up

2011-08-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

I returned home yesterday from the 24th Metal Boat Festival, held 19-21 August at the Cap Sante Boat Haven in Anacortes, WA. The venue was good, there was an interesting array of metal boats to be viewed on the marinas and great people to meet and with whom to socialise.

I was lucky to be the guest of Ian and Laurie Clark, on their centre cockpit Dix 43 "Namo". She was beautifully built by John Dearden of Gibsons, BC. I was made to feel very welcome and tried very hard to behave myself (not that easy).

Dudley with Laurie and Ian Clark on "Namo".

Thanks to Owen Youngblood for the photo.

Highlight of the weekend was the very interesting presentation by Charmaine Lingard (assisted by daughter Sindella) about their voyaging in the Antarctic and Chile aboard Vickers 45AC "Vlakvark". Charmaine had the audience enthralled with her video showing the interaction of her family with nature in this extreme climate. This part of the 3-day program alone was worth the effort of flying across the continent to attend.

My thanks to Charmaine Lingard and Brian Russell for their presentations, which supported my own talks, helping to make this a successful event.

The beautiful "Tana Vika"

2011-08-11T21:48:00.002-04:00

Every now and then I am sent a truely gorgeous photo of one of my boats, which I just have to show off.

Today I received this beautiful one from Tony and Angela Maslin, of their Dix 43HD "Tana Vika". They were sailing in company with Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger on "Hawk" along the Newfoundland coast. Thanks to Beth for the photo.

"Tana Vika" was built by Neriede Yachting in Czech Republic. Tony and Angela took delivery at the yard in motor-away state, without the rig. They motored through the rivers and canals of Europe to UK, where the rig was fitted. Since then they have crossed the Atlantic and cruised the Caribbean and East Coast of USA and Canada.

Her construction is aluminium and she was built from a kit that was pre-cut by CNC using cutting files prepared by Robert Christinger of Alumar Yachts.

PS. When Tony sent me the photo he said that they were able to hold "Hawk", a Samoa 47, for the 30 mile beat during which the photo was taken. I didn't initially include it in my blog in case Tony was stretching the truth a bit. Since then Beth has confirmed that the two boats had a great race and were a good match.

24th Annual Metal Boat Festival

2011-07-19T19:21:00.001-04:00

The Metal Boat Festival is a gathering of people who are involved with steel and aluminium boats and takes place annually in the Pacific Northwest. It has moved around this beautiful area and this year it takes place at the Cap Sante Boat Haven in the Port of Anacortes Marina from 19-21 August.

This year I will be one of the speakers at the Festival. I have participated four times since 1998 but have not been there for about 5 years. I look forward to returning and renewing old friendships.

On the Friday evening I will be the dinner speaker, with a PowerPoint illustrated talk about growing up as a surfer/sailor/amateur boatbuilder in South Africa, how it affected the development of my career as a yacht designer and the subsequent path that I have taken.

Table Mountain, looking across Table Bay, home

waters for my offshore sailing in Cape Town.

On Saturday afternoon I will talk about developments in boat design through the years. This will be partly historical and partly current trends and will also be a PowerPoint presentation. It will cover such issues as hull, keel, rudder and rig design and the effects that decisions have on the behaviour of the resulting boat.

On Sunday morning I will be one of the panel in the Designers and Builders Forum. This is an open discussion with people from the floor asking questions of the designers and builders on the panel. From past experience, this leads to valuable and very interesting discussion, with the members of the panel offering their solutions to problems posed.

The program includes interesting presentations by boat builders and others from the boating industry on a wide range of subjects related to building, owning, maintaining and cruising boats generally, with a strong leaning toward metal boats. A highlight will be a talk by Charmaine Lingard about their voyages between Canada and Antarctica, over the barbecue dinner on Saturday evening. Their boat is "Vlakvark", built in South Africa to my Vickers 45AC design. See the full festival schedule .

Berthing will be available on the marina for metal boats associated with the Festival. One of them will be the aluminium centre cockpit Dix 43 "Namo", owned by Ian Clark and built by John Dearden in Gibson, BC.

Dix 43 "Namo" on launch day.

So, if you are interested in metal boats, or want to learn more about them, Anacortes could be the best place to be on 19-21 August.

Wooden Boat Show wrap-up

2011-07-01T10:07:00.000-04:00

The 20th Annual Wooden Boat Show was a great success. Attendance was at a record high and the visitors seemed to be serious about boats, not just tourists passing through Mystic Seaport. We had visitors at our booth and Paper Jet most of the time, sometimes lined up waiting to talk.

To those guys who told me that I get them into trouble, I sympathise with you for your predicament. It seems that they spend too much time in my website, which gets them into trouble with their wives. At least it is not porn or drugs taking their time and hard-earned money.

Special visitors to our display were Bill Conner with son Spencer and father Bill Snr. They are building a Didi 40cr in Boulder, Colorado and are turning the hull this week. Another special visitor was Eric Thesen, originally from Knysna South Africa and now living in New Zealand. He worked on a Vickers 45 in Knysna and is now working in New England on a large rebuild project. Thanks guys, for coming by.

Bill Connor's hull ready for turning

The Paper Jet attracted even more attention this year than before. We expect to sell a few more of them before the 21st Annual Wooden Boat Show. We hope to be there with the Paper Jet and another new plywood dinghy, which is currently being built in North Carolina.

Regards,

Dudley
Visit our website for info on our designs.

Wooden Boat Show 2011

2011-06-03T17:22:00.000-04:00

We are heading into summer and our annual boat show road trip is approaching. The destination is the very beautiful Mystic Seaport, Connecticutt. The show is the 20th Annual Wooden Boat Show.

We will have the prototype of the Paper Jet sailing skiff on display, as well as information on our many other designs, for building from all materials. We will be at Booth 13A in Tent A, with our boat set up just outside the entrance alongside our booth. In 2007 we received the Outstanding Innovation Award at this show for the Paper Jet.

Paper Jet numbers are growing worldwide. This week we have shipped plans to a builder in Thailand, who has sail #55. A Paper Jet Forum has been started recently for exchange of ideas and tips for building, rigging, sailing and tuning the Paper Jet.

Please drop by the booth or boat to see what we have, ask questions or just chat about what new designs we have coming soon.

Quality Metal Boat Kits

2011-04-28T21:51:00.000-04:00

Robert Christinger is the man behind Alumar Yachts. His first experience of our designs was when he bought plans for the Dix 43 Pilot, to have one built for himself. He converted our 2-dimensional paper plans into a very detailed 3-dimensional computer model, complete with every piece of metal that was to go into the boat structure.

Then he converted the entire structure into interlocking pieces, nested them onto aluminium plates and had them cut by a metal supplier with CNC equipment. That is the process of creating a kit that can be built by a professional boatbuilder, or any suitably experienced amateur.

The pieces were delivered to the builder and the boat in the photo below was the result.

That was the first of a series. Since then Robert has designed similar CNC kits for a few of our other designs. Alumar Yachts can supply cutting files for a kit to be cut by a supplier near to the builder or can arrange for supply of a pre-cut kit to be delivered. Robert can also customise the model and cutting files to suit the owner's needs.

One of the people for whom Robert supplied cutting files is Brian Russell in Tennessee. Brian is a very skilled metal sculptor who has taken to boatbuilding. He is building the Dix 43 Pilot for himself and producing a high quality boat.

Brian's company is Odyssey Yachts, with a great blog illustrating every step of his building process. Odyssey Yachts is also the agent for Alumar Yachts in North America, able to supply pre-cut kits for our metal designs.

If you are considering building a metal boat, contact Robert or Brian via the contact pages on their websites. They can help to reduce the time and effort needed to build a quality boat.

See our full range of designs at http://dixdesign.com/ .

WOOD Regatta

2011-04-25T23:13:00.000-04:00

The WOOD Regatta is approaching fast. It will be sailed on 20-22 May at the Rock Hall Yacht Club in Maryland, just across Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis.

This looks like being a memorable racing and social event. A wide range of wooden boat types have already entered and the Rock Hall Yacht Club has a reputation for laying on excellent racing, with good facilities both on and off the water. Organisation is by Carl Cramer and his able staff at Wooden Boat Magazine.

You can read more about the regatta at http://www.woodenboat.com/woodregatta.php and keep up to date on developments through the WOOD Regatta thread on the Wooden Boat Forum .

Wooden sailboats up to 30ft on deck are eligible, so whether you have an Argie 10 or a Didi 26, you are able to sail in the regatta. I have entered my Paper Jet #001 and hope to meet owners of some of our other wooden boats there as well.

Don't wait too long, entries close on May 5th.

Hubble, Bubble, Toil & Trouble

2011-02-20T22:55:00.001-05:00

With my apologies to the late great William Shakespeare, we have just come through a trying time. Those of you who have tried to visit our website and instead found error pages or error messages will have felt some of the frustration along with us.

It started with reports that some visitors from South Africa could not access our website. Try as we might, we could not find for certain where the problem was. It only affected some and not others but we knew there was a problem to sort out. Internet techs and computer geeks on both sides of the Atlantic tried to find the problem without success. My conclusion was that there was a breakdown in connection between a router in Northern Virginia and our ISP, not too far away.

For those who don't know these things (and probably also don't care), your computer talks to websites on the other side of the world with signals that travel at the speed of light and pass through up to 20 routers and the cables, microwaves etc that connect them. Each of those routers can be identified by IP address, owner, location etc so that we can find where a problem is, if we are lucky. So, I identified that my problem was probably with a particular router machine at a particular company in Andover, VA.

However, that bit of info did not solve the problem. Before I was able to arrange a fix, my website disappeared from the face of the earth, to be replaced by 404 Error Page messages where previously we had all those pretty pictures and lots of text to help you fall asleep. Its disappearance also sent 18-24 hours of emails flying off into cyberspace at a speed so fast that even the Hubble Telescope has no chance of spotting them, let alone ugly witches staring into a bubbling pot.

So, if you sent us any emails in the past day or two and have not had a response, please send them again. If you tried to visit us and have been concerned about the error pages, please visit again. We are still at the same address, although that address has magically moved from Virginia to Massachusetts, courtesy of the wonders of the web, some deft fingerwork on my keyboard and much head scratching to get it all to work properly. I have moved it to a company that is able to offer proper support when I need it.

If you see anything that is not working properly, I apologise. I cannot visit every page of my site to check that they are all working as intended but you guys will spot any problems. Please tell me if you see anything that I need to correct.

Thank you all, for staying loyal to us.

Dudley

250 And Still Going Strong

2011-01-20T22:03:00.000-05:00

The Didi 26 has to rate among our most successful designs. I designed it in 1997/8, so it has been around for about 13 years. In that time we have sold plans for 250 boats, so about 20 boats per year. They have been built by amateur builders on all continents and in far-off corners of the world.

I have no idea how many are on the water because only a small proportion of owners send me their launch and sailing photos. I am very grateful to those owners of our boats who do send photos of the build process and sailing once completed.

The most recent sailing photo that I have received for a Didi 26 was from Bill Richards on South Island in New Zealand. He has sent me a few sailing pics over the past year or two but the new one is very nice, showing his "Panic Knot" at speed under masthead asymmetrical in strong winds.

Bill added the following commentary to his photo.

"The conditions where extremely testing with a southerly wind that ranged from 5 knots to 30 knots. So we put up as much sail as we dared and went for it. We did wipe out several times both using the fractional and mast head kites. We tried very hard to break stuff but didn't succeed. max speed was 15 knots in flat water. And everything was under control on a good deep run, unfortunatley the course then called for a reach to the finish so we had to turn and try and carry kite, we managed very well until the gusts built to strong and then couldn't control it, ( the other boats wiped out before us) recovery was quick and I can now prove that the boat has a good righting moment, as we managed to have the mast head kite up and full main up with the top of the mast in the water!

What helped us was that the oppositon were flying conventioanl spinnakers and when they lost it they didn't recover as quickly as us. When we rounded up we didn't ever get as far as head to wind or worse as the oppositon did. The crew didn't even get wet feet as the boat on its side sits very high in the water. There is no chance of any water getting near the companion way.

The photo shows us doing about 12 knots."

We also have a 23ft version of this concept, the Didi 23.

Please visit our website to see our other designs.

More Lake Baikal

2010-12-31T13:28:00.000-05:00

In my previous post I highlighted Lake Baikal in Siberia as an example of how our boats are being built in parts of the world about which most people have never heard. Following on that post, I have received photographs of two more of our Lake Baikal boats, both built by Stanislav Pechenkin.

This is a Didi 38, for which he bought plans in 2002.

This is a Didi Mount Gay 30, for which he bought plans in 2003.

It looks like Stanislav made a beautiful job of these two building projects. It is always pleasing for a designer to see a builder produce good quality.

If you have built one of our boats in a remote place, please send me some photos. You may see your boat in a future post on this blog.

We wish everyone a great New Year celebration and a wonderful 2011.

Dudley

See our designs on our website.

We've turned 80

2010-12-04T18:02:00.001-05:00

About 9 years ago we turned 50 and had a big party. Now we have turned 80. How did we age so fast, another 30 in less than 10 years?

The answer is that we have now sold our boat designs to customers in 80 countries. That is the power of the internet. It allows us to reach, communicate with and support people in almost any country in the world. We are able to support a builder in a small country on the other side of the world just as easily as a builder around the corner from us.

As long as we are able to communicate by email, the builder can send me questions and I can respond in a reasonably short time. That is easy enough if the builder is fairly comfortable with English but it has sometimes presented challenges when neither of us understands the language of the other. On-line translation services have helped tremendously, allowing me to translate the questions into English, write the answer then translate back into the builder's language before sending the email. The translation sometimes needs a bit of interpretation because of the translation program using general terms rather than boating terms but the message does get through.

When I was a kid, my parents used to talk of Outer Mongolia as a really out-of-the-way place, even more unreachable than Timbuktu. They were right, of course, but the world has changed. Now we have 11 boats, from 15 to 43ft, being built or already in the water, in a city named Irkutsk. This city is on the shores of Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake in the world. It is more than 1 mile deep in places, holds 20% of all of the fresh water in the world (as much water as all of the Great Lakes together) and it would take the Amazon River 5 years to fill it. Irkutsk is in the middle of Siberia, Russia, to the North of Mongolia. I find it amazing that we have so many customers in a remote place like that. Their water is frozen almost half the year, so they have a short sailing season. That doesn't stop them from wanting to build boats. Read more about the amazing Lake Baikal.

The boat above is a Didi 26 being built in Irkutsk by Ivan Vasilyev. A bigger sister, the Didi 38, is being built by Stanislav Pechenkin.

We have other boats being built in many other places that are seldom, if ever, heard of. You can see the countries where we have sold plans on our countries page.

It is growing cold here but not as cold as Siberia, I am sure. We have snow flurries in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow will be the day for adding Christmas lights to the outside of the house. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Dudley

Visit our website.

Amateur Boatbuilders

2010-11-28T09:06:00.000-05:00

We have developed a strong following among amateur boatbuilders over many years. This did not happen by accident because my own roots are deeply bedded in amateur projects of my own. I built my first boat in 1974, a 4.5m (14' 9") tortured plywood single-handed trapeze catamaran that I raced for a few years. This was also the first design that I drew, as an inexperienced amateur.

That was followed in 1975 by the 11m (36ft) "Tai-Neam" to a van de Stadt design, the 10m (34ft) "Concept Won" to our award winning CW975 design and the 11.5m (38ft) "Black Cat" to our Didi 38 design, prototype for our very successful radius chine plywood building method. There were also a few dinghies and canoes, the last being the prototype of the Paper Jet trapeze skiff design.

But this post is not about my own projects, it is about other amateurs building our boats. They number in the thousands. Most go about building their boats at their own pace, then launch and sail them without ever contacting us again.

The boat above is an Hout Bay 30, built in Germany by Christiane and Jorg Langanky. They built their boat, sent me photos and have now sailed away to cruise the world.

There are also many builders who like to show their projects, to proudly display what they have achieved. I am thankful to those builders for sending us the info, either photos or links to websites or blogs about their projects.

We have a large section of our website dedicated to amateur projects of all sizes, with photos of boats being built and completed projects. Some of them have links to websites where the owners have taken the trouble to document every step of the build with photos, posting them for others to follow.

Time pressure has prevented me from adding to that section for awhile but technology came to my rescue. Now many builders choose blogs to show their projects. When they send us the link we list them on our Amateur Builders Web Links.

If you are considering building a boat yourself and are concerned about your ability to take on such a build, take a look at the projects. The links are sorted by design to make it easier to find what you want. Most of these pages are in the language of the builder but some browsers can be set to automatically translate them into your own language.

Here are some examples from our list.
Quinn Farnes building his Paper Jet in California.
Sergey Bogdanov building his Argie 15 in Russia.
Roland Zellweger building his Didi 26 on a beach in the Philippines.
Jarl Steffanson building his Hout Bay 33 in Iceland.
Marco Gheri and Alessio Bianchi building their Vickers 45AC in Italy
.
If you are already building one of our boats and you have a blog for the project, please send me the link so that I can add it to the list.

Have a great holiday season.

Dudley Dix

The Italian Job

2010-11-06T14:19:00.001-04:00

Today was the launch day for the new Dix 38 Pilot, “Imagine”. She is owned by Giulio and Lidia Mazzolini of Milan but will be berthed here in Trieste, near to the holiday home of the owners.

“Imagine” was beautifully built by the expert Italian craftsmen of Cantiere Alto Andriatico S.r.l. This is a yard that is expert in building and restoring wooden boats to a very high standard. I was privileged to be able to see a number of boats that they have built or restored, some of which were on an exhibition that I was able to visit in Trieste.

“Imagine” is aluminium, so somewhat out of the main area of expertise of Caintiere Alto Andriatico but they seem to have adapted their skills to finish her in gorgeous style. They received an unfinished hull, after the original builders went into liquidation and have taken her through to completion.

The rig must still be fitted to “Imagine” and a few other things sorted out, as is always the case with a new boat. It will be a few weeks before she comes to life under sail.

I congratulate the owners and the builders on the new baby. She makes me proud.

Dudley Dix

Italy visit

2010-10-31T10:51:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday 2nd November I fly out to Italy, for a two week visit. I will be the guest of the owner of a new aluminium Dix 38 Pilot that will be launched in Trieste on 6th November. She is being built by professional builders in Italy. Here are photos of her when the structure was completed.

I will also visit the builders of a Vickers 45AC in Florence and spend time doing touristy things like soaking up whatever I can of the ancient world, not available to us in the New World. The young guys think that I am old enough to be part of the Ancient World anyway but there is no doubt that I can benefit from being immersed in culture for a couple of weeks.

My wife, Dehlia, will keep the office running as usual. She does all the important things around here anyway, while I draw pictures of boats. I am indebted to her for putting up with me all these years and helping to make boats so much a part of my life.

I will be back at home 16th November.

Dudley

CNC kits for Didi 28

2010-08-27T16:50:00.000-04:00

A few posts back I announced the latest addition to our radius chine plywood Didi range, the Didi 28. This design was commissioned by an amateur builder in Greece who wanted a maxi trailer-sailer, along the lines of the Didi 26 but with more space and comfort.

Panel files are now complete for the bulkheads and all of the skin panels for hull, deck, cabin and cockpit. They can be cut by any of our normal plywood kit providers, who are listed on our kits page. The panel files will be supplied to whichever of those suppliers you choose to cut it for you. There are contact links to all suppliers on that page.

See our full range of designs.

Dudley

Cape Henry 21

2010-07-03T07:28:00.000-04:00

I was surprised a few weeks ago to hear that a photo of a Cape Henry 21 is on the front cover of the June issue of Sailing magazine. It was another week before I had a copy in my hands to see for myself . It really is a beautiful Billy Black photo of "Mehala" in drifting conditions on Long Island Sound. It was taken while we were waiting for some breeze to do a sail test for Wooden Boat magazine in June 2009.

I contacted the staff of Sailing to thank them and have also sent them all that is needed for a design review. Watch for that in an upcoming issue.

"Mehala" was owner-built by South African Mike Smith, who lives in Darien, Connecticut. He berths her at Norwalk Yacht Club on Long Island Sound, where he is a past commodore.

Mike did a very nice job of building "Mehala". She is very pretty and sails well (not that I was able to experience her sailing ability, the breeze never did excede about 2 knots).

I was on "Mehala" with Dan Segal, who was commissioned by Wooden Boat to author their sail test. He gave her an excellent review, which covers 6 full pages of the July/August issue of Wooden Boat, currently on the shelves. My thanks go to Dan Segal and the staff at Wooden Boat for such a wonderful review and to Mike Smith for allowing us the use of "Mehala".

The tale of "Vlakvark", a very cold warthog

2010-05-20T23:22:00.003-04:00

"Vlakvark" is a steel Vickers 45AC . She is named for an African warthog but she has spent much of her time in the past two years in the Antarctic. Owned by Stuart Sugden and Charmaine Lingard, this beautiful photo of her appeared last week as Cruising Shot of the Week in Cruising Compass, The Weekly Newsletter for Sailors & Cruisers.

"Vlakvark" was originally named "Tantalus". She was built by Brian Alcock and his team at Hout Bay Yachts, for John and Rose Stockwell. They cruised her across the Atlantic and chartered her for a few years in the Caribbean.

Her next owner was Sandy Wakeman, who renamed her "Sweetwater". She was based on the East Coast and cruised the Caribbean.

Sandy Wakeman sold her to Stuart and Charmaine, from British Columbia, who renamed her "Vlakvark". They wanted a connection to her South African origins, so chose the Afrikaans name for the warthog. They then took their warthog out of its normal hot climate and headed through the worst cruising waters in the world, to the ice. They have done this not once but twice. It seems that she has enjoyed the change and has carried her crew in comfort and safety. Now she is en-route North through the Pacific, heading for her home base in BC, Canada.

Dudley

The Shearwater 45

2010-05-13T23:20:00.000-04:00

The Shearwater 45 came into being via a rather strange route. The Shearwater 39 had proven to be a popular cruiser and soon built a reputation as a seaworthy voyager that caught attention wherever it went. There were people who wanted a bigger sister but nobody would commit by commissioning the new design nor coming up with money to finance the cost of building a plug and moulds.

Eventually my friend Pat Fraser, who had been a professional boatbuilder, came to me with the same thoughts but with an idea to make the whole process more viable with a limited budget. He suggested that we take bow and stern mouldings from the moulds of the Shearwater 39 and set them up further apart, then fill in the rest of a 45ft boat between them. Crazy as it sounds, it was a practical idea, so we ran with it.

I drew lines for a 45ft hull and blended the ends into as much of the 39 as I could use. The result was in many ways a stretched out 39, with only small increases in beam and underbody depth and no change in freeboard. Aside from trimming off the skeg and changing from a transom-hung rudder to an inboard spade rudder, the rest of the hull and deck concept was to stay the same. From a relatively beamy 39 footer, we produced a relatively slim 45.

By that time Nebe Boats, builder of the Shearwater 39, no longer existed. Pat Fraser contracted Fortuna Boatbuilders to build the hull for him. They set up the two pieces of the Shearwater 39 on a frame, I gave them the shapes of the intermediate frames needed, then they built the remainder of the hull with Airex cored sandwich.

Pat had a partner in this project, his colleague at Manex & Power Marine, Dennis Colclough. Moulds were taken off Pat's hull and Dennis' boat was the first one from the moulds. These first two boats were to be staysail schooners but I anticipated that most others would be cutters and made allowance for it in the design.

These first two boats were fitted out by Pat Fraser and his team in Woodstock, Cape Town. Fortuna Boatbuilders now had moulds for building production boats. Richard Acheson entered at that stage and set up Shearwater Yachts to complete the hulls ordered from Fortuna. Later he was to buy the moulds for both the 39 and the 45, taking over all production.

First boats into the water were the schooners. They attracted a lot of attention, with their good looks and heavily raked masts. However, it was the first cutter to be launched that really attracted attention. Built by Shearwater Yachts, it was a high quality boat, beautifully detailed and it sailed past almost everything on Table Bay.

I recall the day that the test sail was done by a journalist from a British yachting magazine. I took a photographer out on my lightweight flyer "Black Cat" and Richard Acheson and the journalist went out double-handed on the 45. I had not yet sailed on the 45 so figured that my 4.75 ton 38 footer would be faster than a 45 footer that displaced nearly three times as much on only 10% more waterline. I set my full mainsail and blade #3 headsail, expecting to have similar speed. Boy, was I wrong.

Most of the sailing was in 8-10 knots and the 45 was slightly faster but the harbour entrance had about 18-20 knots of Westerly. Close-reaching through the harbour entrance "Black Cat" was cooking at 11 knots and I was dumping power from the mainsail to keep her on her feet. The 45 came through my lee, going at least 2 knots faster. They did not even have to drop the traveller to maintain control. They just flew past us looking very relaxed while making us look stupid. That boat has a big sailplan and the stability to just pick up its skirts and go.

Ever since that day nothing has surprised me about the performance of the Sheawater 45. Every sail test that I have seen has remarked on the extraordinary speed and manoevrability, which catches everyone by surprise. Owners have told me how much joy they get out of sailing past boats that look like they should be faster or of surprising hard-nosed racers round the buoys.

Richard took the first boat to the London Boat Show at Earls Court and it also went to the Southampton Boat Show. It received rave reviews but there seemed to be a resistance to buying a boat built in South Africa. The next boat that Shearwater Yachts built went to the Annapolis Sailboat Show, where it received the top awards as Traditional Cruiser of the Year and Overall Boat of the Year. Again it received rave reviews.

Richard received many USA enquiries but they resulted in no sales. He was to find out later from someone highly placed in the USA boating industry that enquiries for the Shearwater 45 were diverted elsewhere. Much as I would like to say more about it, I cannot do so in a visible place such as this. Suffice to say that the marketing effort in USA was killed by vested interest.

The first boats built by Shearwater Yachts were of excellent quality. The one on the Annapolis Show was so good that the judges were unable to fault it in any regard. Their overall comment was "This is an extraordinary boat". Later, when the wheels started to come off due to financial difficulties, problems started to come in. Owners of these boats had issues to resolve but their boats are now also in good shape.

I have contact with owners of some of the boats but I have lost track of most of the hull numbers. Here is the info that I do have.

Daniel Hall has his schooner "Apella", ex "Wave-Maiden", on Cayuga Lake in central New York State.

Terry Usher of Cape Town has the cutter "Sharyn-Leigh", currently in Florida.

Steven Schapera has his cutter "Becca" in Caloforte, Sadinia and reported that "Peperuka" is on the same marina.

Steve Hunt has his cutter "Maggy May" in the Caribbean and really appreciates her performance and sailing characteristics.

Chris Hull of Cape Town and owner of the Shearwater 39 "Sea Lion" commissioned preliminary design work for a Shearwater 52 last year. He has now decided not to proceed but that work could form the basis of a new design at some stage in the future.

Our new Maxi Trailer-Sailer

2010-05-06T23:16:00.000-04:00

We have a new design, as of today. It was commissioned by Nick Sverkos, of Athens in Greece. He wanted to build the Didi 26 but asked if he could have more space. He particularly wanted more headroom and beam and was not concerned about his boat being a bit more than normal towing width. He set a maximum beam of 2.9m.

Computers and CAD are wonderful for taking a design and rescaling it to create bigger or smaller clones. In theory they can do all of the work for us and then we print the drawings of the new design. Designing stuff is easy, isn't it?

That is fine if all is scaled up by the same proportions. Open a drawing, tell the program to rescale by the amount you want, adjust here and there for differences in material thicknesses, refit the result to the output paper size then hit print. But!!!!!! Make the proportional adjustment in one of the 3 directions different from the others and the situation changes completely. Shapes of all sorts of things change in ways that can be awkward. Circles become ellipses, squares go out of square and angles change. To simplify the whole issue I keep the proportional change in width and height the same so that the overall section shape doesn't go out of whack and the structural sections used for stringers etc don't go out of square.

Working with the Didi 26 as the starting point, I blew it up in all directions, more so in width and depth than in length. Next came another 100mm of freeboard, done by extending the hull sides upward without changing the side angle, so the deck became wider and the overall hull shape remained unchanged. After that I added another 100mm of height to the cabintop and adjusted stringer spacing to give a sound structure.

This all ended up as a large amount of redrawing for the structure. After all that the rescaled interior had some oddities, so I reworked that as well to make it work better. Final changes were reducing the cockpit width from the racing type of the 26, adding coamings for comfort and to give cubbyholes for winch handles, ham sandwiches etc, and a saildrive inboard diesel in place of the transom-mounted outboard.

The final result is a boat that will be a nice coastal fast cruiser. It will be light and stable enough for excellent speed, yet still able to get into shallow water. It will also follow the lead of the Didi 26 by being a great club racer. The sail plan is slightly more conservative than that of the Didi 26, yet this boat will still be fast enough for some exciting sailing.

More info on the Didi 28 is at http://dixdesign.com/28didi.htm .

Our Shearwater Designs - the 39

2010-04-24T22:07:00.008-04:00

Today I received an email from Magnus Murphy to tell me that he has started a Shearwater Yacht Owners Group on FaceBook for owners of boats to our Shearwater 39 & 45 designs, as well as anyone else who has an interest in these boats. Magnus and his family own a really nice and rather well-known Shearwater 39 named "Losloper" (Afrikaans for Wanderer), pictured below. She was built in Cape Town by perfectionist craftsman Gary Back as his personal boat, was refitted after being damaged in a hurricane in the Caribbean, then was bought by Bernadette and Douglas Bernan. For a few years they cruised on her as "Ithaka", recording their adventures in Cruising World magazine, where Bernadette had been employed as Editor.

The Shearwater 39 design was commissioned by Gerfried Nebe, of Nebe Boatbuilders, who wanted a seaworthy and fast cruiser with modern underbody and classic good looks. The result was a very pretty and extremely capable offshore yacht that turns heads wherever it goes. Marketed only in the small South African market and mostly during the era of political isolation, it nevertheless gained a good following. I have lost track of many of the boats but here are some bits of info that I hope will not bore you to tears.

Hull #1 was built from wood and was Gerfried Nebe's own boat "Gabriel". The moulds for the GRP boats were taken from her. Gerfried has cruised her extensively in the Atlantic and is now readying her for her next voyage.

Hull #2 was built from aluminium by Jacobs Brothers Boatbuilders in Cape Town, for Lofty Huysamer. She was based in New Zealand the last that I heard. Lofty was a perfectionist but his own workmanship did not meet his own high standards. He fitted out the boat himself and kept rejecting his own work and ripping it out. When he left Cape Town his boat was little more than an empty shell, with only a nav station, galley and platform for a berth.

Hull #3 was built by John & Jo Fensham. She was launched as "Tamborine" and was sold about 2002. John says that she has left South Africa but he does not know where she is now. (Updated Jan 2012).

Hull # 4 belonged to an Italian family and was named "Kalahari", pictured below. She was lost in a small port in Croatia or thereabouts, when every boat in the harbour was shelled and sunk. Being a war situation, her owners received no insurance payout.

Hull #5 is a gaff-rigged excursion schooner built by Roddy Johnston. She carried passengers in Hout Bay, South Africa, for a seaon or two. He then moved her to the Caribbean, where she has carried thousands of excursion passengers as "Spirit of Anegada". She was owned/operated for a few years by Nick & Lyndsay Voorhoeve, who later commissioned our successful little Cape Cutter 19 design that is now built in UK.

Hull #7 became "Shoestring III", owned by my good friends Petr Muzik & May Lyon. Petr has circum-navigated on her, completing his voyage in December 2007 at the age of 69. Here is "Shoestring III" on her launch day.

Hull #8 was owned and fitted out by Richard Acheson, who later started Shearwater Yachts to build the Shearwater 45. His 39 was named "Askari".

Hull #9 was built by John & Hilary Price and named "Talitha Koum". She now belongs to Gordon Joyce and is based in the Persian Gulf.

Hull #10 is named "Pinta". She has a custom traditional two-box deck and gaff schooner rig and is owned by Robin and Laetitia Ellis on the West Coast of South Africa.

Hull #11 belonged to Thys Henson. On delivery to her new owner in the Persian Gulf in January 2008, she became entangled in fishing nets at night. Her delivery crew scuttled her in very unfortunate circumstances soon after, so that they could be removed from her by a passing ship. This episode resulted in the delivery skipper losing his RYA certification.

Hull #12 was bought by Juri Terblanche then sold to Ken Nicoll before Juri had progressed much with the fitout. John Fensham (owner of #3) fitted her out for Ken. The Nicoll family sailed her for a few years before a declining economy forced them to sell. Her next owner was Willie Vanderverre, who once told me that she was the most seaworthy boat he had ever owned, which included much bigger boats. Her next owner was Walter Burgoyne, who sold her to her current owner, Dennis Jud. She has been renamed "Centime" and is about to set off on the Caribbean 1500 at the start of long distance cruising. (Added Oct 2011)

Hull #13 was Gary Back's boat "Slithermoon", now magnus Murphy's "Losloper".

Hull #15 is "Freyja", originally owned by Koos Steyn and now Michael in Tasmania.

Hull #17 was built by Nebe Boatbuilders for Lewis Gerber and named "Honeychile". She now belongs to champion South African canoist Robbie Herreveld.

Hull #21 is based in Kiel, Germany, owned by Dr Reinhard Wiegers.

Hull #23 belonged to Mark Sweet, who was fitting her out with custom deck and gaff schooner rig for excursion work in Knysna, on the South African South Coast. One cold winter night a group of bergies (vagrants) climbed over the fence to shelter under her from the rain. Their fire got out of control and Mark's boat went up in flames.

Hull #24 was launched a couple of years ago by Rod & Mary Turner-Smith. Named "Sheer Tenacity", they are cruising in distant waters. They were at Isla Grande, Bay of Islands in Brazil last Christmas.

Hull #25 is named "Sea Lion" and is owned by Englishman Chris Hull. He has recently sailed her back to South Africa from Brazil, where he and his wife had been cruising.

I have lost track of most of the others that I have not listed. Hulls sometimes changed hands during fitting out, so their histories are not easy to follow.

Another boat that is not on my list is "Ukelele Lady", built for and owned for years by my good friend Nick Taylor. I sailed on her in the 1993 Cape to Rio Race as navigator and sailing master. Although we are still good friends, Nick swears that he will never sail long distance with me again because I am a madman on a boat. In explanation, I should tell you that I like to sail fast and efficiently. Nick likes to cruise and to do so slowly when he cannot see where he is going, such as any time that the sun goes to sleep. This normally happens about 12 hours out of 24, so Nick was very unhappy with my need to sail very fast 50% of the time that we were on the ocean. He named me "Herr Doktor" because he felt that I had been expelled from the Gestapo for cruilty. Like I said, we are still good friends.

A couple of other 39s are also being built from wood in other parts of the world.

The Shearwater is one of my favourite designs. I don't think that there is anything in it that I would change if I were to draw her again. It is one of those most wonderful of boats that sails much faster than it looks like it should. It is bad to design anything that looks fast but isn't, whether a boat, car, airplane or whatever. In contrast, it is great fun to pass anyone who believed their car/boat/airplane/whatever to be faster. The Shearwaters do that with style.

I will leave the Shearwater 45 for another time.

Link to Shearwater 39 web page.

:-) _/) _/) _/) (happy sailing smiley)

Dudley Dix

Wooden Boat Regatta 2011

2010-04-17T10:32:00.000-04:00

Wooden Boat Magazine is organising a sailing regatta for wooden boats for next year. Details are still being firmed up but it looks like it will happen in May 2011, with May 20-22 as the provisional dates. The planned venue is Rock Hall Yacht Club on the Eastern side of Chesapeake Bay, across from Annapolis MD.

This will be a good opportunity to show off your wooden boat, whether it is newly constructed, original classic or has been rebuilt. Logistics of hosting a wide range of boats and running races for all types dictate that there have to be limits on type and size of boats that will be eligible. This issue is being discussed on the Wooden Boat Forum, at http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?t=111790, where you can watch and participate in the development of this worthwhile event. The maximum size is likely to be set at 30ft length overall, including boswprit but excluding rudder.

I have not visited Rock Hall Yacht Club but it looks like a really nice venue. Sailing waters are good, with excellent facilities and on-site camping space available. The club has much experience running regattas, so they should be able to host a great event.

I plan to take my Paper Jet #1 to the regatta and hope that we will get many other Paper Jet owners to join us as well. The prototype of the Paper Jet's big sister should also be ready to join us by then.

If you don't own a wooden boat but want to, you have ample time to build a plywood sailing dinghy and have it in the water by May 2011. There are many plywood sailing designs of all concepts that you can choose from. To see what we have in our design range that may be suitable, go to our budget projects page
or our stock plan pricelist.

If you already have one of our wooden designs, please try to join us at Rock Hall Yacht Club for this event. Your boat does not have to be an established one-design racing class to participate. As long as your boat fits into the basic parameters of the regatta you will fit into a class under the handicap system that will be applied.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Passage to India with the World Wide Web

2010-04-01T21:58:00.000-04:00

It is about 27 years since we first signed up with an agent to represent us in a foreign country. We were in South Africa and that agent was Graham Shanon's Coast Yacht Design in Canada. That long ago, all written/sketched correspondence was exchanged by snailmail letter post, even before the advent of faxes to speed up our lives. Letters took 2-3 weeks each way by airmail between South Africa and USA. Builders had to think through problems for themselves or plan well ahead because a question would not receive a reply for 4-6 weeks.

The fax initiated the death of the leisurely pace of our lives forever but it took years for the mindset to change. Urgent issues were dealt with by fax and telephone but all else went the snailmail route as before.

Drawings were all done by hand with pencil or ink on velum or plastic film. The eraser was as much a creative tool as was the pencil. If I got the layout of a drawing wrong I had to erase it and redraw, start again from the beginning or tape a piece of velum to an edge of the drawing to adjust the position of my work on the sheet. Plans were printed by hand, one at a time, by the dyeline ammonia process. They had to be well cared for and builders had to protect them from light or the information disappeared from the paper.

Now, working in CAD, I just grab whatever I want to move with my computer mouse then move it to where I want it on the drawing, or I can change the size of the drawing in an instant. CAD is still just a tool, an electronic version of pencil and eraser, but it brought with it so many conveniences (and as many frustrations). CAD and computers offer countless features to speed up the design process but, when things go wrong electronically, they take back all the time that they have saved us, with interest. When the design is done, we print with permanent ink onto 50m long rolls of paper or Mylar, with one computer spewing prints out of two plotters and another printer simultaneoulsy.

Now we have instantaneous electronic communication in the form of email, Instant Messaging, Skype etc, which were supposed to make life easier and give us more time. Instead they have done the opposite. Sometimes if a question is not answered within 24 hours a reminder arrives in the inbox. Unfortunately, it is easier to send a question by email than to look for information that is already in our hands. We are all guilty of this when we have a problem. It makes life easier for he who has the problem but wastes the time of he who has to tell us where to look for the information that we already have at our fingertips.

Things really have changed. We live in another country and we are in daily contact with our builders worldwide. We have boats sailing or being built in 78 countries, on all continents and in all corners of the world. The Internet has allowed us to reach people whom and where I would never have dreamed possible only 20 years ago. As kids, we understood Mongolia to be an even more out of the way place than Timbuktu. Now, we have boats as large as 43ft being built to the North of Mongolia, in Siberia.

Much of this is also due to the network of wonderful agents that we have managed to develop over the years since Graham Shanon contacted me to ask if he could be my agent. These people provide the personal contact for us with our customers who are not comfortable with long-distance purchases or who do not have access to the Internet. They have proven to be particularly valuable in countries where most people cannot speak my language and I cannot speak theirs.

Today we have spread a bit further, by signing with a new agent who will represent us in India. Sailing and boating are rapidly growing activities in India and it will be good for us to be represented there. Pelican Yachts is owned by Sagar Kudale and Gaurav Shinde. Based in Mumbai, where they are active sailors and also teach sailing, they should be well positioned to sell our designs to builders in India. They have also taken on the rights to cut kits for our plywood designs, which they will be able to sell to amateur and professional builders.

We look forward to a long and mutually rewarding relationship with Pelican Yachts.

To make contact with Pelican Yachts or any of our other 15 agents, go to our contact page at http://dixdesign.com/email.htm .

Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium

2010-03-22T23:54:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I was in Annapolis for the Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium. This was the 2nd of what looks like becoming a biennial event. With a good crowd in attendance and ample quality papers delivered, it looks like it has a great future as an occasion to educate oneself about developments in power boat design.

Held on the campus of St John's College in their lecture theatre, I had only one complaint about the proceedings. The number of papers on the schedule meant that each was squeezed into a 30 minute segment, including question time. Time pressure meant that most of the speakers had to rush their presentations somewhat to fit into the allotted time. It seemed to us in the audience that the 1 hour 45 minute lunch breaks could have been shortened considerably so that each speaker might have had another 5 minutes. That said, it is easy to question the decisions of an organising committee such as that needed for the symposium, without knowing the background to those decisions. On the whole they did an excellent job of putting a large number of technical papers in front of us.

The technical program kicked off with a tribute to Dr Daniel Savitsky, on whose research so much of current power boat performance prediction theory is based. It was an honour to see him there with his wife.

The papers covered a broad range of subjects. At one extreme were those that gave very technical results of research in various parts of the world, with complicated formulae that most will have trouble getting their heads around. At the other extreme were papers on more easily grasped subjects illustrated with video footage. These included radio controlled testing on the open sea of large scale models of military warships and the problems of tank-testing models of racing power boats that travel at speeds approaching 200mph.

An interesting paper was delivered by Paul Kamen on the dangers of current personal water craft (PWCs). This was with particular reference to the lack of brakes, in the form of a reversing bucket on the jet, and the fact that closing the throttle to kill thrust also kills steering. Trying to avoid a collision by closing the throttle and turning is generally totally ineffective and results in high-speed impact.

Another very interesting paper illustrated the wave patterns and associated drag of a monohull as it moves through water of various depths. What a surprise it was to hear and see that a hull has less drag in very shallow water than in slightly deeper water. In retrospect, it explained to me why I have noticed that my Paper Jet slips along effortlessly and with virtually no wake in calf-depth water.

Those of us in the audience who work with 3D surface design were delighted to see the presentation by Matt Sederberg on T-Splines. These are recently developed tools for NURBS surfaces that will make it much easier for us to define the often complicated surfaces of hulls and superstructures of boats. To cap it all, they also allow much smaller design files, for faster processing and smaller storage requirements.

All-in-all, the Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium was well worthwhile attending. I look forward the the 3rd one, in 2012.

Didi Mini Mk3

2010-02-13T00:16:00.000-05:00

The new design is complete, aside from tying up a few loose ends. It is the Didi Mini Mk3, a very much updated version of the Didi Mini design that we have sold the past 10 years.

Introduced in the Didi Mini Mk3:-

~ Updated hull shape with broader stern and topside chine

~ Extended cabin roof, forming protected cuddy over front of cockpit
~ Easier access between cockpit and interior
~ More power from broader and flatter stern
~ Water ballast of fixed keel version further outboard
~ Bow and stern ballast tanks in canting keel version
~ Tacking daggerboard in canting keel version
~ Redesigned foam flotation, cleaner interior
~ Inboard chainplates for tighter genoa sheeting
~ Larger square-head mainsail

Overall, these changes produce a boat that will be more powerful, faster, more weatherly and more comfortable to sail.

The underbody of this hull was developed from that of the Didi Mini, with the same profile and bottom shape but blended into a topside chine that runs from forward of the mast through to the transom. Combined with a full-beam transom, it adds more power to allow more sail to be carried for greater speed. See more info and graphics on the Didi Mini Mk3 web page.

We will continue to sell the older Didi Mini design for as long as people want it and the kit suppliers will still be able to cut kits for it.

Work has also started on our next design, a cruising oriented Didi 28 design. It will be a bigger sister to the Didi 26, with many of the same features but with considerably more beam, headroom and space. Watch for that to emerge next month.

For our full design range, go to the Dudley Dix Yacht Design website.

Progress is being made

2010-01-25T23:36:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month I hinted at the updated version of one of our popular designs that is soon to see the light of day. I said it would be a few weeks and that would make it about now, so I should update.

The work is progressing and most of the important stuff is done. The new hull shape is sorted out and most of the structural changes have been figured. Sail plan and accommodation changes also done. I decided to update a few other aspects of the boat at the same time, so those are on the go. I guess that about another two weeks will have it complete.

Winter weather has been good for doing design work outside of work hours, rather than freezing outside. The past few days have been warmer, relatively speaking. A SE gale blew for a couple of days and brought a 15ft swell up the coast. The storm was attached to a warm front, so today was around 60F (16C). I pulled out my boards and went surfing as soon as the wind went offshore to straighten out the swell. Nice surf of 7-8ft, maybe 10ft in the biggest sets. A SE swell along a North/South beach makes strong currents, so there was much paddling involved and much walking back along the beach occasionally to get back to the start point. With water temp below 40F (4C), even my full wetsuit with gloves, boots and hood did not prevent icecream headaches every time that I had to duck under a wave.

After a good afternoon of surf I am rejuvenated, feel alive and am back at the drawings. I must get this project done because the next one has already been lined up, a new radius chine plywood small cruiser/racer. Watch this space.

See our full range of designs at http://dixdesign.com/ .

Dudley

Happy, Happy New Year

2010-01-03T22:19:00.001-05:00

As always, another year has come and gone, way before I was ready for it to disappear in the spray behind us. Some dear friends and loved family have departed with 2009 and will be sorely missed. They have bolstered my resolve to live every day to the fullest because I don't know when my turn will come.

The year also gave many happy memories, of family visiting from abroad, of my big birthday and its wonderful surprises, of good friendships and family fun, of some really nice surf in the company of good friends, of exciting sailing, of meeting great people who visit us at boat shows to look at our boat and designs, of everything else that makes life worth living to the fullest possible extent. The year also made an impression on my head when my new surfboard and my forehead dinged each other, leaving us both scarred for life.

To all our family, friends, builders and owners who have supported us through 2009 I say thank you for a wonderful year. It was tough on all of us at times, in many ways. Let's all work hard toward making 2010 a better year for all of us, wherever we may be. We have supporters in all corners of the world. Wherever you are, I hope that the next year is good to you.

Here is a little piece of news about one of our designs, or rather a hint at something that will come out soon. I have been trying for about a year to figure how to update one of our most popular designs, to bring it into the next generation. I could not get my mind around a workable way to do it, so it sat stewing in my mind for a long time. I have not had time available to do a completely new design.

As is sometimes the way with these things, thinking about it and labouring at the drawings did not bring a solution. Last week, in relaxed mode between Chritmas and New Year (or was it between a beer and a glass of red wine?) the solution came to me of its own accord. So, I am now in the midst of updating this design, working on the large base of established detail drawings. This allows me to change what needs to be changed, keep what I know to work and not have to draw it all again to suit a different boat.

It also has the benefit that I will be able to develop bigger sisters to the same concept, to fit the needs of many people who have asked me over the past 2 or 3 years to do just that. I resisted all of those potential commissions because I wanted to solve this problem for myself first. The problem is solved and the work has begun.

So, watch this space in a few weeks (hopefully not longer), when I will tell you what design has been going through this transformation.

Let's all attack 2010 with gusto. Enjoy the year, have a ball.

Dudley

Please visit us at Dudley Dix Yacht Design

Boatbuilding in the recession

2009-12-21T10:22:00.002-05:00

The financial woes of the world have had serious impact on the leisure marine industry. Many professional builders have gone under. Builders and stockists that held large inventories and expected them to sell as in past years found their yards full and order books empty. The result of shrinking or disappearing disposable income has been most families having to rethink how to spend the few spare dollars that they have.

I have noticed that this has changed the thinking of many people. Whereas previously most would buy a professionally built boat and work longer hours to earn money to pay for it, the change to less employed hours and less income has meant that many are re-discovering the joys and benefits of hand-crafting for themselves. More time is available to enjoy the satisfaction of personally building a boat that is capable of doing what we dream of doing with it, whether it be drifting down a river, lazing on a lake or lagoon, or even for crossing oceans. More people are building a wide range of boats for themselves.

When I first noticed this trend many months ago, I mentioned it to Matt Murphy of Wooden Boat Magazine. He said to me that amateur boatbuilding really came into its own during the Great Depression and that we were probably witnessing a repeat of that process. He was correct because our orders for plans have continued at a more-or-less steady pace through the past year or two. We have had flat spots at times that have caused concern but, on the whole, our supporters have stayed loyal.

It has been interesting to watch the changing trends in design choice through this period. Initially there was an almost total stop in larger boats and dinghy building increased. The dinghy orders have continued at a slightly reduced level but the trailer-sailers and small cruisers or racers followed. A few months ago the big boats seemed to kick back in, with orders for designs in the 45-60ft range but the mid-size range remained fairly flat. More recently the 30-45ft range has also come back to life.

It was also interesting to see the changes in distribution of orders, which probably followed the changes in financial fortune around the world. The first market to drop off was North America, followed by Western Europe then Eastern Europe and Australasia. The market that has stood up best throughout the process has been Russia and other ex-USSR countries. Recently we have seen an increase in orders for a wide range of designs from most parts of the world.

The designs that continue to dominate our orders are the radius chine plywood Didi range, primarily the Didi Mini and Didi 26performance designs. On the cruising side, the Cape Cutter 19 and Cape Henry 21 lapstrake plywood designs are our biggest sellers.

It seems that amateur boatbuilding is enjoying a healthy revitalisation. I think we might see this trend continue for a few years.

You can see our full range of designs at the Dudley Dix Yacht Design website.

Dudley

Philip Harvey

2009-12-19T08:30:00.002-05:00

Phil Harvey and I worked together to design the DH550 cruising catamaran. It was for a personal boat for Phil, his wife Laura and their children. Phil is a professional boatbuilder and built up a yard in Cape Town, run jointly by Phil and Laura, where they built a range of composite production monohulls and custom catamarans. Eventually they opted out of the business world and went cruising.

A growing family led to them needing a larger boat, so they approached me to design their next boat. They had seen my radius chine plywood boats for years, including racing against me and "Black Cat" on Table Bay and offshore around Cape Town. Phil wanted to build a large cat using this system. The features and level of detail that we supply for the radius chine plywood designs take a tremendous amount of time to draw, much more than an equivalent composite design. I did not have the time needed to do such a design by myself, so Phil agreed to work with me long distance, to design the boat together.

Phil built his boat in Trinidad and named her "Wild Vanilla". She is a very pretty boat with lots of space and comfort. Phil, Laura and family have cruised much of the Caribbean on her and are currently in Grenada.

"Wild Vanilla" in Venezuela

Phil and I intended to continue the line of DH catamarans down into smaller sizes and started work on the DH470 as the next in the line. After long delays it became clear that Phil's life is filled up by family and other interests, so he did not have the time needed to work on the cat design projects. Reluctantly, Phil stepped out of the process and involvement in the future designs. He remains available to advise builders when needed for the DH550.

I have gone forward on my own with the 47ft smaller sister to "Wild Vanilla". The design is now named the Dix 470 and we are ready to start selling plans for her. You can see the Dix 470 here. I will continue to work on this range of designs when time permits. I think that the next in the range will be about 43-44ft.

I propose to expand the range down into the 35-40ft range as well but that will need some changes to the concept, to make it work visually. I will let the design problems work themselves out in the back of my mind and eventually a good concept will come to the surface.

View our complete range of designs at our website.

Dudley

Our new blog

2009-12-18T22:04:00.001-05:00

Hi to all and welcome. I am new to blogging, so it may take some time for this to start running properly.

Our new blog will probably replace the newsletter that we used to send out. Time needed to prepare a decent newsletter has proven a problem for a long time. With a small office, just my wife Dehlia and myself, it is more important to keep customers happy with prompt and efficient service than to keep an up-to-date newsletter, so the newsletter somehow always found itself pushed into the "to do" pile and never finding its way to the top.

At the same time, it is good to keep the world informed about what we are doing. I guess that we have been lucky that so many people are prepared to dig deep in our website to look for what is new and we are thankful to all of you for doing that to keep yourselves informed about our activities.

So, from now on, I intend to post onto this blog any news of our new designs and happenings, as well as anything else that may be of interest to our followers and supporters. It may not always be about boats and sailing, it may occasionally also cover my other great passion of surfing (no, not surfing the web but surfing ocean waves). I have surfed since I was about 15, so for 45 years. It keeps me fit, wet and out of trouble (mostly).

If you don't know me or my designs, please visit us at Dudley Dix Yacht Design .

Dudley