"Black Cat" Rio Race Report #5

Since the last report from skipper Dave "Wavy" Immelman on the Didi 38 "Black Cat", I have looked at their track on the Xtra-Track map for the Cape to Rio Race and wondered why they are sailing such wide angles, sailing reaching courses that seem to be way higher than optimal VMG courses and are giving away many miles against the competition. In the process they have dropped one position, from 3rd to 4th in their division. I planned to write about it today but have just received the report below from Wavy, which answers the question.

Tracking map of this morning. The track of "Black Cat" is the purple one running diagonally from top right to centre bottom, in the process covering enough ocean to go from the most northerly position in the fleet to the most southerly position. Click on the image for a larger view. Image courtesy of Xtra-Track.

Hi All,

Well we are in the home stretch now and aiming straight for Rio, 525 nautical miles to go. So, with any luck some time on Friday evening we should make landfall. Then there is the issue of getting to the finish line through the light airs behind the mountains.

We have had another eventful few days. Will it ever end and just some plain sailing please.

The second half of our already halved motor has now blown up. So we now have a 0 cylinder 0 HP motor.  At least this time when she blew the oil was contained in the engine compartment and not all over the saloon and me. No watermaker, freezer, fridge or music. We do have enough water to make it in without an issue and the food we have should last. Tiffany at the race office has been brilliant and has arranged a tow-in to the new marina. She has also arranged for a diesel Mac to come down and expedite repairs before our trip back to Cape Town.

To add insult to an already salty injury, we broached out yesterday morning and snapped the spinnaker pole against the forestay. This means that we are down to two sails, the A3 currently flying and the  already repaired A0. I have glasses up the pole and it might hold for a while, but it certainly won't take too much weight. Well another repair on the list before the trip home.

The on board spirits are still high through all the hardships. To give an example, the guys are realising that if one crew is tired and they are not, with no thought for themselves, they step in and do an extra hour or two of watch, allowing the rest to sleep. They make jokes in the cockpit all the time and the banter about cold beer... No let me rephrase that... Anything cold, well you can imagine.

With the increased air temperature the daily bath off the back is a god-send and  a wonderful time to cool off, even if the sea temperature is 28.5°C. If fact I don't think that anyone has even looked at their sleeping bag for the last week. And night watches are done in shorts and a PFD. In fact the last two sail changes and bits of pole recovery were done in jocks and PFD. Cool sailing kit!

Talking of nights, we had the most beautiful moon rainbow. Rain east of us and the bright moon and a night time rainbow. Quite incredible. Later that night the International Space Station came over like a spotlight in the night sky. Makes use feel a little slow as they go around the world in 26 minutes and it would take us about 26 months.

Well the weather forecast for the next few days is promising, so let's hope for a lovely last few days at sea."

We at Dudley Dix Yacht Design wish "Black Cat" and crew better fortune and good sailing for the last few days of the race.

"Black Cat" Rio Race Report #4

The two fastest boats have finished the race in Rio and the rest of the fleet continues to race as hard as before. The Didi 38 "Black Cat" and her closest rivals are now well into the last 1/3 of the race and anticipating their arrival in Rio.

For those who don't know how ocean racing works, each of these boats has a rating, an evaluation of the theoretical performance of that boat relative to all others in the fleet. So all boats race against the clock and against each other through that clock. The catamarans are racing against the other catamarans on a multihull rating system and the monohulls are racing against each other on a monohull rating system. Complicated formulae that have been developed over many years are the basis of these rating systems.

I have the next report from Dave Immelman, skipper of "Black Cat".

Hi All,

Well, we are under a 1000 miles to go. A few tricky patches to get through in the next few days on our final leap to Rio and the good times!

We have had an eventful few days with the weather and with the boat.

On board we had a little motor disaster as the no 2 cylinder blew it's cylinder head gasket. Not what you really want 1500 miles from the nearest diesel Mac. Time to make a plan and get it running again as it charges our batteries. (We do have a solar panel which has kept us going but not to the point we can run fridge, freezer and water maker.) We started to have compression problems as well as starting issues. This led to diesel in the sump and, worse, exhaust into the sump, building pressure. The motor was running but started to sound bad so, upon checking the sump, pressure was so high it shot the dipstick out and sprayed diesel/oil mix all over the cabin. So, after many hours of jury rigging, we have now converted our 20 HP two cylinder motor to a 10 HP single cylinder. Purring like a dream and charging to our full requirements. In fact it took us as long to clean the mess as to fix the motor. The only thing is we might not have enough HP to drive the boat forward, but that is a post finish problem.

We have also started to be hit by the odd rain squalls. Fun and games. Surfing and broaching. Loads of fresh water, so all on deck in swimming costumes and PFD's enjoying the fresh water shower. Yesterday we were in a particularly heavy storm, so we collected a bucket full of fresh water and had extra water for coffee and tea all night, without digging into our daily ration. Nice!

The crew are all well and enjoying the sailing. In fact it has come to the point where the daily routine/systems are just running themselves. Things just happen. Brilliant.

Most afternoons we sit up on deck with the watch, listening to music and chewing the fat. Especially when yesterday we saw our first competition since we passed the Indian Navy weeks ago. Well guess who, The Indian Navy. It is all well and good knowing where the guys are, but it is really nice to see one.

Well, knowing we have company, I will sign off now and chat soon.

Cheers

Black Cat"

The reference to "the Indian Navy" is not to a warship but to the yacht "INSV Mhadei", which belongs to the Indian Navy and is crewed by Indian naval personnel. 

We wish "Black Cat" and her crew continued good sailing and a happy ship.

Dudley Dix Yacht Design 

Match Racing in Mid-Atlantic

The Cape to Rio Race boats are into the 2nd half of their race across the South Atlantic. The faster boats from the 2nd start are easily-drive and very powerful boats, able to sail fast in light winds. They have passed to the south of the more cruising-oriented boats that started in the first start, six days before the main start. Now the bulk of the 2nd start fleet is overtaking those slower boats.

The Didi 38 "Black Cat" is in a group of five boats that has been sailing in fairly close proximity to each other for quite a few days. "Close proximity" is a relative concept, of course. These boats look very close to each other when seen on the tracking map but, on the wide blue South Atlantic Ocean, in reality they are likely not even seeing each other on the horizon except briefly if their courses cross.

"Black Cat" (purple) has been crossing paths with the Stadt 65 "INSV Mhadei" (green) ever since the start of the race, they can't seem to break away from each other for long without coming back for their next meeting. The other three boats in this group are the Beneteau First 447 "Ray of Light" (brown), the Fast 42 "Blue Label Telecoms" (grey) and the Beneteau First 40 CR "First 40" (mauve). The colours all refer to the arrows and tracks shown on the tracking map image below. The other tracks and arrows are mostly boats that were in the first start. Seen in a zoomed-out view of the map it looks almost as though these boats are match racing each other in mid-Atlantic. In reality each boat is gybing downwind to get the best angles for fastest VMG (Velocity Made Good) toward the finish line in Rio. The best angle for each boat depends on the sails that they have available onboard but all are following similar courses and tactics.

Tracking map courtesy of Xtra-Track. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Having sailed this race a few times myself, I know from experience that boats that look close by on a tracking map or plotted on a chart will be far over the horizon and can't be seen from deck level. I have on many occasions gone to the top of the mast in a bosun's chair to look for those boats that are so close but can't be seen.

From deck level you are alone on a big flat piece of blue water. From the top of the mast you can see so much further and the other boats may appear as dots on a much broader horizon. The big flat piece of water grows bigger the higher you go and becomes a massive upside-down bowl, curved all round, with your boat right in the geometric centre of it all. You are at the centre of your own private world, for once in your life. It brings a totally different perspective to sailing out into the wide blue yonder.

It can bring a sense of euphoria, a feeling of wanting this to never end. You feel that you are alone in the world and life is wonderful, that you really don't care a damn about the problems that are troubling the world, who has or hasn't won whatever election, what is happening to your investments in Wall Street, who is making war with whom or other worries of day-to-day living on land. Yet, at the same time, you also yearn for loved ones, for the personal contact with family and friends who are not out there on the boat to enjoy what you are loving so much.

I hope to have another report from "Black Cat" in the next day or so, maybe some photos also.

"Black Cat" Rio Race Report #3

Report # 3 from Dave "Wavy" Immelman, skipper of the Didi 38 "Black Cat", racing across the South Atlantic from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro.

"We are fast approaching the half way. It has been a very eventful first half, so with any luck we have been through the hard times and are now heading for some lovely plain sailing. Ha ha fat chance this is the Atlantic Ocean. So we deal with what will come.

We are currently sitting on starboard gybe doing about 8 knots in 13 knots of wind with a small following sea under the light of a full moon. Sitting in shorts and PFD's. Does not get better than this!

The Black Cat sail repair team has been hard at work and the A0 is back in the sail locker and working. The S2 is also almost done. Eat your heart out North Sails.....Sorry Joe but there is plenty of work for you when we get back.

The guys and girl have all settled into the normal rigors of sea life. Broken sleep patterns, odd work hours.... The wind never seems to shift when everyone is on deck and ready but instead just as the off watch have just gone to sleep. How inconsiderate. But to a man they still get up and do their jobs.

It is very hot out here, in fact it seems hotter than normal but that might be me just getting older. It has however not stopped Josh and Shane doing their daily exercises. The joy of being young and full of energy.

The bath on the sugar scoop is a daily favourite. And it is a chance to cool off. For those who don't know, we put a harness on and step over the back onto the aft platform. There the water rushes in and out so one can bath and rinse in the Atlantic without having to stop and swim. We also have a frying pan tied to a lanyard for the odd shampoo.

Otherwise the crew are all well, if not well rested. The laughter is still thick and fast. The food is good, and the general mood is upbeat.

Cheers to all at home and keep in touch.

Black Cat crew."

Seems that they are enjoying themselves. We at Dudley Dix Yacht Design wish them happy sailing.

"Black Cat" Rio Race Report #2

Here in Virginia Beach we are under a blizzard watch for the next 24 hours, with possibly a foot of snow expected. Meanwhile, in the middle of the South Atlantic they are in mid-summer and hot. I was supposed to be there, not freezing my butt off in these temperatures and fixing my generator in preparation for potential power outages in the snow, ice and gales. Well, that is the way that it is and it does give me another 2 months to catch up on my work backlog.

Here is the second report from skipper Dave Immelman on the Didi 38 "Black Cat".

"Hi Everyone,

News from Black Cat.

Well, our first update from our trans-Atlantic Race is both good and bad. The great is that all on board are  well and in high spirits. We have all settled in to little sleep, sore fingers and squinting eyes, eating on the go and grabbing a quick 40 winks when we get the chance.

The weather has been a little trying and the sea state has been more than trying. SE, SW and S winds, with the sea coming in from all these directions. Cath described helming like being in a washing machine. Just as you get her on the surf, you suddenly get hit side on dunking the whole crew, throwing the boat into what can be only called a tail spin.

Due to this I made the call to head north as quickly as possible, also there was a strange looking system that was appearing on and off for the Thursday, so all things considered, flat following seas and trade winds seemed to be the answer.

We have, however, had a few setbacks. We managed to rip two of our kites, unfortunately this included our S2 (Our Biggest) and the A0. During the dropping of the A0 the head managed to get into the water (almost with the foredeck crew) and dragged under the boat. once we got it back on board it had a long tear along the foot. Then, while on a brilliant broad reach doing about 12 knots, the pole mutinied and dropped the guy! How I have no idea, but the end result was that the pole did a great javelin job right through the starboard clew.  This has slowed our daily progress. Then yesterday we managed to hook up some kind of flotsam which made the boat very slow indeed, as well as very hard to sail. After trying every manoeuvre I could to shake it, we eventually had to await first light, then I went into the water to free us from what looked like an old fishing net!

Free we jumped into high gear with the A3 and have had the most marvellous day surfing toward Rio. Music blareing, boys sewing, and jokes a plenty."

Good to hear that all is going well on "Black Cat". With reference to my analysis on race tactics in my previous blog post, the move to the north has continued and now includes almost the whole fleet, even those from the first start who are further along the course. As I said in an earlier post, I am not going to second guess Dave's decisions, he is there on the water, experiencing the conditions and also researching expected weather patterns. Now the fleet is moving up toward his chosen course.

Cape to Rio Race Tactics

The Cape to Rio Race has always brought with it discussions about the fastest route to sail the course across the South Atlantic. After the race everyone knows the correct answer but before the race everyone has their own theory of how to get there fastest. There are various factors that affect that answer, making it different for every boat in the race.

First of these factors is the South Atlantic High. This is a high pressure that develops over the South Atlantic and changes from day-to-day in its size, shape and position. It normally starts to develop pretty much offshore of Rio de Janeiro, fairly small and weak. Then it grows in size and strength, gradually stretching out diagonally across the ocean toward Cape Town. Then it stretches out further, bending around below the Cape of Good Hope and generating the gales for which that area is so well known. Then the piece that goes south of Africa generally breaks off, during which there can be very intense and damaging gales in that area. The piece that breaks off moves off to the east into the Indian Ocean and the piece left in the Atlantic weakens considerably and retracts to become the start of the next cycle.

Surface pressure map today, with the high stretched out diagonally between Rio and Cape Town, showing areas of light and stronger winds and directions. The lower right end of the high looks set to start ridging around the southern tip of the continent. Click on the images for a larger view. Image courtesy of stormsurfing.com 

Timing of that cycle affects where the skipper should be trying to place his boat at any particular time because the size/shape/position of the high affects the wind direction and speed over the whole South Atlantic. The best place will be different on one day from the next but the boat has a limited speed to get it from one position to another, so the skipper has to play the averages in deciding the overall best course.

Another factor is the type of boat that we are sailing. Modern shallow-bodied light displacement boats with fractional rigs go very well in light breezes and heavy traditional boats don't. That means that a modern boat can sometimes cut the corners and sail in light breezes that would stop an older and heavier boat. You can risk trying to sail the modern boat through the high but don't try to do it with a traditional boat, which must sail around the outside of the high to stay in as much wind as it can find.

The potential speed of the boat also affects where it should be at any time. The lead boats can sail through an area of decent wind but by the time that the slower boats get there the high will have a totally different character and that area may be totally windless.

This has been a problem on various editions of this race, when all boats have started on the same day and a changing high has split the fleet dramatically into two separate fleets separated by the high, leaving the slower boats dead in the water. In the 2000 race we on "Black Cat" made it through before the high blocked the slower boats behind us. In that case the high was much further north than normal and we beat/fetched all the way across the Atlantic by sailing south of the high. Then it stretched itself out behind us and blocked the unlucky boats behind us.

This time the organisers made two starts, 6 days apart. All boats rating lower that IRC 1.0 were in the first start, all others in the second start. "Black Cat", with a rating of 1.054, is one of the smallest and slowest of the 2nd start boats. Now the boats are approaching the middle of the Atlantic, the two fleets are near to each other and will soon start to mix. The net result is that the two fleets are now in a similar part of the ocean and having to take decisions based on the same atmospheric conditions.

The tracking map is interesting to study today. The first start boats are mostly grouped to the north, sailing around the outside of the high. The only exception is "Pinto Russell Marie Galante", the light mauve track leading the cluster of three at lower left. The other two are 2nd start boats that will rapidly overtake her today, currently sailing at double her speed.

Overall view of the South Atlantic on the tracking map. The leaders are approaching half-way across. Image courtesy of xtra-track.com

The gaggle of boats bunched in the middle are all 2nd start boats. They have all expected to sail a fairly direct route, cutting close to the high. The past day or two they have run into light winds or seen that light winds are developing ahead of them, so they are all trying to move north to look for stronger wind.

"Black Cat" has been sailing around the outside of the fleet, seen as the purple track, in close company with the Stadt 65 "INSV Mhadei", the green track. Skipper Dave Immelman chose this tactic of sailing more miles in stronger winds, anticipating that the high may block boats taking a more direct course.

Zoomed-in view of the tracking map. Image courtesy of xtra-track.com

It will be interesting to watch how the race develops from here. The stories on arrival in Rio are always great to listen to, what worked and what didn't, what part of the smorgasbord dished up by nature and the wind gods caught out or helped which boats.

This analysis is my own, from watching the tracker until now. I should have another report from "Black Cat" in another day or two, then will post the skipper's take on the voyage.

"Black Cat" Rio Race Report #1

Skipper Dave Immelman sent me his first report today on their race thus far.

"Sorry it has taken such a long time to get back to you. We have been a bit busy. The start was mad. It was 30 knts in the Paarden Island corner and a tight reach to Milnerton and on to Blouberg then off. I have made the call to go north and to be conservative in the first few days. As it now seems with Dark Matter, Wow out and Trekker being scuttled I think it has been a good call for our 20 year old lady.

We are now the most northern boat in our  fleet and I want to see what the next grib says as there seems to be something strange happening to our SW. A front or maybe a split low. Will keep you informed. BC is behaving beautifully if a little heavy.  We have topped out at 22.6 knts and I am happy with the 200 plus miles per day. Now comes the long haul. Keep the trim up keep the speed up and hope to the high does what we want. I am not sure why the rest followed Black Pearl as they can make their own wind. But it seems too far south for them. We need to find it.

Anyway keep well and I will write soon."

"Black Cat" leaving Table Bay as seen from the kitesurfing beach at Blouberg. Photo Robin Schultz

Dave Mentions "Black Cat" being a bit heavy. This is because they have 6 crew, 1 more than we have had in previous races. Of course this means extra weight of the additional crew plus gear and stores, all needing more water to be pushed aside for the boat to pass through. Despite that, they have matched the best speed that we have attained in previous races.

It will be interesting to watch the relative progress of the various boats as the race goes on. The northern course has more distance but also the potential for more wind, so more speed. All courses will converge on Cabo Frio, closest landfall on the Brazil mainland.

Sad news from the race is the sinking of "Voortrekker 11" due to catastrophic rudder failure. Without news of exactly what happened, I wonder if she hit something that caused the damage. We will hear when the crew are safely back ashore. Happily there was no loss of life.

"Black Cat" in Cape to Rio 2017

I was to be co-skipper of "Black Cat" for this race, the 2017 iteration of the wonderful Cape to Rio Race, linking two beautiful cities that are separated by the South Atlantic Ocean. "Black Cat" is the Didi 38 that I built in my garden for the 1996 race. That plan to co-skipper her, partnered by Dave "Wavy" Immelman, came off track when I wrenched my already-damaged left knee while racing my Paper Jet skiff in Maryland a couple of months ago. When I got off my boat I could hardly stand and subsequent visits to doctors, followed by X-Rays, MRI etc. came up with sheer tears in both menisci of the knee. Able to only hobble around, surgery was scheduled and I felt that I would be a liability and danger to boat, crew and myself for the race. Sadly, I had to withdraw from the crew and will miss this race that I so enjoy.

I will still be involved though. "Black Cat" has satellite telephones aboard and they will be used to send me daily reports from the boat, with news about life aboard, how the race is going and anything else that is happening. They will also send me photos and possibly video footage as well. I will use that as material for posts on this blog.

"Black Cat" crossing the finish line of the 2014 Governor's Cup ocean race from South Africa to St Helena Island. Skipper Dave "Wavy" Immelman standing at the helm.

The race starts on Sunday 1st January at 14h00 local time, 12h00 GMT. The slower boats have already started their race, on Boxing Day (26th December). These are IRC Division 3 monohulls and Division 2 multihulls. Progress of the race can be followed via live tracking on XTra-Trak. This link works in Internet Explorer but doesn't seem to work properly in Google Chrome.

This is supposed to be a downwind race, with spinnakers hoisted in Table Bay and dropped off Guanabara Bay a few weeks later. I have raced in it four times and each time was very different from the others. Downwind conditions are not guaranteed. Storms along the way are almost a certainty, as evidenced by our capsize in the 2014 event. Hard racing, lots of fun and wonderful experiences that stay for a lifetime are a feature of this race, making close friendships that last for a lifetime. Close quarter living in such a small space brings out the best in people but it can also bring out the worst, so at the finish there will be a few people who will step off their boats and never want to see others in that crew again.

The launch of "Black Cat" 20 years ago.

I wish skipper Dave Immelman and his crew all the best for the race. I wish them great sailing, great results and, most of all, great friendships.

Didi 40cr Build in Ukraine

There is a Didi 40cr project that has been going on quietly and without any fuss in Eastern Europe. My communications with them are via my translation program, which is good but sometimes a bit confusing in its results. I hope that my reporting here has no unforgivable errors.

Their boat is now nearing completion and I have received the first photos that I have seen of her. The hull was built in a private boatyard in Kherson, near to the mouth of the Dnieper River where it enters the Black Sea. After that is was moved for fitting out and completion at the Ilyichevsk Shipyard in Odessa.

Didi 40cr nearly ready to get wet.

There are three experienced sailors associated with the project, who plan to campaign it next year in the Rolex Middlesea Race. Owner is Sergey Mashtakov and he has with him Eugene Kobozev as skipper and Sergey Ivchenko doing tactics. Sergey Ivchenko bought the plans from us and built the hull. No doubt the rest of the racing crew will be from their normal sailing circle in Ukraine.

Deck finishes and hardware going on.

She is being equipped to a good standard, with Selden rig, hardware by Barton and Andersen, Raymarine instrumentation and power by Mitsubishi.

Interior fitting out.

Launch will be about the end of this month, in Ukraine. I look forward to more info and pics when she is sailing.

To see more about our designs, go to our desktop website or our mobile website.

"Black Cat" Launch Video

In November 1997 we launched our Didi 38 "Black Cat" after 2 years of building, only 2000 hours for an amateur-built ocean-crossing sailboat. That boat launched a whole series of designs and new developments in plywood boat construction.

That was 20 years ago. I had video of the occasion that was recorded off the TV with a VCR. It was bad quality and it was recorded on the PAL system used in South Africa. Attempts to convert to the NTSC format used in USA were pretty disastrous, resulting in unusable files.

Today I have received a good copy of the video, in a usable format. Watching the video now reminds me just how long ago this all happened. I didn't even have much grey hair then, now it is totally silver.

This video shows the shape of "Black Cat" very clearly. So many people came to me at that time and would not believe that this beautifully rounded shape was a plywood boat. Nobody had seen a rounded plywood hull before and they would only believe that it was not fibreglass after going inside to look at the structure.

Now my radius chine plywood designs are well-known and have been built in many countries. "Black Cat" is no longer unique but she remains the leader of an exciting time for plywood boatbuilding.

To see more of our boat designs, visit http://dixdesign.com/ or http://dixdesign.com/mobile

South Atlantic Capsize

Most of you will have read here or elsewhere about our adventure in the 2014 Cape to Rio Race on the Didi 38 "Black Cat". I have published a book about it, which can now be ordered from our website. For those who don't know what happened, here is a synopsis of the book, which is titled "South Atlantic Capsize - Lessons Taught by a Big Ocean Wave".

At dusk on 5th January 2014, the Didi 38 "Black Cat" was struck by a massive wave on the second day of the 2014 Cape to Rio Race across the South Atlantic Ocean. The wave capsized her in an instant, flinging crew, equipment and food around the interior and destroying most of the electronics with water that entered through the companion hatch. "Black Cat" recovered very quickly but the electrical damage was done. This is the story about the race, the boat, the crew and what happened on that day.

Front cover of the new book

It also explains the principles of stability that control the safety of monohull sailboats, mostly those characteristics that affect the behaviour of boats in large beam seas that might capsize them and the features needed to quickly return them to upright. It does this in words and terms that can be easily understood by non-technical people.

Back cover.

You will also read the story of the capsize of the 64ft "Sayula II" in the Southern Ocean when sailing between Cape Town and Sydney in the 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race, written by yacht designer Butch Dalrymple-Smith, who was one of the crew. Also what one boat owner has added to his own boat to prepare it and himself in case they are caught by conditions that place them at risk of capsize.

I managed to coerce two of the crew to also put pen to paper, to each write a short piece about his experience. I felt this to be important because we all observe events from our particular points of observation and positions in life. My view from the inverted cabin roof of Sean Collins hanging on for his life in the cockpit and of Adrian Pearson flying like a rag doll around the cabin is very different from that of Sean looking down the steep slope of a monster wave and seeing the masthead spearing into the ocean below, knowing that the boat will follow deck-first.  I would have liked to have had stories from the other two crew as well but they did not feel capable of effectively putting their stories into words.

You can buy the book at http://dixdesign.com/articles.htm. We can ship to you wherever you are, at our normal shipping rates.

To view our range of boat designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/

Yachting Monthly Capsize Video

Yachting Monthly have a very interesting  video of a capsize test on their YouTube Channel. I only became aware of it yesterday when it was highlighted by Scuttlebutt Sailing News.

Many have read the accounts that I have written about our capsize experience on the Didi 38 "Black Cat" in the Cape To Rio Race 2014. It is not possible to visualise what it is like to be there in that situation, even if you sit inside your boat and try to imagine it turning around you but this video goes a long way to help visualise it. It is not fully realistic because the roof stays at the top as the boat rotates, so the world is rotating around the boat rather than the boat rotating within the world around it. To provide better visualisation the camera needs to stay upright while the boat goes upside-down.

Bear in mind that this test is in flat water and the boat is rotated quite slowly from upright to upside-down, then rights itself quickly. Normally a capsize will happen in seas that are large and confused, so it is a much more violent process than seen in the video, with the boat being thrown in confused directions while it capsizes. Despite that, it is worth watching, to see the way that crew, equipment, etc was moved around the cabin and to see just how much water came in even in that still water.

It is not an experience that I would recommend to anyone, yet it is an experience that I am glad to have had and to have survived.

It also validates the toughness of the methods of construction that I have used for these plywood designs, that "Black Cat" came through with minimal damage.

To see our range of designs to carry you across the dam or around the world, please visit http://dixdesign.com/