New Photos of Dix Designs

Photos of boats that I have designed often come into my hands through various routes. Sometimes it is the owner proudly showing the boat that he had created with his own hands, sometimes it is a friend who took the photo from an interesting perspective or for some special reason. When I can I show some of those photos. Here are a few recent ones.

This first one is the steel Dix 43 Pilot "Sea Bird" that was owner-built by Andre Siebert in South Africa. She is on her maiden cruise on the West Coast of South Africa.

Dix 43 Pilot "Sea Bird" in Port Owen marina.

Ryerson and Annie Clark had Big Pond Boat Shop in Nova Scotia build a Cape Henry 21 for them and did the finishing work themselves. They launched earlier this year and have been doing short cruises as they learn to sail their new boat, named "Elvee".

Cape Henry 21 "Elvee" enjoying a beautiful Nova Scotia sunset.

David Edmiston owner-built his Didi 40cr2 "Passion X" in Sydney, Australia. It differs from the standard Didi 40cr by having a wider stern, deeper keel and more powerful rig. This photo of Passion X" was submitted to the Greenwich Flying Squadron photo competition.

Didi 40cr2 "Passion X" in Sydney, Australia.

Joop Mars built his Didi 26 "Black-Out" in Netherlands. In the photo below he is racing her single-handed and loves her sailing characteristics.

Didi 26 "Black-Out" sailing in Netherlands.

Michael Baccellieri of Portland, Oregon, bought an owner-built Cape Henry 21 that had some builder-created problems. Michael fixed the issues, did what he could to get her closer to the original design, refinished her under the new name of "Slough Coot" and went sailing. He and a friend cruised Puget Sound for 2 weeks, then exhibited her on the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend WA

Cape Henry 21 "Slough Coot" relaxing on Puget Sound.

To see more of these and our other designs, go to our main website or our mobile website.

Kidz At Sea Racing in the Caribbean

The students of the Kidz at Sea boatbuilding and Sailtraining program have been racing again in the Sint Maarten Heineken Regatta. They race on the Didi 26 "Purple Heart", which they built in their boatbuilding program. They are also building a sistership to join in the racing next year. They build these boats using our plywood CNC kits, shipped to them from Maryland.

Garth Steyn, who runs the programs, sent me these photos of the students racing their boat.

Getting some high-speed downwind action.

Nice new sponsored asymmetrical.

New sponsored jib as well.

To see more of this and our other designs, go to our main website or our mobile website.

Didi 29 Retro and DH550, Two Boats with a Connection

This week two owners have sent me rather nice "at rest" photos of their boats.

First was "Arabella", the Didi 29 Retro of Bruce Mierke. This radius chine plywood monohull has retro styling and a gaff rig and has surprised some with her nimble performance and handling. She was exhibited on the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show in October then launched in North Carolina. She sailed for a week or two before going to her inland South Carolina winter home. Now she is afloat again, this time in the warmer waters of Florida.

Didi 29 Retro "Arabella" now in the warmer Florida water.
Click on the photos to enlarge.

Bruce has some sailing photos, taken this week. He will send them to me when he is back home.

The other boat is the DH550 prototype "Wild Vanilla". She is a radius chine plywood cruising catamaran of very modern styling. Built by Phil Harvey in Trinidad, she is now owned by Roy Wirthlin and lives in southern Florida. Roy is very proud of his boat, particularly the interest that she attracts. In his email today he passed on these comments.

"We have the boat located just north of West Palm Beach FL and I can’t tell you the number of comments that we get: “that is the most beautiful cat I have ever seen.”  One older gentleman made a point of chasing us down to find out what make it was, he said: “I have been sailing for over 40 years and that is the best looking cat I have ever seen … makes me think I might go over to the ‘dark side’ :).”

Even the bridge operators have given us compliments.  

“Speed of a Catana, with the space of a Lagoon and so easy on the eyes” is how I describe her."

Thanks Roy, for your comments.

DH550 prototype "Wild Vanilla".

Roy has also given me some videos of "Wild Vanilla" sailing, both from inside the boat and from a drone. I will post some of those here in a day or two.

So, what is the connection between a 29ft classic monohull and a 55ft modern catamaran, aside from construction material and method? The are close to opposites in concept but are both derived from the same earlier design, the very popular Didi 26. The Didi 29 Retro hull is the same as the Didi 26 but extended aft into a counter stern. The DH550 has Didi 26 hulls that are reproportioned to the needs of a big cat.

Didi 26 "Panic Knot". Her design is the basis for both of the other boats mentioned.

For more info on these and our other designs, go to our main website or our mobile website.

Kidz At Sea in Their Didi 26

Garthe Steyn of the Kidz at Sea program in Sint Maarten keeps me updated about what is happening in their program. The Kidz at Sea program teaches school children how to build boats and also how to sail. They have one Didi 26 in the water, named "Purple Heart". They built it and launched last year, then raced in the Heineken Regatta. Now they are building their 2nd boat, working toward building a fleet of sisterships that can be raced as a fleet, crewed by their students.

Today Garth sent me this photo of "Purple Heart" racing in a regatta this past weekend, crewed by two instructors and three students. He reports that they now have an old asymmetrical spinnaker from a Melges 24 in their sail wardrobe. They were racing yesterday in 18-22 knot winds and big waves, giving some exciting sailing with surfing speeds into the high teens.

Didi 26 "Purple Heart" of the Kidz at Sea program.

I will write more about the second boat when I have more info and photos.

To see more of this and our other designs, go to our main website or our mobile website.

Didi 26 and Kidz At Sea Program

I have written before about the Kidz at Sea program in Sint Maarten. Guided by Garth Steyn, the program trains school children in the skills of boatbuilding then teaches them how to sail. They are using our Didi 26 design for this wonderful work, starting from CNC plywood hull/deck/bulkhead kits supplied by our CNC sub-contractor.

They launched the first boat, named "Purple Heart", last year and raced her in the Heineken Regatta as part of their program. Their sailing skills have benefitted from time spent on the water since the regatta and they recently had her doing 17 knots under spinnaker.

Garth Steyn speaking at the launching of "Purple Heart", with the woodworking teacher and his students.

Now boat #2 is progressing. Garth sent me photos today of the progress and the new boatbuilding class that is creating her. They plan to have her on the water and racing in the 2017 Heineken Regatta, with two Kidz at Sea crews competing boat-for-boat with each other.

Bulkheads and framing, ready for the hull skin.

Bottom panels being dry-fitted ahead of gluing.

Same stage, seen from the bow.

View of the radiused part of the hull framing. The third stringer from the top is where the junction will be with the side panel.

The students who are building boat #2, with their woodworking teacher.

This is a very worthwhile program and I am proud to be part of it. It is building new skills in a community that sorely needs them to expand their employment options.

To see more of this and our other designs, go to our main website, mobile website or Flickr photo albums.

Didi 26 Opportunity

Al Beyers was building his Didi 26 in Canada. It was to be for his own use for leisure sailing and sail training. Al succumbed to cancer before he completed the boat. The lady who inherited Al's boat needs to sell it urgently and is now offering it at a price that is well below the material cost. This is a great opportunity to acquire a fast trailer-sailer that has already had most of the building work done. I haven't seen her myself but she appears to have been nicely built.

She is slightly modified from our standard design, with the addition of a sugar scoop to the stern, water ballast tanks and tube for a below-decks retractable bowsprit. She still needs finishing trims for the woodwork to be completed and includes keel foil, rudder, unfinished ballast bulb, chemical toilet and trailer. She still needs rig, sails and hardware. More recent photos are available from the seller if you have serious interest in buying her.

Clean modern hull with high performance potential.

The bowsprit launch tube is non-standard but a practical solution.

Bow view. The cabin front end is a non-standard.

Sugar scoop stern with cut-out for transom-hung rudder.

Large racing cockpit

Inlay in cabin sole.

Quarter berths and companion ladder.

Lead ballast bulb halves.

Keel foil.

Forward berth.

On her trailer.

Her price is CAD5500. She can't be built to this stage for that price, so appears to offer a new owner a fast leg-up on getting a Didi 26 onto the water.

As usual, purchase of a boat like this should not be concluded without an in-depth inspection by an experienced boatbuilder or surveyor.

Contact me by email if you wan to follow up about this boat and I will put you in contact with the owner.

Dudley Dix

An Orca on Lake Baikal

I wrote yesterday about our boats being built in Ukraine. We have sold our plans to builders in 90 countries, so many of them are being built very in exotic places, places about which most of know almost nothing. The thing to keep in mind is that most of us consider our own particular home locations, wherever they might be, to be just that, home, and not very exotic. But to others in far-off lands my "home" may be the place of dreams and a place that they consider very exotic.

Following on that post yesterday, today I received a bunch of photos of one of my boats racing on Lake Baikal in Siberia. I have written before about Lake Baikal, the largest single body of fresh water in the world. One of those posts was about Ivan Vasilyev building a Didi 26 in Irkutsk.

Ivan's Didi 26 has been in the water for a few years and I have received a few photos of her sailing. Few can compare with the high quality photos in this latest set, taken by Eugene Belimov. These photos also show how I can consider Siberia as an exotic place. The beauty of this place in summer is plain to see, far from the image that most of us hold of Siberia being a desolate, forbidding and nasty place, consisting only of salt mines and work camps as told to us in history books.

Ivan's Didi 26 against a forested mountainside backdrop.

That said, winter is another story completely. Intensely cold, frozen for many months. That is when it becomes a place of hard-water sailing (iceboats) and other ice-and-snow activities to get the locals through the tough months.

To get back to Ivan's Didi 26, she is named "Kosatka", Russian for "Orca". "Kosatka" is painted in a striking colour scheme to represent an orca.

"Kosatka" racing to windward.

"Kosatka" under big asymmetrical.

"Kosatka" chasing a playmate across autumn waters, making the most of
sunny days ahead of the bitterly cold winter.

Thanks to Eugene Belimov for use of his photos.

To see more of our designs, go to our main website or our mobile website.

Didi 26 & 40 Projects in India

I wrote in February about the wide-stern version of the Didi 40cr that is being built in Australia. That post drew good interest and has resulted in various enquiries.

In a parallel development, we have been working with XS Marines in Mumbai, India on introducing new boats to their range of sailboats. This started with the owner of XS Marines, Sheri Bamboat, buying plans for the plywood Didi 26, as well as rights to build that design in fibreglass. Construction is now starting on that plywood boat, from which the moulds for GRP production will be made.

Bill Richards' plywood Didi 26  racing in New Zealand.

XS Marines will now take a similar route with the Didi 38/40, after having signed a buyer for the first boat that they will build to that design. They have requested to be able to build their boats with the newer wide stern, instead of the original stern that I built as "Black Cat". They also wanted to build the first plywood boat as a CNC kit. That required me to develop a revised 3D model and extract the modified hull and deck panels so that their kit could be cut. Under tight time pressure, it required some compromise from both sides but the job was done and the boat is now being built.

Didi 40 plywood hull being built at XS Marine in Mumbai.

This one is being built as a Didi 40, ie with the extended stern that increases sailing length and smooths the wake a bit. These differences translate into increased performance. The hull is the same as the Didi 40cr being built in Australia but with a shorter cabin and longer cockpit.

Pat Boase's Didi 40cr "Nimrod" racing off Durban, South Africa

Out of those moulds XS Marines will offer boats to both the Didi 38 and Didi 40 designs. We wish XS Marines the best of success with their new venture.

To see more of these designs and our full range, go to our full website or our mobile website.

Another Kit for Kidz at Sea

I wrote a few weeks ago about the launching of a Didi 26 in Sint Maarten, built by school children participating in the Kidz at Sea program. The students enjoyed the build process, during which they learned useful woodworking and boatbuilding skills to help them in the future. This program has attracted considerable attention, with the Sint Maarten authorities welcoming the launching of the new boat and supporting both expansion of training of boatbuilders and increasing employment opportunities in the boating industry on the island. Prior to this build, the students have built a few smaller boats and this is their biggest project to date.

Last week Garth Steyn, who started the program, contacted me to order plans and a kit for the 2nd boat. This kit will be shipped to them within the next two weeks. The Didi 26 is a radius chine plywood racer/cruiser trailer-sailer that is available with either a short cruising cockpit that allows a transverse double berth under the broad bridgedeck or a long racing cockpit with port and starboard single quarter berths. The boats being built by Kidz at Sea are the racing long-cockpit version, with a fixed keel.

Garth Steyn speaking at the launch, with the instructor and students of Kidz at Sea.

Garth Steyn and Kidz at Sea students racing in the 2016 Heineken Regatta.

To see more about the Didi 26 and our other other designs for all materials, visit our website or mobile website.

Update on Kidz at Sea Didi 26

Garth Steyn has been hard at work preparing the Didi 26 "Purple Heart" of the Kidz at Sea program in St Maarten, ironing out any wrinkles and doing sea trials, all to ensure that she is ready for the start of Heineken Regatta on Thursday. She will be crewed by the students who built her and who have received sail-training from the St Maarten Sailing School. The program is supported by a wide range of local businesses and it's success is now attracting international attention as well.

Here are a few photos taken during the testing session this afternoon by Garth Steyn and his adult crew, showing a nicely finished example of the work of young amateur boatbuilders.

Nice sailing conditions in the Caribbean.

To see our range of designs, go to our desktop website or our mobile website.

Kidz at Sea on a Didi 26

The Kidz at Sea program in St Maarten was established to bring under-privileged children together to improve themselves and their chances in life. It does so by means of boatbuilding and sailing programs, that teach skills, teamwork and working toward common goals. The program, started and run by South African Garth Steyn, is producing great results and attracting considerable attention both locally and abroad.

Garth selected the Didi 26 for their first project, with the goal that the students would build the boat themselves, under supervision from adults, then race it in local sailing events. That first boat is now complete and was launched this week. They plan to sail in the Heineken Regatta, happening 3rd to 6th March, end of next week. Here are some photos from the build through to launch and first sail. They started with a plywood kit that we supplied from USA, CNC cut from Joubert okoume plywood.

Building stocks, ready for construction to start.

Hull structure completed, deck and interior soon to start.

Teamwork - muscle power in the absence of a crane to lift the boat.

Pouring the lead ballast bulb in a concrete mould.

Garth Steyn and the Kidz at Sea building team.

About to get wet.

First sail. Garth reported "balanced, plenty of power".

Happy crew sailing the boat that they built themselves.

We wish the Kidz at Sea the best of sailing in their first regatta, next week. Lots to do to prepare boat and crew before the racing starts.

See our full range of designs on our desktop website or our mobile website.

250 And Still Going Strong

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.