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.

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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.

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.

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