Paper Jet Skiffs in Siberia

Siberia, Russia, counts Lake Baikal among its natural treasures. Lake Baikal contains the largest single volume of fresh water in the world. Irkutsk, on the shores of Lake Baikal, is the home of Ivan Vasilyev. He bought plans from us in 2009 for the Didi 26, which he built for himself and now races in the local fleet.

Ivan Vasilyev's Didi 26 "Orca" racing on Lake Baikal.

Ivan and a group of friends plan to build the bigger sister, the Didi 38, in the future. But at the moment they are working on a project with smaller boats and for a different purpose.

They are building a bunch of skiffs to our Paper Jet design, for sail-training at their yacht club. Our design was selected because of its versatility, able to be used by sailors of widely differing abilities due to the designed-in variations in rig configuration. Three basic rig configurations plus other options are possible from the modular rig components, without needing three complete rigs per boat. The Paper Jet can morph from a docile una-rigged single-hander, to a single- or double-handed sloop, with or without trapeze, through to a full trapeze skiff for two juniors or one adult, with fathead mainsail and asymmetrical spinnaker.

Paper Jet basic rigs and deck plan.

Ivan and his group have bought plans for six boats to date. Some are being built from plans only, others are from CNC kits that have been cut by our kit supplier in Irkutsk. The boats are progressing nicely, most of them being built in the same location.

The first Paper Jet starts, with bulkheads and backbone set up on the building stocks. The boat alongside is Ivan's Didi 26 "Orca".

Hull skinned and turned upright. On top is one of the hollow wooden spars, built using modified birdsmouth details.

Three of the boats taking shape, with another starting in the foreground.

Paper Jet with deck and wings skinned and cross-beam structure in place. This X-frame adds versatility to the design by supporting the two mast positions.

Three of the boats with deck and wing skins being completed.

I look forward to photos of this growing fleet, teaching new sailors of all ages how to sail and also doing class racing.

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

Argie 15 & DS15 at Wooden Boat Show

This past weekend was time for our annual road trip to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, 500+ miles each way. We had our usual Paper Jet, slightly spruced up with a new coat of deck paint and non-skid. Normally we would take one boat on one trailer, an easy tow. This time we also needed to get the new Argie 15 to the show for Kevin Agee to exhibit in the I Built it Myself division of the show. So they had to both go on one trailer. The two boats made a neat package, more aerodynamic than the Argie 15 by itself.

Argie 15 and Paper Jet, the way we travelled to Mystic.

12 Hours aft of us on the road was Hunter Gall with his Didi Sport 15 (DS15) All three boats and our booth in the main tent were set up and ready for visitors Friday morning.

From left, Hunter Gall's DS15, Kevin Agee's Argie 15 and my Paper Jet.

This 26th edition of the Wooden Boat Show proved to be an exceptional one for us. The weather was good and the show was well attended, with a tremendous amount of interest in the two brand new boats. The high quality builds were rewarded with first place for Hunter and runner-up for Kevin in the "Owner-Built Sail" division of the competition. I extend my congratulations to both of them, their hard work and attention to detail really paid off.

Hunter's DS15 is a very interesting boat and really drew the crowds to talk about all of his details and innovations. It might be best described as stated by the head of the judging panel, who said that Hunter is like "the mad scientist of boating". I provided a clean and simple design, which Hunter used as a blank canvas onto which he applied almost every go-fast innovation that he could imagine. Of course it is his boat and the final result must make him happy and fire his passion for it.

Hunter's DS15, with red, white and blue colours achieved by staining the wood before applying the epoxy coatings.

The wet deck with open transom seemed to worry some visitors, mostly women. Surrounded by mostly traditional boats, they can't imagine boats sailing faster than the waves around them.

Hunter had intrigued the judges with his explanations of the theory of tacking daggerboards, his removable heart-shaped daggerboard foil and other add-ons, as well as the unique ways that he had executed some of the more mundane dinghy features. The judges encouraged visitors to chat with Hunter about all this and he had a ball with it. The boat has many 3D-printed items on it, including a carbon spinnaker chute that he had modeled in a 3D CAD program for printing.

Kevin's Argie 15 provided a big contrast, standing right next to the DS15. It is a big 3:1 dinghy that is outfitted for easy and efficient sailing with a minimum of fuss, able to get onto the water quickly and also to carry a family of adults and children in safety and comfort. Kevin built this boat to a standard that caused many to ask why a fiberglass boat was being seen on a show for wooden boats. The bright-finished woodwork of the boat is all two-tone in poplar and cedar, which set off the nicely painted hull and deck surfaces.

The pretty sheer and clean lines of the hull attracted many admirers to the Argie 15.

Spacious interior with minimal complication, as well as space for a bunch of people.

The Argie 15 may have originally been conceived as a 3:1 dinghy for basic family fun but it morphed later by adding seating all-round. This added 40-50lb to the weight but improved comfort big-time, also boosting safety by adding buoyancy if capsized or flooded. These are all features that attracted the lovers of simple boats.

The Paper Jet, Argie 15 and DS15 provided a nice contrast to each other, three very different boats from the same designer. Between the three boats and our display booth, Dehlia and I were kept very busy for most of the three-day show. I would like to thank both Kevin Agee and Hunter Gall for their efforts in building and showing their boats, also for their obvious pride in their own workmanship.

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

Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival 2016

This time last year we were preparing for the 2015 Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival in St Michaels, MD, on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay. Then Hurricane Joaquin was born in the Caribbean, with the track forecast to run right up Chesapeake Bay as a very intense storm . The event was cancelled for the first time in it's more than 30 year history. the storm turned off into the Atlantic Ocean but still dumped a tremendous amount of rain over the Mid-Atlantic states for most of the weekend.

This is a camping and boating event, so many inches of rain would have created massive problems for organisers and participants. I was to be the Saturday night dinner speaker at that event. Everything was put on hold for a year and the organisers have hit the restart button, picking up where they left off last year. It will happen on 1st and 2nd October 2016.

For those who are interested, I will be there and will be sailing my Paper Jet prototype. Anyone who would like to experience sailing a skiff like this will be welcome to take her for a sail as well. Note that a boat like this is not for novices, you will need to have reasonable sailing skills to sail her.

Sailing my Paper Jet with the big rig and trapeze. We can depower by using the
smaller sloop rig, depending on wind strength and the skill of the sailors.

My presentation at the Saturday night dinner will be a discussion about my designs, illustrated with PowerPoint slides. It will include the amazing open boat circumnavigation that was made by Anthony Steward in a custom 19 footer based on one of my little trail-sailer designs.

Hope to see you at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival.

Paper Jet #100

Today we have shipped plans for Paper Jet #99 to a builder in Samara, Russia. To date we have sold plans for this design to builders in 21 countries, on all continents except Antarctica. This one is being built from a pre-cut kit supplied by our kit supplier in Irkutsk, in Siberia.

Another Russian Paper Jet, #65, belonging to Konstantin Denisov, near Moscow.

The next Paper Jet that we sell will, of course, be sail number 100. Who wants to be #100?

Dudley Dix

Paper Jet Prototype for Sale

I designed the Paper Jet to be an exciting junior trainer, capable of taking a young sailor through multiple skill-levels, from a basic free-standing una-rigged dinghy through to a high-performance trapeze skiff with asymmetric spinnaker. This it does without having to spend bundles of money to trade up to another boat, by doing it all on the same hull and adding or swapping rig and hardware components. She is extremely light, with the hull weighing only 94lb, easily manhandled by small crew.

Paper Jet in una-rig Lite format.

It has proven capable of doing all that I intended, although I have used my prototype #001 as a single-hander for myself. I have cruised it in sedate fashion in light breezes, when it reels off the miles. I have also blasted on trapeze at well over 20 knots just clipping the tops of the waves. And between those two extremes she has given me many hours of fun and exhilarating sailing.

Paper Jet in Turbo format, with asymmetrical spinnaker on the foredeck.

But, I have had knee problems since a teenager, from surfing too many hours in icy cold water without a wetsuit. Now, 50 years later, it has caught up with me. My knees won't let me get out on trapeze any more and my left knee dislocated at least 6 times while sailing this past weekend. In the middle of a tack is no time to be manipulating a dislocated knee back to its intended format.

So, the Paper Jet prototype, sail #001, is for sale. She comes with all components for all three rig formats as well as upgrades that I made to the design over the 8 years that I have sailed her. Included are:-

Standard mainsail
Turbo full-batten fathead mainsail
Jib on roller-furler
Asymmetrical spinnaker with sock
Mast with short and long topmasts
Boom
Retracting bowsprit
Daggerboards - three different lengths
Rudders - old and new versions
All deck hardware
All standing & running rigging
Launching dolly

Selling price is $8,000, which is not a lot more than the material cost to build her with all of the sails and bits that she has. She is in good shape, with totally watertight hull, just needing some minor paint and varnish touch-ups. We will have her at the Wooden Boat Show in Mystic CT this coming weekend, from Friday through Sunday. After that she will be back at our base in Virginia Beach VA.

If interested, please contact me.