Cape Henry 21 & Kits in Australia

The most recent Cape Henry 21 launch was in Adelaide, Australia. "Sealion" is beautiful, built by Ron Jesche, and painted a very pretty blue. Ron is a professional boatbuilder with other boatbuilding projects behind him but most boats to this design are built by amateurs. With more than 100 afloat or in build around the world, this is our most popular plywood traditional sailboat design.

Ron Jesche exhibiting "Sealion" at the Geelong Wooden Boat Festival.

 Ron made a lovely job of the build, both inside and out, with quality joinery. The bright-finished details against white surfaces are traditional finishes for classic boats and create a bright and airy interior.

Pretty detailing, nice finishes. The slatted liners are comfortable backrests for the settees.

The raised sheer and flush deck give a comfortable and spacious interior.

Afloat and waiting for her sails.

Ron made some custom changes to his boat. One of them was to add a small diesel motor under the front of the cockpit to replace the standard outboard motor in an outboard well. It fits in neatly, with access through hatches in the cockpit sole and bulkhead. Although the diesel motor is a bit heavier than the outboard that it replaces, it is closer to the centre of gravity of the boat, so has little effect on flotation.

Cockpit hatches to access engine and shaft seal.

Access openings in bulkheads around the engine.

Ron launched on Christmas eve and had the first sail as a Christmas present. Since then he has sailed her in a wide variety of conditions on all points of sail and tested her for heaving to. He had previously sailed the smaller sister, Cape Cutter 19, and declared them both to be fast, capable and without vices.

"Sealion" romping in a friendly summer breeze, sailing as a cutter with Yankee and staysail.

A few days ago he sent this photo, taken while sailing in light breeze. It was his first outing with Genoa and main, sailing as a sloop. He discovered just how fast these little boats are in light winds.

Reaching at 6.1 knots boat speed in 7.8 knots apparent breeze.

While building his Cape Henry 21, Ron Jesche agreed to work as our agent in Australia and since then we have expanded it to include CNC kits for our plywood designs. He is well placed to represent us at boat shows and in the plans and kit markets. To contact Ron Jesche, go to his Stainless Boatworks website at https://stainlessboatworks.com.au/.

To see more of this design or others in our wide range, go to our main website or our mobile website.

New Design - Didi 29 Retro

We have a new design that is a little out of the ordinary, named the Didi 29 Retro. It is a development of the Didi 26, which is one of our most popular designs with more than 250 plan sets sold. It has the same basic hull, keel options and interior arrangements but that is where the similarity ends. I think that, with the two boats lying next to each other on a marina, few people would realise that they are blood sisters.

3D rendering of radius chine plywood underbody

This boat is intended for classic sailboat racing, so it needed a classic appearance. To this end we have:-

1) Extended the aft end into a counter stern. This will weigh a bit more but it extends the sailing length, for higher speed potential in stronger conditions.

2) Cropped the forward end to form a plumb bow.

3) Added bulwarks, both because it is a classic feature and to add spring to the sheer. The bulwarks are 100mm high in the bow and taper to a normal toerail height aft of the cabin, so that crew can sit comfortably on the rail.

4) Changed the cabin shape to a more traditional profile with almost vertical sides and compound curved roof.

3D Rendering of topsides and deck

5) Replaced the modern fractional rig with a big gaff cutter rig. It has carbon spars to reduce rig weight and increase stability. It is very versatile, allowing a wide selection of sail options, to really pile on sail area in the light stuff and reef it right down to a compact fully inboard gaff sloop rig in strong winds, and many variations between. The bowsprit pivots around the bow and retracts to stow on the sidedeck. The Genoa, Yankee and asymmetrical spinnaker are tacked to the bowsprit, so they can be pivoted up to windward for deeper sailing angles instead of being stuck on centreline.

Versatile gaff cutter rig

These changes have morphed a very fast modern little racer/cruiser into a traditional racer/cruiser that will be capable of even higher speeds than the original design. It should be extremely quick in light winds and downwind in stronger conditions. The rig is a direct development of the rigs used on the Cape Cutter 19 and Cape Henry 21. Both are surprisingly quick little cruisers in the light to moderate breezes because of their large sail plans, yet are very capable in stronger conditions as well. However, they don't have planing underbodies and the Didi 29 Retro has inherited the planing underbody of the Didi 26, so should go like a witch downwind.

The standard keel options are lifting or fixed bulb keels. The rudder is a cassette that drops through the cockpit floor and locks in place for sailing but can be lifted out for trailing or access to shallow moorings.

The first boat will be built in Hout Bay, South Africa, by the owner. He will use a pre-cut kit of all plywood components, which will be supplied by CKD Boats . Builders will have the choice of building from plans only, plans with full-size Mylar bulkhead patterns or plans with a plywood kit.

For information on our other designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/ .