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.

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.

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Didi Cruise-Mini Across the Atlantic

Tony Hussey built himself a radius chine plywood Didi Cruise-Mini in the UK. We have exchanged communications recently, while he has been en-route from UK to the Caribbean in his little boat. This is a cruising version of the little Didi Mini trans-Atlantic raceboat, so it is in its proper element with a cruise like this.

Tony has said that he is very happy with his little cruiser. He sailed her from UK to Spain and back in 2014. Then last year he sailed UK to the Azores and has now continued to Antigua.

From the Azores Tony wrote "Im not pushing the boat as I'm cruising and can't afford any breakages. I also slow down at night to 5 kts to help sleep. My autopilot doesn't handle the spinnakers very well so can't make good use of the higher speeds but the light wind performance with the big spinnakers is amazing for a small boat. On a beam reach in 6/8 knots apparent I'm up to 6 kts boat speed keeping up with the bigger cruisers motoring with not enough wind. Top speed so far is 12.9 but around 12 I chicken out as I can't trust my autopilot to control the boat when I take down the spinnaker."

Now that he is in Antigua and recovering from a back injury he wrote "So far I've done over 8000 miles singlehanded in the boat and very happy with it, always felt safe but never dry!! Joke. The plan is Panama this summer then out towards Australia through Polynesia."

The Didi Cruise-Mini has the same hull and deck as the Didi Mini but with a bit more headroom, more comfort and a more compact sail plan.

Under sail with big squartop mainsail and Solent jib.

At anchor in the Azores.

"Splinter" - Great name for a small wooden boat.

Seagull's view of a beamy little cruiser.

Hitching a tow from a kayak due to outboard problems.

We wish Tony and "Splinter" happy cruising, looks like they are angling toward a circumnavigation. You can follow their adventures on Tony's blog.

To see more about our designs visit http://dixdesign.com/ or http://dixdesign.com/mobile

Didi 950 Australia Project Update

Yesterday I wrote about the Didi 950 of Mike Vermeersch in Ohio, today is the turn for the parallel Didi 950 project of Fred Grimminck in Australia.

Fred is building his lifting keel version from scratch, using plans and offsets. He has been progressing very quickly and should be launching within a few months. His boat is destined for fast cruising rather than racing, so he is fitting her out for comfort rather than attempting to get close to class weight.

The lifting keel foil and bulb use similar details to the fixed keel except that it has no flare and root plate at the top and extends through a steel casing into the hull, where it bolts down onto the top flange of the casing. This is right where the engine is in the fixed keel version, so Fred's motor moves to under the companion ladder and is fitted with a saildrive instead of a shaft with stern tube.

Fred has made some changes from the design, so these photos show some differences from my drawings. Among the changes are encasing the lifting keel casing and mechanism all the way up to the deck and swapping the layout from aft heads and forward sleeping cabin to forward heads and additional aft sleeping cabin.


Casing for lifting keel being installed. Galley locker will surround it.
 

Water ballast tanks and double quarter berth on port side.

Galley.

Port water ballast tanks and double quarter berth, looking through into lazarette.

Navigation station.

Looking from nav station, through saloon into forecabin, in this case with forward heads.

Companion ladder to cockpit. The motor is behind the ladder.

Cockpit and cabin.

Deck and cabin nearing completion.

Casting half of the lead ballast bulb.

The next update on Fred's Didi 950 will likely be when he launches her.

To see our full range of designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/ or http://dixdesign.com/mobile



Update on DS15 "Bateleur"

Jim Foot launched his Didi Sport 15 (DS15) a few months ago. After initial photos and reports Jim went quiet. I suspect that he busied himself with regular sailing to learn the characteristics of his new boat, to understand how she likes to be handled in a range of conditions.

Today Jim has sent another report, detailing his sailing this past weekend. He sailed on Algoa Bay, off Port Elizabeth, sailing in sportboat mode with the lead bulb on the keel. Starting with light breezes, it rapidly changed to 35-40 knots, as happens pretty regularly in this part of the world. Unperturbed by the gale force conditions, Jim and his crew Thomas Ochabski put in a reef, left the big asymmetrical stowed in its bag and carried on sailing. Jim says that there was a keelboat in attendance in case of mishap, which gave him the bravado to carry on sailing.

DS15 "Bateleur" about to get wet for the first time.

 Here are extracts from Jim's own words about his experience with "Bateleur" in these conditions.

Beat back to harbour (from about 2 nm offshore) and then had a blast reaching around for about an hour or more.   Great fun.   Naah, understatement, awesome, awesome fun!

For the first time really felt that things were a step up on the speed stakes.   When I was building the boat I imagined a mini Volvo 60 with associated responsiveness and upwind speed. And this is what I felt the boat was achieving.

He promises some GoPro video by the end of the week.

And what about light wind speed? More words from Jim.

The other thing, the boat is incredibly fast in very light winds with weight forward. Everyone who has sailed her in light conditions (<6 kts) has remarked about this characteristic.  Thanks Dudley for a great design.

To see more of this and our other designs, visit our main website or  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

Didi 40cr "Day Dream"

Every now and then a boat catches my attention and I think "Hmm, I wouldn't mind owning that boat myself". Such a thought crossed my mind when I saw photos of "Day Dream". She is a Didi 40cr, essentially the same as the Didi 38 "Black Cat" that I built and sailed for so many thousands of miles, but with extended stern and a bit more accommodation space.

Fast as "Black Cat" is, "Day Dream" has the potential to be still faster. She has the same very slippery hull but her extended stern increases her speed potential. She has the same powerful but easily-handled rig, with a bit less draft, for better access to shallower cruising grounds.

"Day Dream" in the slings, showing off her clean lines

She was professionally-built in Antalya, Turkey, with CE certification. She has a radius chine plywood hull with fibreglass deck. She was a custom build, so the builder has made a few styling changes from my design but overall the boat looks really nice. I see European influences and features that are fine for local cruising in the Med. With my own preference for ocean voyages, I would modify the navigation and galley areas to better suit my own needs.

Nicely fitted out, with clean and comfortable saloon

Clean galley, styled for local cruising.

The asking price for "Day Dream" is not much more than the material cost of building such a boat, at US$60,000. If I had the cash available, I would be sorely tempted. If she rattles your cage enough to want to investigate further, contact me by email. I will put you in contact with the owner for more information.

Not the greatest sailing photo but the best that I have.

To view this and our other designs, visit http://dixdesign.com/.

Didi Sport 15 (DS15) Launch

The long-awaited day arrived this weekend. Jim Foot, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, launched his self-built DS15 at Algoa Bay Yacht Club. He started with a pre-cut plywood kit supplied by CKD Boats in Cape Town and took approximately 6 months of his spare time from start to launch.

DS15 "Bateleur" about to get wet for the first time.

 Despite the very light wind, they had good sailing and were impressed by performance. Jim's first comments are:-

She sails beautifully and she is fast. Beating into a chop in light wind this am going at about 3,7 kts felt happy. Then was told wind spd 4 kts by passing boat quite amazing.

Very well behaved. No balance issues. Save a bit of lee helm with the kite up. Loads of compliments from older sailors. Hunter Gall get on the water you dont know what you are missing. This is one good boat. Ps only sailed in bulb config at this stage.
A few changes to make. But not many. Congrats Dudley on a fantastic hull. Its a beaut.

Ready for sails and rarin' to go.

Rigging the sails. Clean deck layout and large cockpit.

Jim's friend Mark Dawson was with him for the first sail and passed these comments:-

Lucky enough to be the first to sail this boat with James Norman Foot. What a beaut! After a hairy moment of rocking the boat to moorings, which became a desperate paddle when we started drifting towards the rocks, we rigged the sails and immediately accelerated away. Bateleur likes to sit flat and notably accelerate in the lightest of wind puffs. A forced capsized showed how stable she is and how literally effortless to bring her back. Sailing the Didi 15, I just want to go again. Can't wait to see her in stronger breeze. In summary...I need one.

"Bateleur" returning to ABYC with a very happy crew.

Jim will keep us up to date with his testing and fine-tuning over the next few weeks. I hope that we will also get to see some photos and videos in stronger winds as Jim and "Bateleur" grow to know each other.

The top photo of this post shows the hull shape very nicely. For those who have not followed my posts about the build, this is a plywood boat although it doesn't look like one. It is the smallest in our radius chine plywood Didi design range. The hull is the same family as the Didi Mini Mk3 and Didi 950, with topside chine above a radius chine underbody.

It can be built from plans only, plans and patterns or plans and a CNC kit. See more info about all of our designs on our website at http://dixdesign.com/

Cape Cutter 19 Launch in Cape Town

Nick Kulenkampff, of Cape Town, bought plans from us in November 2013 for the Cape Cutter 19, to be built in lapstrake plywood. I only received one question from him and that was on choice of plywood for the build. A few days ago I received another email from him, with launch photos attached. He launched his boat, named "Mimi", at Royal Cape Yacht Club, in February.

In his email, Nick said "thank you for a beautiful design and also for a set of plans that were spot on. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process." From the photos it appears that he made a pretty good job of the build, which was also quicker than most at about 15 months.

This boat is available in GRP from Cape Cutter Yachts in UK. It is the smaller sister to our popular Cape Henry 21 design.

Here are some of Nick's build photos, with explanations

Making bulkheads. These are cut from full-size Mylar patterns, included in the plans.

Transom, laminated from multiple layers of plywood.

Bulkheads and transom set up on building stocks.

Bottom skin going on. Plenty of clamps needed.

Bilge panel gong on. Keel deadwood and wood bilge keels fitted. This bilge keel is to protect the hull when aground, serving purely as a support to keep the hull skin clear of pebbles.

Forward bottom panel. Fitting this panel is the most difficult part of the build, due to the amount of twist in the panel. The twist is what forms the fine bow for good performance.

Hull epoxy-coated, primed and ready for paint.

Building the cockpit. Nick's work is very neat.

Interior, looking forward, built  before fitting the deck.

Interior, looking aft. Painting in progress.

Deck stringers glued into pre-cut slots

Painted and brightwork being done. Almost ready to get wet.

This view shows why these little boats are so quick. That fine bow works vvery well.

Launch day. The yellow boat below the bow is "Black Cat", the Didi 38 that I built.

Afloat and waiting for her rig to be set up.

Thank you, Nick, for the set of photos. She looks good and I am sure you will have many good times sailing her.

To see more of this and out other designs, visit http://dixdesign.com/.