Adventures of the Dix 38 Pilot "Spailpin"

In December last year I wrote about the voyage that was being undertaken by Barry Kennedy in his Dix 38 Pilot "Spailpin" to Antarctica, their second in a year. Read that post here. Since then a lot has happened. If you think that you have had it tough on land through the COVID-19 pandemic, you may change your mind after hearing Barry's story.

The photos below show some of the incredible scenery that they visited. Barry was not alone, he had two crew with him. Together they visited places and had experiences that very few people in the world will ever appreciate. It takes much hard work and dedication to get to these places and very few boats manage to receive permits to even go there.

This time the weather was much more mild than the previous year. But it is a very dangerous place and the weather can turn very fast, changing an apparently safe anchorage into a deathtrap. That is when an able boat and capable crew combine to bring all involved back to safety. Always being aware of every aspect of the surroundings, i.e. terrain both above and below water, ice and weather is imperative to certainty of completing the cruise plans and getting home again.

Even the most carefully laid plans can go wrong, for totally unexpected reasons. It was on the voyage back from Antarctica that exactly that unexpected situation dumped itself on, not only "Spailpin" and her crew, but on the entire world. They sailed from Antarctica to Tierra del Fuego, then to South Georgia. From there the next stop was to be Tristan da Cunha, approx. 1450 nautical miles away. They arrived there to find that COVID-19 was hammering the world and everything was shutting down. That included Tristan da Cunha and they were not permitted to land, despite having been at sea in the most extreme of self-quarantine conditions for a month, with zero chance of having contracted the virus.

So, they headed back out to sea, target Cape Town, South Africa, another 1500 miles away. But two days after leaving Tristan South Africa closed down, shutting off that option. They changed course for Jamestown on the island of St Helena. After being in the Southern Ocean for more than a year this leg can be a bit of a doddle through or around the South Atlantic High but 1300 more miles to get to a destination that they did not want.

They arrived off Jamestown to another closed port. One of the crew needed to return to Cape Town and was allowed to go ashore on St Helena through diplomatic intervention. He was to fly to Cape Town while "Spailpin" voyaged further, next stop Georgetown, Ascension Island. This was to be a relatively short hop of 700 miles but ended the same way. Barry was able to go get fuel before they coninued on their way, now headed for USVI in the Caribbean.

By then Barry was urgently needing to get back to work, so flew off to take care of that while his crew sailed "Spailpin" from the Caribbean to Chesapeake Bay, where she is now in Annapolis, MD.

Barry needed to move up to a larger boat for his future voyaging and contacted me before this recent voyage to ask if I knew of a suitable candidate built to one of my designs. No suitable boat was available but he has found a boat from another designer and bought it. That brings "Spailpin onto the market at a very attractive price for a quick sale. There can be no doubt that this boat is well-proven for voyaging to the harshest oceans on our planet. If you are interested in buying her, contact me by email so that I can put you in contact with Barry.

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

Dix 38 Pilot "Spailpin" Antarctic Voyage

The yacht "Spailpin" is a steel Dix 38 Pilot, owned and skippered by Barry Kennedy. She is currently in the Antarctic, on her second voyage to that wild and very remote part of our world.

She was built in South Africa by Luke Fisher as his family cruiser, named "Bryana". He competed in the 1700 mile Governors Cup Race from South Africa to St Helena Island in 2012, with his wife and two teenage children as crew. Barry Kennedy bought her from Luke, renamed her "Spailpin" and made upgrades to ready her for more vigorous sailing adventures than she had done with Luke and family.

As "Bryana, when Luke Fisher owned her.

Wikipedia defiles a spailpin as a wandering landless labourer, an itinerant or seasonal farm worker in Ireland. Others also offer a rascal or layabout as alternatives. Seeing where she is now and how hard she and Barry have worked to be there, I don't think that the "layabout" handle will fit. That said, she did hang out for most of 2019 in the Falkland Islands between her two voyages.

"Spailpin" hanging out in the Falkland Islands this year.

Prior to her Antarctic voyage a year ago, Barry and "Spailpin" cruised the fjords of Patagonia. These photos are from that voyaging to some of the most incredible scenery in the world.

Look carefully and you will see "Spailpin" in the middle of that sea of ice.

Moored to ice.

Serene but very cold near to the bottom of the world.

Two weeks ago Barry and I exchanged emails when "Spailpin" was in port in Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southern city in the world. Barry was preparing and stocking her for her voyage back to Antarctica while waiting for two crew to join him. Since then they have reached Antactica and are anchored in the sheltered waters of Enterprise Island.

Wind patterns over the Southern Ocean on Christmas Day 2019, showing the track of "Spailpin" from Ushuaia, at the top, to her location at the red dot, at Enterprise Island.

Their crossing last year was very rough. This year they had much calmer weather, with only a few hours of gales. When passing Cape Horn it was calm enough for them to anchor and go ashore to visit the lighthouse and memorial. You can follow the travels of "Spailpin" at https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Spailpin.

See more about the Dix 38 Pilot and our other designs on our main website or our mobile website.

New Life for Hout Bay 70 in Charter Work

The Hout Bay 70 "Spirit of Malverne" was built by a farmer on his wine farm in the beautiful Devon Valley, in the foothills of the Helderberg mountain range east of Cape Town, South Africa. She is a steel gaff schooner that I designed for the owner in the 1990's, as the biggest of our Hout Bay range of traditional gaff-rigged designs. She was 70ft on deck, 82ft overall (including bowsprit), 19,2" beam and 6'7" draft, with displacement of 48 tons.

She is a big and powerful boat and did extensive cruising in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans under her first owner. He told me of surfing her at 19 knots on large Atlantic swells en-route to St Helena island and of how she steered herself  without anyone touching the helm for 10 consecutive days, hard on the wind, on the return voyage.

"Spirit of Malverne" at her launch, at Royal Cape Yacht Club.

Saloon of "Spirit of Malverne". That champagne bottle is a Magnum, giving scale to the cabin.

Hout Bay 70 "Spirit of Malverne under sail.

After two changes of ownership she was bought by Trevor Appleby, who had big ideas to modify her for high-end charter service in the Andaman Sea and surrounding countries. This week he sent me photos of the very modified result, a beautiful schooner of 99ft overall length. The extra length has been introduced by lengthening the hull aft to form a counter stern. Aside from the change in aesthetics, the large aft deck creates a large flat dining area for outdoor dining in quiet anchorages.

In the process of modifying her hull, much of the skin plating was replaced to bring her up to like-new condition. To do this, the interior was gutted then rebuilt after the completion of the structural work. The end result is a beautiful and luxurious boat that will give very special memories to anyone who charters her.

"Dallinghoo", the Hout Bay 70 reborn for charter work.

Elegant modified stern of "Dallinghoo"

Dining on the aft deck .

The decks were stripped and new teak decks laid.

Rebuilt interior. The other half of the original saloon is now a luxurious cabin.

One of the luxurious sleeping cabins.

En-suite bathrooms.

Profile and accommodation of "Dallinghoo"

A holiday on "Dallinghoo" will be one to remember but most of us will just have to dream about it. Visit her website at http://www.dallinghoo.com/ for more info about her and the charter rates.

To see more about the Hout Bay 70 and our other designs go to our main website or our mobile website.