It is about 27 years since we first signed up with an agent to represent us in a foreign country. We were in South Africa and that agent was Graham Shanon's Coast Yacht Design in Canada. That long ago, all written/sketched correspondence was exchanged by snailmail letter post, even before the advent of faxes to speed up our lives. Letters took 2-3 weeks each way by airmail between South Africa and USA. Builders had to think through problems for themselves or plan well ahead because a question would not receive a reply for 4-6 weeks.
The fax initiated the death of the leisurely pace of our lives forever but it took years for the mindset to change. Urgent issues were dealt with by fax and telephone but all else went the snailmail route as before.
Drawings were all done by hand with pencil or ink on velum or plastic film. The eraser was as much a creative tool as was the pencil. If I got the layout of a drawing wrong I had to erase it and redraw, start again from the beginning or tape a piece of velum to an edge of the drawing to adjust the position of my work on the sheet. Plans were printed by hand, one at a time, by the dyeline ammonia process. They had to be well cared for and builders had to protect them from light or the information disappeared from the paper.
Now, working in CAD, I just grab whatever I want to move with my computer mouse then move it to where I want it on the drawing, or I can change the size of the drawing in an instant. CAD is still just a tool, an electronic version of pencil and eraser, but it brought with it so many conveniences (and as many frustrations). CAD and computers offer countless features to speed up the design process but, when things go wrong electronically, they take back all the time that they have saved us, with interest. When the design is done, we print with permanent ink onto 50m long rolls of paper or Mylar, with one computer spewing prints out of two plotters and another printer simultaneoulsy.
Now we have instantaneous electronic communication in the form of email, Instant Messaging, Skype etc, which were supposed to make life easier and give us more time. Instead they have done the opposite. Sometimes if a question is not answered within 24 hours a reminder arrives in the inbox. Unfortunately, it is easier to send a question by email than to look for information that is already in our hands. We are all guilty of this when we have a problem. It makes life easier for he who has the problem but wastes the time of he who has to tell us where to look for the information that we already have at our fingertips.
Things really have changed. We live in another country and we are in daily contact with our builders worldwide. We have boats sailing or being built in 78 countries, on all continents and in all corners of the world. The Internet has allowed us to reach people whom and where I would never have dreamed possible only 20 years ago. As kids, we understood Mongolia to be an even more out of the way place than Timbuktu. Now, we have boats as large as 43ft being built to the North of Mongolia, in Siberia.
Much of this is also due to the network of wonderful agents that we have managed to develop over the years since Graham Shanon contacted me to ask if he could be my agent. These people provide the personal contact for us with our customers who are not comfortable with long-distance purchases or who do not have access to the Internet. They have proven to be particularly valuable in countries where most people cannot speak my language and I cannot speak theirs.
Today we have spread a bit further, by signing with a new agent who will represent us in India. Sailing and boating are rapidly growing activities in India and it will be good for us to be represented there. Pelican Yachts is owned by Sagar Kudale and Gaurav Shinde. Based in Mumbai, where they are active sailors and also teach sailing, they should be well positioned to sell our designs to builders in India. They have also taken on the rights to cut kits for our plywood designs, which they will be able to sell to amateur and professional builders.
We look forward to a long and mutually rewarding relationship with Pelican Yachts.
To make contact with Pelican Yachts or any of our other 15 agents, go to our contact page at http://dixdesign.com/email.htm .
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium
This past weekend I was in Annapolis for the Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium. This was the 2nd of what looks like becoming a biennial event. With a good crowd in attendance and ample quality papers delivered, it looks like it has a great future as an occasion to educate oneself about developments in power boat design.
Held on the campus of St John's College in their lecture theatre, I had only one complaint about the proceedings. The number of papers on the schedule meant that each was squeezed into a 30 minute segment, including question time. Time pressure meant that most of the speakers had to rush their presentations somewhat to fit into the allotted time. It seemed to us in the audience that the 1 hour 45 minute lunch breaks could have been shortened considerably so that each speaker might have had another 5 minutes. That said, it is easy to question the decisions of an organising committee such as that needed for the symposium, without knowing the background to those decisions. On the whole they did an excellent job of putting a large number of technical papers in front of us.
The technical program kicked off with a tribute to Dr Daniel Savitsky, on whose research so much of current power boat performance prediction theory is based. It was an honour to see him there with his wife.
The papers covered a broad range of subjects. At one extreme were those that gave very technical results of research in various parts of the world, with complicated formulae that most will have trouble getting their heads around. At the other extreme were papers on more easily grasped subjects illustrated with video footage. These included radio controlled testing on the open sea of large scale models of military warships and the problems of tank-testing models of racing power boats that travel at speeds approaching 200mph.
An interesting paper was delivered by Paul Kamen on the dangers of current personal water craft (PWCs). This was with particular reference to the lack of brakes, in the form of a reversing bucket on the jet, and the fact that closing the throttle to kill thrust also kills steering. Trying to avoid a collision by closing the throttle and turning is generally totally ineffective and results in high-speed impact.
Another very interesting paper illustrated the wave patterns and associated drag of a monohull as it moves through water of various depths. What a surprise it was to hear and see that a hull has less drag in very shallow water than in slightly deeper water. In retrospect, it explained to me why I have noticed that my Paper Jet slips along effortlessly and with virtually no wake in calf-depth water.
Those of us in the audience who work with 3D surface design were delighted to see the presentation by Matt Sederberg on T-Splines. These are recently developed tools for NURBS surfaces that will make it much easier for us to define the often complicated surfaces of hulls and superstructures of boats. To cap it all, they also allow much smaller design files, for faster processing and smaller storage requirements.
All-in-all, the Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium was well worthwhile attending. I look forward the the 3rd one, in 2012.
Held on the campus of St John's College in their lecture theatre, I had only one complaint about the proceedings. The number of papers on the schedule meant that each was squeezed into a 30 minute segment, including question time. Time pressure meant that most of the speakers had to rush their presentations somewhat to fit into the allotted time. It seemed to us in the audience that the 1 hour 45 minute lunch breaks could have been shortened considerably so that each speaker might have had another 5 minutes. That said, it is easy to question the decisions of an organising committee such as that needed for the symposium, without knowing the background to those decisions. On the whole they did an excellent job of putting a large number of technical papers in front of us.
The technical program kicked off with a tribute to Dr Daniel Savitsky, on whose research so much of current power boat performance prediction theory is based. It was an honour to see him there with his wife.
The papers covered a broad range of subjects. At one extreme were those that gave very technical results of research in various parts of the world, with complicated formulae that most will have trouble getting their heads around. At the other extreme were papers on more easily grasped subjects illustrated with video footage. These included radio controlled testing on the open sea of large scale models of military warships and the problems of tank-testing models of racing power boats that travel at speeds approaching 200mph.
An interesting paper was delivered by Paul Kamen on the dangers of current personal water craft (PWCs). This was with particular reference to the lack of brakes, in the form of a reversing bucket on the jet, and the fact that closing the throttle to kill thrust also kills steering. Trying to avoid a collision by closing the throttle and turning is generally totally ineffective and results in high-speed impact.
Another very interesting paper illustrated the wave patterns and associated drag of a monohull as it moves through water of various depths. What a surprise it was to hear and see that a hull has less drag in very shallow water than in slightly deeper water. In retrospect, it explained to me why I have noticed that my Paper Jet slips along effortlessly and with virtually no wake in calf-depth water.
Those of us in the audience who work with 3D surface design were delighted to see the presentation by Matt Sederberg on T-Splines. These are recently developed tools for NURBS surfaces that will make it much easier for us to define the often complicated surfaces of hulls and superstructures of boats. To cap it all, they also allow much smaller design files, for faster processing and smaller storage requirements.
All-in-all, the Chesapeake Power Boat Symposium was well worthwhile attending. I look forward the the 3rd one, in 2012.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Didi Mini Mk3
The new design is complete, aside from tying up a few loose ends. It is the Didi Mini Mk3, a very much updated version of the Didi Mini design that we have sold the past 10 years.
~ Easier access between cockpit and interior
~ More power from broader and flatter stern
~ Water ballast of fixed keel version further outboard
~ Bow and stern ballast tanks in canting keel version
~ Tacking daggerboard in canting keel version
~ Redesigned foam flotation, cleaner interior
~ Inboard chainplates for tighter genoa sheeting
~ Larger square-head mainsail
Overall, these changes produce a boat that will be more powerful, faster, more weatherly and more comfortable to sail.
The underbody of this hull was developed from that of the Didi Mini, with the same profile and bottom shape but blended into a topside chine that runs from forward of the mast through to the transom. Combined with a full-beam transom, it adds more power to allow more sail to be carried for greater speed. See more info and graphics on the Didi Mini Mk3 web page.
We will continue to sell the older Didi Mini design for as long as people want it and the kit suppliers will still be able to cut kits for it.
Work has also started on our next design, a cruising oriented Didi 28 design. It will be a bigger sister to the Didi 26, with many of the same features but with considerably more beam, headroom and space. Watch for that to emerge next month.
For our full design range, go to the Dudley Dix Yacht Design website.
Introduced in the Didi Mini Mk3:-
~ Updated hull shape with broader stern and topside chine
~ Extended cabin roof, forming protected cuddy over front of cockpit~ Easier access between cockpit and interior
~ More power from broader and flatter stern
~ Water ballast of fixed keel version further outboard
~ Bow and stern ballast tanks in canting keel version
~ Tacking daggerboard in canting keel version
~ Redesigned foam flotation, cleaner interior
~ Inboard chainplates for tighter genoa sheeting
~ Larger square-head mainsail
Overall, these changes produce a boat that will be more powerful, faster, more weatherly and more comfortable to sail.
The underbody of this hull was developed from that of the Didi Mini, with the same profile and bottom shape but blended into a topside chine that runs from forward of the mast through to the transom. Combined with a full-beam transom, it adds more power to allow more sail to be carried for greater speed. See more info and graphics on the Didi Mini Mk3 web page.
We will continue to sell the older Didi Mini design for as long as people want it and the kit suppliers will still be able to cut kits for it.
Work has also started on our next design, a cruising oriented Didi 28 design. It will be a bigger sister to the Didi 26, with many of the same features but with considerably more beam, headroom and space. Watch for that to emerge next month.
For our full design range, go to the Dudley Dix Yacht Design website.
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