Kayak Boat Plans | Black Cat on the Ocean Blue

Kayak Boat Plans

I am sure that most of my readers are well aware of our adventures on the prototype Didi 38 "Black Cat" in the Cape to Rio Race in January 2014. This is the boat that I built in my back garden in Hout Bay, South Africa and launched nearly 20 years ago. She was the experiment in boat construction that is the basis for all of my radius chine plywood designs, with many hundreds now on the water or in build around the world.

"Black Cat" is once again out on the wide blue South Atlantic Ocean. She is participating in the 1700 mile Governors Cup Race from Simonstown, South Africa, to St Helena, the remote island in the middle of the South Atlantic. Much as I would like to have been there, I was unable to join the crew for this race but they seem to be doing a pretty good job of it without my interference. They have led the monohull fleet both on handicap and on the water from the first position report and remain up there. Only the trimaran "Banjo" leads them.

"Black Cat" at start of Governors Cup 2014. Dave Mabin photo

The crew, led by Dave Immelman, has been having great sailing, with three consecutive days of 200+ mile runs in strong downwind trade conditions. Now they are working their way through the light winds of a high pressure system at lower speed but maintaining their lead. Dave is the resident skipper on "Black Cat" and was my navigator for the Cape to Rio Race 2014.

We wish Dave and his crew continued good sailing and that they can find their way quickly through the high to more good breezes.

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Boat Plans Bartender | The Governor the Saint the Cat the Cup

Boat Plans Bartender

The 2014 Governors Cup Race from Simonstown, South Africa, to the South Atlantic island of St Helena, is all done and wrapped up. The results have all been sorted and the crew of the Didi 38 "Black Cat" have been presented with the magnificent glass floating trophy.

Sophie Pages, owner Adrian Pearson, Cathleen Hughes, skipper David Immelman & Shaun Cooper

The race started out in strong conditions that stayed with the fleet for much of the race, then disappeared. In battling through the extensive calms, most of the racing division boats chose to use their motors and defaulted into the cruising division, inflating the cruising fleet and decimating the racing fleet. Those who stuck to the ideals of yacht racing under wind power alone are to be congratulated for staying there to the end. In doing this, "Black Cat" and her crew won both line honours and on handicap.

For those who wonder where this place is, St Helena is the island to which Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled in 1815 after being defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. He was interred there in a tiny home until his death in 1821. The island is home to a small population of "Saints" under a governor who answers to the government in Great Britain.

The Governors Cup Race occurs each year in the Southern summer, except for years when there is a Cape to Rio Race. It starts in late December and finishes early January, after crossing 1720 miles of open ocean. In past years boats have been able to ship back to South Africa on the RMS St Helena, a combined cargo and passenger vessel that has been the major physical connection between the island and the outside world in the past. Now the island has an airport that is nearing completion and which will soon be operational.

RMS St Helena offloading cargo.

The RMS St Helena service will be cut back considerably now and shipping of boats back to Cape Town may not be possible. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on entries for the Governors Cup Race in the future.

This is a worthy race to enter if cruising around the world and passing through Cape Town. Also for kicking off a long distance or world cruise with South Africa as departure. From St Helena, the next stop of the trans-Atlantic leg would likely be the island of Ascension, another weeks sailing NW of St Helena, then on to Fernando de Noronha and mainland Brazil.

I have not yet visited St Helena but it is high on my bucket list.

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Boat Blind Plans | GCBSR Report Back

Boat Blind Plans

As described in my previous post, a big fleet of schooners (35 of them) of all types and styles, sailed from Baltimore at the northern end of Chesapeake Bay to Portsmouth at the southern end. Starting on Thursday lunch time, after a big Wednesday evening dinner party at the Polish Home in Baltimore, most boats were in Portsmouth by early Saturday in time for the big lunch-time oyster, clam and pig roast and prizegiving.

On the Shearwater 45 "Apella", owned and skippered by Dan Hall, we acquitted ourselves quite well with second in Class B behind the 65ft "Tom Bombadil". In a schooner fleet quoted length includes the bowsprit, so our Shearwater 45 is listed at 54ft. Winner in Class C was "Adventure", the Hout Bay 40 gaff schooner (listed at 42ft) on which I sailed this race about 5 years ago. I dont know why she only gains 2ft in her listing, her bowsprit is considerably more than 2ft.

Classes B and C started 10 minutes behind the bigger boats of classes A and AA. The fastest of the first start boats sailed away from us but we had the opportunity to view some of the others as we sailed through the back end of the bigger fleet, with opportunities for good photos.

"Mystic Whaler", out of New London, Connecticut. She is a regular in this race.

A few boats fell out of the race along the way. The weather turned out to be considerably less favourable than the 8-10mph westerly breezes with smooth water that were forecast. We had those conditions for the first 6-8 hours of racing but then the breeze started to head south and continued that trend until it was pretty much on the nose and increased to about 25 knots (about 3x the forecast). With wind against tide most of the time, the seas were short and sharp, rather uncomfortable. This was too much for some crews, who retired from the race.

Hauling in "Lady Maryland"

I succumbed to the uncomfortable seas and donated my dinner to the fish, crabs and clams of Chesapeake Bay for a few hours from about 4am Friday until we reached smoother water south of our finish at Windmill Point. My own fault of course, I believed the forecast and didnt take my usual precautions until after we hit the rough water. By then it was too late to do much good.

Some of our crew. L-R Joe Miller, Dudley, Scott Page. Owner Dan Hall at the helm.

I really enjoy sailing among these boats, particularly the big ones like "Pride of Baltimore", "Mystic Whaler", "Lady Maryland" and others that are dedicated to educating people from all walks of life and of all ages. They do so in the interests of the community, teaching skills that will be lost to humanity without such dedicated people serving as stewards, to look after and pass on the crafts and skills of traditional schooners and the coastal waters in which they operate.

"Pride of Baltimore" docked in Portsmouth, other big schooners in the background.

I have sailed many thousands of miles and sailed most of my life but my skills are insignificant beside these true watermen and women. Some of these boats are skippered and crewed by women and they are well-respected by the men among whom they sail and compete. Being female is no disadvantage in the world of schooners, all must prove themselves on an equal basis.

Overall, this was another memorable Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. This event was the brainchild of the late Capt. Lane Briggs, who sailed in most of them in his steel gaff schooner "Norfolk Rebel", a sail-assisted tug. The innovative Capt. Briggs was a sturdy pillar of the community in Hampton Roads, initiating many events to support, educate and entertain residents and visitors alike. The many volunteers involved in creating and hosting the Schooner Race every year do a wonderful job of keeping alive the aspirations of Lane Briggs, ensuring that they will continue for a long time into the future.

Dudley Dix


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Pontoon Boat Plans | Trans Ocean Pedalboat

Pontoon Boat Plans

Davey du Plessis is an author, inspirational speaker and an adventurer who pushes himself far beyond the limits of us more normal people. He has ridden around the perimeter of Africa on a bicycle. He was doing a source to sea solo navigation of the Amazon River when he was ambushed and shot, then had to get himself back to civilisation. He was tested close to his limits in that adventure and still has the bullet lodged in his heart.

Daveys planned next adventure is to pedal a boat around the world. He approached me to design the boat and had his uncle, Tertius du Plessis, build it for him. The boat is now mostly complete and will soon be ready for testing.

Looks like a hi-tec starfighter but really a low-tec pedal boat.

While I designed the boat, I didnt design the propulsion system, which consists of a leg that has a conventional pedal arrangement at the top, inside the boat, and a plastic 2-blade propeller under the hull. The slow-rotating propeller has soft blades to reduce the chances of damaging marine life.

Exterior view, looking like it came from a Star Wars movie.

The styling looks very sleek and possibly intended for high speeds but high speed is not the aim. It is designed for low drag both in the water and above. A human-powered boat needs to be easily driven, to maximise the distance that can be covered for each unit of energy that goes into propelling it. That means that it must offer little resistance to the water and the air. The underbody is shaped for low drag at low speeds and to be easily steered in downwind tradewind conditions. She has a shallow barn-door type rudder, transom-hung.

Builder Tertius du Plessis with the boat during construction.

Davey is sure to find very bad weather many times on his voyaging, so his boat is also shaped for low resistance to breaking waves that strike it and it is shaped to roll back upright when (rather than if) it is capsized. Stability comes from the tankage and stowage compartments placed low down in the hull to lower the centre of gravity. The deck and cabin are shaped to float the boat high if inverted with the hatches and ports closed, to make it unstable upside-down. Davey will also be able to use his own weight inside the boat to help it roll back to upright if needed.

Construction is stitch-&-glue plywood, assembled over permanent bulkheads and partial bulkheads. The interior is divided into three compartments, separated by full bulkheads with companion hatches. Both ends are berth length, to accommodate one or two crew for a voyage.

Interior view of the cockpit. Full bulkheads separate bow and stern.

This coming weekend sees the Cape Town International Boat Show and Daveys boat will be on display.

This boat is not yet on our website but you can see our other designs at http://dixdesign.com/ and http://dixdesign.com/mobile.

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