Boat Plans Bolger | 2014 Calendar of Our Designs

Boat Plans Bolger

Our 2014 calendar is now at the printers and we will have the first stocks ready for shipping in a couple of weeks. Get your orders in and we will ship as soon as they come in, well in time for you to use as Christmas gifts or to hang on your wall come January 1st. Order here.

We have a nice selection of photos again this year. Here are the cover photo and a few months as samples of what it contains.

Cover of our 2014 Calendar

January

May

July

September

Thank you to all who have allowed us to use your photos. For other builders who are not featured, we have already started to collect photos for our 2015 calender. This is a good opportunity to show off what you have achieved, so please send them to me by email.

We have changed suppliers this year, in the interests of keeping the price reasonable. The supplier that we used in the past has hiked their prices way up and would have necessitated a considerable increase. With the new supplier we can hold the price at the same level as the past two years.

To see our range of boat designs, please go to http://dixdesign.com/ .

Do you find information about Boat Plans Bolger are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Bolger. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Uk | Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race 2014

Boat Plans Uk

The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race is held annually, with schooners of all types and sizes racing each other from the Bay Bridge North of Annapolis to the southern end of Chesapeake Bay. Starting at 13h30 on Thursday 16th October, this is the 25th running of the annual race, which was started by the late Capt. Laine Briggs.This is really two parties, one in Baltimore, Maryland, the other in Portsmouth, Virginia, linked by a yacht race.

I have sailed in this race twice before, on steel boats that I had designed. In 2004 it was on the 60ft gaff schooner "Ancilla II", then owned by Renny Barnes. About 5 or 6 years later I did it on the  Hout Bay 40 "Adventure" that was owned by Charley Holmes.

This year I will sail with Dan Hall on his GRP staysail schooner-rigged Shearwater 45 "Apella". She was built in Cape Town by Patrick Fraser. Patrick commissioned the Shearwater 45 design and built two of them, one for himself and the other for his colleague Denis Colclough. The one that we will sail was the boat owned by Denis and was originally named "Wave Maiden".

"Apella", snapped by solo-circumnavigator Ant Steward at a recent
chance meeting when leaving Newport RI.

The Shearwater 45 has a modern underbody below her classic good looks. It allows these boats to show surprising speed under most wind conditions.

The two schooners were both fitted out with very distinctive colours and detailing, styled after the very luxurious private Pullman carriages that were used by wealthy families to travel on the railroads of North America.

Sistership "Moonbeam" out of the water, showing underbody.

Gorgeous interior of "Apella", looking aft

Looking forward.

The cutter-rigged version of this design won two boat of the year awards at the 2000 Annapolis Sailboat Show. Read more about the Shearwater 45 in an earlier blog post.

Visit our website at http://dixdesign.com/.

Do you find information about Boat Plans Uk are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Uk. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Catamaran | Cape to Rio 2014 Black Cat Preparations

Boat Plans Catamaran

Start day for Cape to Rio 2014 draws near, now only 4 days away. Preparation of our radius chine plywood Didi 38 "Black Cat" continues. Most of the big jobs have been completed but somehow the list of smaller ones never ends.

Earlier this week we were able to go sailing for a few hours to try some of the new sails, all made by the North Sails Cape Town loft. The mainsail and jib are both carbon and are a real treat to use. They set beautifully to the designed shape and are very stable. There was a bit of swell running and I found the sails to be easier to helm to than the previous laminated Dacron sails, with the sail shape not changing from surging in the swell as happens with a softer sail.

North carbon jib. Sexy see-through clothing.

Photographic conditions were not great, so these are not the best of photos. They show the new carbon mainsail and jib. For purposes of optimising our IRC rating for the race, sail area has been reduced in the headsails, with our big (and very old) Genoas with large overlap gone for good, replaced by a jib that hardly overlaps the mast, does not foul the spreaders or shrouds and is very quick to tack. It also sheets very close and allows "Black Cat" to now sail very close to the wind. This will be a great sail any time that we have to go to windward.

North carbon mainsail

The reduction in headsail area is somewhat compensated by the larger roach of the new mainsail. The larger roach and stiffer fabric means that there is a lot more conflict between backstay and mainsail, so she now has a flicker on the backstay, which you can see on the photos, to lift the top of the backstay away from the sail to allow it to pass through.

The new Code zero has massive area and showed itself to be surprisingly close-winded also, able to sheet to a very close reach, almost a beat. With large shoulders, it is also very stable and much easier to steer to than a conventional spinnaker. This sail rates as an asymmetrical spinnaker rather than a Genoa, allowing us to sail to windward with a spinnaker in light to moderate breezes.

I have written previously about some of our crew for this race. Without bio info from the other two, here is as much info as I can give for them from my own knowledge.

Dave Immelman is the normal skipper of "Black Cat" and has graciously moved into the navigator slot to allow me to come in as skipper. Dave is very experienced in competitive sailing, having crewed in the South African "Shosholoza" Americas Cup Team, a Volvo Ocean Race campaign and extensive racing in South Africa, UK and the Med. Dave is very tough as well, having rowed 3000 miles single-handed across the North Atlantic Ocean. It was intended to be a double-handed voyage but his partner took ill and was taken off the boat very soon after the start and Dave decided to continue by himself.  We will have many interesting stories to swap on this next voyage. Dave is married to Susan, an award-winning seafood chef. They have a daughter of 5 and another arriving while we are mid-Atlantic.

Dave Immelman at the time of his rowing voyage.

Adrian Pearson is the owner of "Black Cat". He was my partner in her from during construction through to 2000, when he took over full ownership. Adrian loves to sail on her but does not often skipper her, preferring to hand over that job to someone with more experience. Not that Adrian lacks ocean experience, he was in my crew for the 1996 and 2000 Cape to Rio Races, crewed on her for the return from Rio in 2000 and did many coastal regattas and races with me around the Cape of Good Hope. Adrian is a retailer in Johannesburg, co-owner of a large grocery store.  He is currently unattached and has two sons and a daughter.

Dont forget that you will be able to track our progress across the Atlantic. Go to the official race website Cape to Rio 2014 and click on the tracking link at upper right of the screen.

I should be able to make one more post before we sail away. I hope to make an occasional post while on the water but cant guarantee that it will happen. Our Internet connection will be via costly satellite phones so has to be used sparingly. We will have a separate boat blog for the race and I will post the address of that blog in my next post here.

Read about our designs at http://dixdesign.com/.



Do you find information about Boat Plans Catamaran are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Catamaran. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Pdf | Stability with Water Ballast

Boat Plans Pdf

A potential builder of the Didi 950 asked me a question about stability with water ballast. He could not find an explanation on the Internet describing the effects of water ballast on a boat when capsized, so here it is.

After looking at the stability curve, he was concerned that the stability curve with water ballast to windward, the normal position for sailing in strong winds, has a very large area of negative stability. He wanted to know how that affects the time that the boat will take to right itself if capsized. This is a natural question following the amount of discussion that has been happening after our recent capsize in the Didi 38 "Black Cat" and the very rapid manner in which she returned to upright.

Shown below is the stability graph of the Didi 950 in fully loaded condition; click on the diagram to enlarge it. This is the condition of lowest stability due to the inclusion of crew, stores, liquids and many other weights that are above the centre of gravity (CG) of the boat. There are three curves shown. When looking at the graph, consider that the area enclosed by each curve above the horizontal 0 line is a measure of the energy that is required to take the boat from upright to the point of vanishing stability (AVS) where the curve crosses the 0 line. Until the AVS is reached, the boat will return to upright if no additional heeling force is applied to it.  Beyond the AVS the boat will continue to full capsize unless there is another force being applied that will return it to the positive side of the AVS.

The green curve is with ballast tanks empty, so akin to sailing a boat that has no water ballast. This curve is very similar in form to that of "Black Cat", with the area enclosed by the curve above the 0 line many times greater than the area enclosed by the curve below the 0 line. She would right herself very quickly with no water ballast. The red curve is with the windward ballast tanks filled, good for powering to windward or power-reaching in strong conditions. The blue curve is with the leeward ballast tanks filled. One would not sail her like this but it is a situation that could result from an accidental gybe in strong winds.

Didi 950 Stability Graph. Click to enlarge.

With no wind or waves and the ballast tanks on one side filled, the boat will not rest upright. It will heel over until it stabilises at a heel angle that places the CG vertically in line with the centre of buoyancy (CB). That will be the nearest crossing of the curve with the 0 line, which is at 5 degrees in this case, seen on the blue curve. Add some wind to bring the boat to 0 degrees heel and the righting moment that is working is the point where the red curve hits the left edge of the graph. Without water ballast the boat must heel to 6 degrees to reach the same righting moment. That is where the power benefit is coming from with water ballast, the boat will sail more upright than with empty tanks, in the same wind strength.

Note that all three curves are closely bunched when the boat is heeled 90 degrees. This is a knock-down situation, probably from losing control when driving hard downwind under spinnaker. The mast is horizontal but not in the water. This bunching of the curves at 90 degrees is because of the position of the ballast tanks in this design, low in the boat fairly close to the vertical CG. There would be a bigger spread if the tanks were located high up under the deck.

The red curve shows the benefit of increased righting moment when the windward tank is filled. There is considerably greater gain in stability shown by the red curve than lost stability, shown by the blue curve, when ballast is on the wrong side.

All three curves show that the wind alone cant capsize the boat. When the mast hits the water there is still considerable righting moment available for all three situations. If the boat is in large waves and hit by a big one while knocked flat, the added energy from the wave can capsize the boat in all three situations. 

It seems counter-intuitive but the condition most likely to invert the boat under wave action after a knock-down is with the water ballast to windward (red), i.e. the condition in which the boat will be sailed in strong winds. This is because after the water ballast passes beyond the point where it is vertically above the overall CG of the boat that extra weight is on the wrong side of the CG and is helping to capsize the boat rather than to bring it back to upright. It pulls the red curve below the green curve and reduces the AVS from 133 degrees to 122 degrees. 

Overall it takes more energy to capsize the boat from upright with water ballast than without, evaluated by comparing the area enclosed by the red curve with the area enclosed by the green curve. When the area enclosed by the blue curve is compared with the green curve, there is very little difference. It will take a similar amount of energy to capsize the boat without water ballast and with water ballast on the wrong side, when going from upright. Ironically, the wrong side has the greatest amount of reserve stability after a knock-down and has the greatest angle of AVS, so it is the condition least likely to capsize after a knock-down.

Back to our capsizing boat. Once past 122 degrees it is into a big range of negative stability that shows as the area enclosed by the red curve below the 0 line, taking it all the way to 180 degrees, i.e. totally upside-down. But see that the curve does not return to 0 at 180 degrees, which means that it is unstable at that angle. Same as happens when the boat is upright, the water ballast off to one side prevents the boat from resting at the 180 degree position. It has to rotate to where the CG is vertically aligned with the inverted CB. That is at the point where the curve crosses the 0 line. If the red curve is extended to the zero line it will be to the same angle that the blue curve crosses,  i.e. 160 degrees.
 

There is no windward or leeward when the boat is upside-down, the sails are under water. The boat is stable in the 160 degree position, so leaning 20 degrees to one side of upside-down. It needs to get past the nearest zero crossing to come back to upright. The boat doesnt care which way it goes. It needs a lot of energy to go back the way that it came along the red curve but very little energy to get to the 140 degree AVS crossing of the blue curve. With the motion from just a small wave it will continue past that 140 degree point. Once that point is passed, the righting moment of the blue curve takes control and will return her to upright. If the rig is still standing then the sails will fill and she will be back into the stability situation shown by the red curve. She has capsized along the red curve and righted herself along the blue curve.

In essence, it will take a lot less energy for the boat to right itself with water ballast than without, so she should right herself more quickly with the water ballast. The difference is that without water ballast she can go either way from inverted to upright but with water ballast she has to go full circle.

To visit our website, go to http://dixdesign.com/

Do you find information about Boat Plans Pdf are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Pdf. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue | Our 2014 Calendar Stocks Available

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue

A few people have told me that they were disappointed that we had sold out of our 2014 calendars before they were able to order and have asked if we dont have a spare copy that they can buy. Sorry, all were sold and we have none left except for one hanging on our own wall.

All is not lost though. I have set up a link where anyone who wants can order direct from the publisher at the same price that we were charging. You may even get a discount from them if you time it nicely when they have a special offer running.

Cover of 2014 Calendar

To order, please Click here. From this page you can also order my book "Shaped by Wind & Wave" if you dont already have that, either in hard copy or ebook format.

Our website is at http://dixdesign.com/, where you can see all of our designs.

Do you find information about Boat Plans Stitch And Glue are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Stitch And Glue. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Bruce Roberts | Americas Cup Value to Sailing

Boat Plans Bruce Roberts

I have recently been quite active on the LinkedIn forums about Americas Cup. It is not in my nature to participate in forums because I have found that it is all too easy to get drawn in and become embroiled, fending off attacks by Internet trolls whose great ambition in life is to be destructive to others. LinkedIn is a more closed community and less apt to show this nastiness and aggression. If I feel strongly enough about an issue then I will have my say and keep up with the rest of the discussion.

Just such a discussion came out of my last blog entry, about Race 13 exceeding the time limit. You can read that entry by scrolling down the page or go to the blog archive on the left of this blog. The response was that races should not have time limits and should just continue until there is a winner. It referenced baseball as a comparison. Discussion then progressed to the format that is being used for this current edition of Americas Cup, AC34. Some of my posts have been well received and it was suggested that one post in particular should be read by a wider audience.

I responded to the following question. I dont want to name the poster, I dont have his permission.

"So I am going to go back to my question on the cup. Forty minutes time limit for an Americas Cup race? I would like to see the last race ground out for say 2 hours of excitement vs. just 40 minutes. Are we an ADHD society that if it goes longer that 40 minutes we loose our audiance (sic). I dont care. Its the Americas Cup. It should be raced with sweat and tears to the end. It should go as long as a football game or basketball game(including time outs and media breaks). Shouldnt it?"

Here is my response.

"We all have our own ideas on what should be and what shouldnt be. Whos to say which is right? I agree that 40 minutes does seem too short a time limit but I understand the aim of the organisers to popularise sailing competition with the non-sailors and the parameters within which they were working.

Sailing is its own sport and it is evolving rapidly with technology. Do you really want to watch these two boats sailing back and forth upwind and downwind for 3 hours or more each race and potentially for 17 days (19 days including the 2-race penalty) in a row? That will drive the TV viewers back to whatever they were watching before AC34 came along.

I grow thoroughly bored watching football and baseball. They are stop-start games and they hold the attention of the audience for very short periods of action. The players get to rest for much of the duration and only work in short bursts. They can go on all night if needed, without burning themselves out. The crews on these boats are working hard the whole time, every race.

I think that it will work to compare AC racing with cricket. Test cricket takes 5 days of play, broken into 4 sessions each day. With no limits aside from the 5-day time limit, it often ends with no winner. It bores most people to tears. Then one-day international cricket was introduced, featuring 50 overs (300 balls) bowled by each team against the other batsmen. Suddenly cricket became interesting to a much wider audience. Now they play international 20-over games and the games are very exciting to watch, with massive viewership.

Rugby was always an exciting running game but it has also gone the same route of short, very fast and exciting games with the Rugby Sevens. This is what is needed to hold the attention of the modern world, where there is always something else trying to grab attention. Why should sailing not be right there in the fray also grabbing attention with short, fast and very exciting races.

Sailing is a sport of ageing players and needs new and young blood to survive. This event is likely to attract new people to sailing in one form or another. We can watch yacht racing as we knew it 20 years ago until it goes the way of the dinosaurs or we can embrace the new world and regenerate sailboat racing as a viable sport.

There is still a place for 5-day test cricket, for a much smaller audience than the other forms. Likewise, there is also still a place for the longer duration sailing races. I will be skippering a 38ft sailboat across the South Atlantic in January. We will be racing flat-out for 3 weeks from Africa to South America. There will be exciting times for me and my crew far away from the eyes of any TV audience. I enjoy that racing immensely, as a participant but I dont expect our slow progress across the ocean chart to keep anyone rivetted to the edge of their seat the way that AC34 is doing to us right now.

I think that with AC34 they have hit a winning formula and I am enjoying every short minute of it."

Thank you for taking the time to read my viewpoint. It is often a bit off the beaten track but I think that it is valid.

Do you find information about Boat Plans Bruce Roberts are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Bruce Roberts. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Nz | Cape to Rio Race Starts Tomorrow

Boat Plans Nz

It has been a long slog to get here and, strange as it may seem, even now I am not sure where "here" is. We need to be on the start line in Table Bay at 14h00 South African Time (UTC+2) and have been working toward that goal for a year. Now that we are almost there time-wise, we have had all sorts of issues popping up to try to trip us and prevent our participation. Each time that we side-step an issue, another appears in its place.

These are not problems that are directly related to the boat, neither are they related to most of the crew. I cant say what they are but they have been a major distraction in our preparations, detouring our efforts and moving our focus from much needed work into stuff that really should not be on our minds at this stage of preparations. These issues sap energy and drain enthusiasm. It takes effort to maintain optimism, which is normally self-fortifying.

We expect to be on the start line tomorrow and will be deeply disappointed if we should be prevented from going. Only time will tell whether or not we will be there. Watch for the yellow boat if you are able to watch it live, or maybe recorded live (whatever that means).

From here on I will not be posting on this blog live until after the race is over and I return to USA. I will be sending email updates to my wife, Dehlia. She will be posting on the blog but it will probably be without photos. Our Internet connections via satellite phone will be too slow to transfer photo files. If we have something really special to show then we may make an exception.

So please follow us via the tracking link on the race website at http://cape2rio2014.com. This is not a clickable link, so please copy and paste into your browsers address window.

Do you find information about Boat Plans Nz are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Nz. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Skiff | Metal Boat Festival 2014 Program

Boat Plans Skiff

The Metal Boat Festival: The board members have been busy planning this years Metal Boat Festival. We have a good line up of speakers for this year. Below is the program. If interesting in attending visit: http://www.metalboatsociety.com/festivalInfo.htm

If interested in metal boats, this is the place to be. And I can not think of a better place to be in August than Annacortes, Washington, the home of the Metal Boat Fest. A scenic ferry ride will take you to the San Juan Islands, if you are coming to the Fest plan on a trip to the San Juan Islands you will not be disappointed.

Thursday Aug 7, 2014 afternoon Cap Sante Marina
Boats check in with Dockmaster Lance Ekhart – 360-305-5345
3pm – 6pm Set up at the Seafarer’s Memorial Park Building, Anacortes
Come and help us set up for the Festival. Pre-registration is also
available at this time.

Friday Aug 8
Seafarer’s Memorial Park Building

0730 -0800
Sign in and register.
Start the day with tea, coffee, muffins, fruit provided by our breakfast
sponsor – Swiftsure Yachts

8am – 1015 Opening remarks and welcome by MBS President Rod Palanca.
Member introductions – introduce yourself and tell us about your
project. Plenty of time for all to share.

10:30 -
12:00 a.m.
David
Bernhard
-San Diego Rigging.

Dock lines & more
Beginning with dock lines, I am planning on
touching about many aspects of standing and
running rigging. Pros and cons of the different materials and way of
doing things. Though dock lines, tow and anchor bridals, will pretty
much take care of the power boaters. Sailors will be interested in the
entire talk.

12:00 -
1:00 p.m.
Break for lunch
Check out speaker and commercial member displays.
There are a multitude of local restaurants nearby for lunch.

1:00 - 2:00
p.m.
Arthur Barlow Campbell, CPCU, ARM, AMIM

Practical Ideas on Buying Yacht Insurance
Learn about how to insure your metal boat, and
possibly save some money is the process.
• What are some of the pitfalls in insuring your metal boat?
• How to select an agent/broker to insure your metal boat?
• What should I expect from the marine insurance underwriters?
• Will I need a survey on my metal boat, and if so, how to select
a marine surveyor.
• Learn more about obtaining insurance for your metal boat, and
be better prepared if you have a claim.

Art is a graduate of Florida State University (B.S.) with a major in
Insurance and Risk Management. He later earned the following
professional insurance designations, Chartered Property and
Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Risk Management (ARM),
and Associate in Marine Insurance Management (AMIM), Art is an
independent agent/broker with Gulfstream Insurance Group, Inc. in
Ft. Lauderdale, FL. He spent 20 years with Liberty Mutual in the
commercial sales department serving as an Account Representative
and later as a Resident Manager. Art has served as an expert witness
and litigation consultant in marine insurance.
He is past president of the Gold Coast CPCU Society as well as the
past president of the Fort Lauderdale Mariners Club. Art is an
approved instructor by the Florida Department of Financial Services
for Inland Marine and Marine Insurance. He taught Marine Insurance
as an adjunct instructor at Broward Community College.
Art has been a speaker at the Metal Boat Society Festival, and Fort
Lauderdale Mariners Club Marine Insurance Seminar. As a member
of the USAF he served as a loadmaster and retired with the rank of
CMSgt. Art owns an Alan Pape designed steel cutter. He has helped
in the delivery of sailboats from the Chesapeake, Bahamas and the
British Virgin Islands.

2.15 – 3.00 Rod Palanca
Boat builder/owner
Simple water systems and water makers

3.15 - 4:30
p.m.
Gary Wellman

1.THRIVE Freezed Dried Foods
2. Air Vent Dryers
3.Space Dryer dehumidifiers
I have been associated with H2Out for the past 1 1/2 years working
with sales and marketing. My background is 25 years in the sales
field.
We will provide food samples for those who are interested in freeze
dried foods which are lighter than canned foods with no
preservatives, require no cutting, peeling, can be prepared in less
than 15 minutes and are perfect for on-board use.

Rich Pindell

“When Good Fuels Go Bad".
This talk contains information about how fuels have changed over the
last 10 years and what we can do to prevent fuel contamination with
the new bio blends on the market.
Rich Pindell of Pindell Engineering, Inc., port Townsend, WA received
the 2012 coveted Pittman Innovation Award for leadership in
developing reusable products for water absorption. His H2Out
Systems prevents mold, mildew, rust, and corrosion damage in fuels,
hydraulic fluids, and interior spaces.


Free time to meet with Speakers and visit our Commercial members
Booths

7 pm
Friday Night - Potluck Dinner at the venue,
Share dinner and swap boat project ideas.
Outdoor concert in the park

August 9th - Saturday

8:00 a.m. Eye Opener – Coffee, tea, cocoa, muffins, and fruits, to start the day,
from our sponsor Swiftsure Yachts

9:00 -
10:15 a.m.
Alison Mazon –
Accredited Marine Surveyor®,
Portland, OR

The Hidden Costs of:
• Messing with a naval architects design
• Non-standard design
• Ignoring ABYC standards

Alison Mazon is a full service marine surveyor, who began surveying
in 1999, and was accredited in 2002, SAMS ® Yacht & Small Craft.
Alison was the VP of testing with SAMS ® from 2008 – 2013.

10:30 -12:00 a.m.
John Simpson – Boat Designer

Topic - Boat Stability
John Simpson has been involved with boats since childhood and this
evolved into a successful career in naval architecture and boat
design. This path has been the long but thorough route – 4 years of
shipyard & technical training, several years of working with other
naval architectures, 3 years with a boat builder doing purchasing,
estimating, mould tooling, outfitting, engine installation, sea trials and
even some design work.

In 1978 John opened his own design office and over the following
years has done over 100 designs for power, sail, pleasure,
commercial and military vessels in a variety of materials for both
domestic and foreign clients. In 1980 he won the Cruising world
magazine’s Design Award for his 42’ cutter ‘Fidelity’. This was a
forerunner of ‘Perelanda” a 43’ round bilge steel sailboat as featured
in the book Steel Away and owned/built by authors LeCain Smith and
Sheila Moir, 2 of the founders of the Metal Boat Society. John was the
2010 Metal Boat Festival’s Designer of the Year and has been a
stalwart supporter of the MBS for many years.

12:00 -
1:00 p.m.
Break for lunch
Check out speaker and commercial member displays

1:00 - 2:15
p.m.
Peter McGonagle – Swiftsure Yachts, Inc

"A profile of two metal boat builders"
Allures/Garcia(aluminum-Europe) and
Waterline Yachts(Steel-Canada). I have
a good supply of photos from both yards of
construction. This is an opportunity for members
to see what a professional yard looks like.

Peter McGonagle grew up sailing in Rhode Island, but has lived and
worked in Seattle, Washington for the last ten years. In 2002 he
started Swiftsure Yachts with two partners. He is a Certified
Professional Yacht Broker and am a licensed Florida yacht broker. He
and his family moved aboard the S/V Charlotte in August of 2007 to
explore the cruising life for a few years, and in July of 2009 I
completed a two year Caribbean cruise with my family aboard
“Charlotte,” a 1991 Robert Perry-designed 51? steel sloop. We’re now
back in Seattle .

2:30 - 4:00
p.m.
Dylan Bailey - Marine Surveyor
Proper Paint Systems For Metal Boats:
From new construction to maintaining an
older boat. Topics to include paint systems,
proper mileage, application techniques and
maintenance.

Dylan grew up in the metal boat building business as the son of
legendary metal boat builder Howdy Bailey. After working on metal
boats for his father he worked for other builders learning about boat
building in wood and fiberglass. He also expanded his knowledge
learning to install and maintain mechanical and electrical systems. In
1991 he started his own Marine Maintenance business and gained
extensive experience refinishing and maintaining boats. During this
time he completed additional off-hour training and has become an
Marine Surveyor which is his current profession.

5-7pm The Boat Walk At the Cap Sante Docks (floating)
and Marina Parking Lot (trailered)

7 pm
Saturday Night Barbecue Dinner at the Floating Party Dock at Cap
Sante Marina
Sponsored by Howdy Bailey Yacht Services

8:30pm
Sunset sail – the chance to be out on a Metal Boat

August 10th - Sunday
8:30 a.m. Coffee tea, cocoa etc...

9:00 -
10:00 a.m.
Metal Boat Society Annual Business Meeting and election of MBS
Officers

10:00 -
12:00 a.m.
Boat Builders Forum
This annual information-packed wrap-up event will include open
discussion of design and construction issues with the professional
panel, so bring your questions.
This years’ panel will include Pete Silva (Iota Metals), John Simpson
(Designer), and Dylan Bailey (Marine Surveyor).

NOONISH FESTIVAL CLOSES!






Do you find information about Boat Plans Skiff are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Skiff. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Uk | Video Interviews from Cape to Rio Race

Boat Plans Uk

Steve Searle did two video interviews with the "Black Cat" crew after our hassles in the opening days of the Cape to Rio Race. "Black Cat" looked after us very well in nasty conditions. Read the full story here.

Interview discussing the whole experience.

Interview about the standard of service of National Sea Rescue Institute.

View our boat designs at http://dixdesign.com/ .

Do you find information about Boat Plans Uk are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Uk. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Trailer Plans Australia | 2014 MIDDLE SEA RACE A LOOK AT THE COMPARATIVE RESULTS AND OTHER STUFF

Boat Trailer Plans Australia

There are still many boats making it for Malta, some in the race, some that had abandoned and taken a short from Sicily not turning around Pantelleria. After a very rough night the winds are still over 30k, some boats registering well over 40K. The ones that know what kind of sea this winds can rise on the Med know what they are passing through.

Here wild Joe, a Reichel Pugh 60 finishing the race.

Many boats retired due to the weather but also many due to breakage and the situation is not clear because that "invitation" from the Coat Guard to suspend the race (that I talked about on the last post) in what regards the boats that were near Pantelleria it was not an invitation but an order from the Port Captain to suspend racing and enter the port (the race rounded Pantelleria Island). There are boats that could have just stop racing not because they have abandoned but because they thought the race was suspended. Not a word about this on the official site but some here as well as photos:

http://www.farevela.net/2014/10/22/rolex-middle-sea-race-durissima-burrasca-flotta-nel-canale-sicilia-i-ritirati-barche-rifugiate-pantelleria-nessun-incidente-foto/

That A13 that was making a fantastic race had really bad luck: they lost the mast at 20nm from the finish line.

Regarding the sea conditions these words by a very experienced racer (crew on the winning J122) are meaningful: “The sea was big, it was very windy, we dont know exactly how windy because the windex at the top of the rig blew off! – yes this race is up there with the toughest Hobarts I have done. In fact we were saying on board when was the last time we saw a sea like this? and I had to say it was during a windy Sydney Hobart but to have those conditions for over 24 hours is very rare, almost exceptional. You are always learning in this game and the experience showed me that it is good to go with a bloody good crew! Truly, it is the only way you can sail the boat like we did. If you dont have a good crew, you just wont get through it or you will break things and when it comes down to it – a good crew is what you need and we have done a lot of miles together on Artie, they are my nephews, my friends and we have been together for thousands of miles at sea.”

And this leads us to the winner on compensated (IRC ans ORC), a J122, a local boat (Malta) that had made just an incredible race. They did not manage to beat the first racing Class40 (a Pogo S2) that was about 2h 45m faster but they managed to be faster than a very fast XP44  (second on compensated). Regarding boats of the same size and type (performance cruisers) they were only beaten by this beauty:

That proved the Neo 400 is not only a beauty but a hell of a sailboat even on nasty seas. I had posted about it on the old thread but it will deserve a new post here...soon. The Neo 400 did not only beat that J122 (Artie) by 4 hours as it was faster than any 40class boat, beating that racing Pogo by more than an hour and the second (that was also beaten by the first J122) by more than 6 hous!!!!

What a boat, Ceccareli got this one right: it is not only able to win on compensated ( 3rd in ORC ) as it is incredibly fast in real time, that in the end is what it matters, at least for me.

A M34, the small racing boat that was used for the "Tour the France", showed once more that it is a very seaworthy boat, not only finishing, but making a great time. Also great races from a brand new Azuree 46 and a Grand Soleil 46, two comfortable cruisers that show that you can have comfort speed and seaworthiness at a reasonable price.

Kuka-light is a very fast 42ft but it seems that this year they did not manage to finish. Here they are on the water, on the stormy seas:

and Jolokia is an old Vor 60. They finished this race but the result was not good, They were beaten in real time by the small Neo 400.


Some selected results by real time order.

Coockson 50 d4 h2 m14 s;20 Carkeek 47 d4 h4 m12 s25 ; Swan 60 d4 h6 m7 s39; Swan 82 d4 h6 m11 s3; Farr 52 OD d4 h6 m26 s40; Cookson 50 d4 h6 m31 s55;  Neo 400 d4 h9 m30 s0; Pogo S2Class40 d4 h10 m49 s0;  DK46 d4 h13 m7 s0; Sydney GTS 43 d4 h13 m57 s51; J 122 d4 h13 m35 s5; XP44 d4 h14 m1 s11; BM Class40 d4 h15 m59 s55 Swan 45 d4 h16 m3 s54; Azuree 46 d4  h17 m9  s5; Grand Soleil 46 d4 h19 m55 s52 ; M34 d4 h20 m45 s19 20; j122 d4 h21 m40 s35 ; Swan 48 d5 h0 m9 s18; 

A word for the winner in compensated in ORC and IRC, Artie, a J122 (their words):
“It was a very very tough race. The crew have worked around the clock from day one and the race didnt start well for us but during day two we started to get our the shifts right and co-skippers Sebastian and Christian Ripard did a great job on the tactics and the end result was a series of correct decision that put us in a good position before the storm arrived. As always, having a good crew on board allows you to give the effort an extra push, with a good boat and an excellent crew are intention at the start was to win ...But now having had the opportunity to reflect on the race, even more important than winning was the achievement of actually finishing the race in the conditions that we had out there. Even near the end my worry was not finishing, right up until the end, we knew boats were in difficulties, which was very unfortunate and that was playing on my mind until we crossed the finish line. I would like to emphasize that one thing we really promote on Artie, throughout the year, is that we have young dinghy sailors on board and a main objective is to get these youngsters out sailing, combining them with our regular crew to create the future sailors that will be representing Malta.”

And from the Neo 400 (translated from Italian with some liberty):
"With us was a veteran of the Volvo Ocean Race and he said he never would thought that in the Mediterranean the sea could be like that with eight meters with a breaking and a a that has increased quickly from 20K to 25K and then up to 35K and 40 knots, so constant, relentless. At the end we saw 48 knots, without a break for 200 miles. We sailed between Lampedusa and Malta, for us the worst part, with storm jib and the mainsail with two reefs. We were consistently between 16 and 18 knots, with peaks around 22 and beyond. At 22 knots the log was out of water and did not work anymore, so we do not know how much speed we made, but it was really tough. The unusual thing was that the wind never fell, normally happen to take a blow at the Middle Sea, has happened to me often in the past, but this time the wind was violent, has been increasing steadily and there were never moments to rest as usually occurs. 40-45 knots for at least 12 consecutive hours, it was really hard.

Between Pantelleria and Lampedusa the sea was already very difficult and for us the wind was still about 25 knots. On the leeward of Lampedusa we sailed at 18 knots with flat water A3, two reefs on the main and J3, beautiful, then once out of the shelter of Lampedusa, well, the sea clearly advised us imediate prudence. An extreme situation. Waves as ever Ive ever seen in Mediterranean and we manage of the boat in safety without giving up performance. Going to the bow was not easy, so we did it all without risking; the boat has behaved very well and we have not broken anything, I noticed a excellent behavior under storm jib. The arrival in the channel between Malta and Comino was surreal, at night, in continuous glide at 16 knots, with rocks on the right and left....

Then along the coast of Malta till the finish a continuous glide at 16 knots,...the race committee could not believe that we had taken so little time doing that Utrecht. Very tiring the last 200 miles, following the first three days of light winds,....It was a race where you, besides the result (that leaved us very satisfied) you realize how important was to bring the boat home with all the crew safely. We have outsailed 50 fters and beaten boats like the B2 and a Cookson 50..."

http://www.farevela.net/2014/10/23/rolex-middle-sea-race-durissima-j122-maltese-artie-vince-in-overall-racconto-delle-condizioni-limite-parte-paolo-semeraro-overall-neo400-carbon-foto-burrasca/



Do you find information about Boat Trailer Plans Australia are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Trailer Plans Australia. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Trailer Plans Australia | Our Boat for Cape to Rio 2014

Boat Trailer Plans Australia

A few weeks ago I announced that we will sail in the Cape to Rio Race in January. If you missed it, you can read it here. Now I would like to tell a bit more about the boat.

Her name is "Black Cat" and she is very special in my life. I designed her, I built her in my garden and I have sailed her across the South Atlantic three times. I have also raced and cruised her for many, many miles on the notorious Cape of Good Hope waters and she formed the foundation of my best selling range of boat designs. She is the prototype of the Didi 38 design and older sister to designs from the DS15 (Didi Sport 15) through to the DH550 .

"Black Cat" with her crew on launch day.

 I started concept sketches during the 1993 Cape to Rio Race on the Shearwater 39 "Ukelele Lady". "Ukelele" is very comfortable and carried us across the Atlantic in 29 days, excellent for a cruiser.  Still, I resolved part-way across  to do the next race on a boat of my own, which would be better able to take advantage of the downwind surfing conditions found on this race.

The new boat was to be cold-moulded wood. It was to be very light, with a big rig and deep bulb keel for high performance. Light and beamy boats are uncomfortable at sea and I sometimes get seasick, so I designed her relatively narrow for comfort. Narrow beam would also make her even faster.

I had nearly 3 years to build but I had a very big problem, I had no money to start. It was nearly a year before I had money to start building. Now the problem became a lack of time to build the cold-moulded boat, so I had to find an alternative solution that would be quicker to build.

My solution was to develop a method for building a rounded hull shape from plywood, using a radius chine form developed from my metal designs. I needed it to be mostly sheet plywood for fast construction but a rounded shape for performance, aesthetic and resale value reasons.

The resulting boat was 4 tons displacement in measurement trim and with 50% ballast ratio. She turned out to be clean, simple, pretty and a delight to sail. In two Cape to Rio Races she carried us across the Atlantic in 21 days in vastly different conditions. In one race she topped out as 18 knots and covered 250 miles in 24 hours. On the other her top speed was 22 knots but her 250 mile record went unbroken.

Where did her name come from? She is, after all, a yellow monohull and not a black catamaran. Black Cat is the top-selling peanut butter brand in South Africa and they sponsored her in the 1996 race. The kids knew her as the "Peanut Butter Boat" and her big  Black Cat spinnakers attracted a lot of attention.

Moving well in very light breeze.

She is quick on all headings in light breezes. The above photo was taken while racing on St Helena Bay in only 3-4 knots of breeze, a race in which she took line honours with a very comfortable lead over the 2nd placed boat, also a 38ft cruiser/racer.

She also loves to run free in a strong breeze. From cracked off on a fetch through to a run, she flies in strong conditions. Like me, she loves to surf. I surfed her at 22 knots down a very big wave mid-Atlantic after a storm.

Yet, she remains a home-built plywood boat and I look forward to spending 3 weeks with her and her crew as we cross the ocean once again. In the next few weeks I will write about the crew who will keep me and "Black Cat" company on this voyage.

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

PS. Entries for the race currently stand at 26 boats, with another 19 pending. The race website is at http://www.cape2rio2014.com/ .


Do you find information about Boat Trailer Plans Australia are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Trailer Plans Australia. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Butler | Hitting the Nail on the Head with CC19

Boat Plans Butler

We all know what it means to "hit the nail on the head". Taken literally, it is so satisfying to hit a nail so square and hard that it drives a long way into the timber. Just a few such blows and it is home, securing whatever its destiny in life was to hold in its given place. Taken figuratively it means that we have expressed an idea very clearly and in a way that resonates with others.

In just the same way, it is possible to design something that is just perfect, that we would not like to do any differently if we were to start again from the beginning, even if armed with the experience that came from the use of that product. A designer can and should get tremendous satisfaction from his/her involvement in the process whenever that nail is so squarely struck on the head. I have been lucky enough to find that nail a few times.

The Cape Cutter 19 is just such a design. I really would not change anything at all about that little boat. I have not sailed them enough and hope that I will get many more opportunities to sail them. The sailing that I have done has always impressed me with the extraordinary speed, handling and ability of this little boat.

Two Cape Cutter 19s drying out in UK.

 It is not a racing boat, so dont expect it to plane downwind like a sportboat. It is a little cruiser that can sometimes make you feel like you can take on the sportboats. Take it out in light conditions and it will sail past virtually any other cruiser or cruiser/racer of similar size, as well as taking out many much larger boats that should be a whole lot faster. It is oh so satisfying to sail past a boat that looks much faster but isnt.

It is not only a light-weather boat though. Remember, I grew up sailing the waters of the Cape of Good Hope and spent most of my life sailing there. Most circumnavigators tackle the Southern tip of Africa with great trepidation because of the often violent wind and sea conditions. For those who live there, those are the conditions that are given, so they have to be dealt with. I designed the Cape Cutter 19 to sail those waters safely, with due diligence by the skipper, of course.

There is a really nice independent review of the CC19 and its bigger sisters on the SA Yacht Blog . It includes observations by the author of boats to these designs that he has seen in action around the Cape of Good Hope and how they have managed in those conditions.

These boats are loved by their owners and they are very sad to part with them. One such owner is Russell Eden in UK, who sold his CC19 this past weekend. I received these messages from Russell, repeated with his permission.

"I sold my Cape Cutter 19 today after three years of ownership.

She was number 47, built in SA. I wanted to personally thank you for creating such a beautiful craft. Each and every day I sailed her I had people approach me to talk. People would sail/motor over to take photos and video. People offered me money for her, there, on the spot.

Ive only sold her because my wife says she will come sailing with me more often if we had a boat with full standing room and a heads. I would have kept her forever otherwise.

Im sitting here now wondering what Ive done; Ive let go perhaps the most wonderful piece of property Ive ever owned. No doubt Ill get over it in time, but I doubt Ill ever own anything quite so easy on the eye, or so wonderful on the water.

Thank you for designing her."

Russell followed up with:-

"I really meant it too. You designed something which grown men cry after.

 That said, it was only ever the white ones I lusted after. I think you need to be able to see the lapstrake, which you cant always do on the darker hulls."

Russell Eden sailing his CC19 "Zephyr".

Thank you Russell, for your kind words. I get great satisfaction from them.

The Cape Cutter 19 is a GRP production boat built in UK by Honnor Marine . It can also be built from plywood from plans that we supply at http://dixdesign.com/ . There you can see our wide range of other designs as well.

Do you find information about Boat Plans Butler are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Butler. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Plans Aluminum | It is getting close! The Metal Boat Festival 2014!

Boat Plans Aluminum

We are a few weeks away from the 2014 Metal Boat Festival! You you have an interest in Metal Boats, I hope to see you there. 

Do you find information about Boat Plans Aluminum are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Plans Aluminum. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Yacht Boat Plans | Metal Boat Festival 2014 Seminar Paint Systems For Metal Boats

Yacht Boat Plans

Paint Systems For Metal Boats

Do you find information about Yacht Boat Plans are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Yacht Boat Plans. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..

Boat Designs And Plans | Radius Chine Plywood Class 950

Boat Designs And Plans

The Didi 950 is our newest design and the plans are now nearing completion. They show a very modern boat that is designed to comply with the Class 950 Rules and which can be built by any reasonably competent amateur woodworker.

Sail plan of Didi 950

The Class 950 Rule produces a fast boat that is great for level boat-for-boat racing. The rule results in reasonable proportions and features, for a safe and strong boat with comfortable accommodation that is also good for a performance cruiser.

Class 950 accommodation

Construction is radius chine plywood with a hard chine aft in the topsides. This format produces a very modern hull that is built mostly from a very low-tech sheet material, yet looks as good as any moulded composite boat that can only be built with skills that most amateurs dont have. Most men are comfortable working with wood and this construction method allows them to use those skills to build a competitive boat.

3D Profile of Didi 950

The more that I look at this boat the more that I would like to be on it for offshore or ocean racing. This would be a great boat for sailing trans-Atlantic in the Cape to Rio Race or going across the Pacific in the Trans-Pac Race. Close-reaching to broad-reaching under asymmetrical and powered up by water ballast tanks, she will be a thrilling boat, reeling off the miles like few others in this size range can do.

3D View with contours to highlight hull shape.

Someone close by, please build one of these boats. I need to sail on this one.

For more info go to http://dixdesign.com/didi950.htm and visit our website at http://dixdesign.com/ to see our other designs.

Do you find information about Boat Designs And Plans are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the Boat Designs And Plans. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

Read More..