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/.

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Canoe Boat Plans | Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race 2015

Canoe Boat Plans

I will be away from my desk from Wednesday morning early, through to the weekend. I wont have my laptop with me, so you wont get me by email for a few days. The reason for this gap in my connectivity is that I will be preparing for and sailing in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.

"Apella" approaching the start line for the 2014 race.

The race connects the two port cities of Baltimore at the northern end of the Bay and Portsmouth at the southern end, both of which throw excellent parties for the crews. The course is actually a bit shorter, starting  just south of the Bay Bridge that spans Chesapeake Bay north of Annapolis and finishing at Thimble Shoals off Hampton Roads. That is for the bigger boats but the smaller and slower boats get to finish at Windmill Point about 50 miles further up the Bay, then choose to either sail or motor the rest of the way to Portsmouth in time for the festivities.

I will be sailing on the schooner-rigged Shearwater 45 "Apella", the same boat on which we won Class B last year. She is owned by Dan Hall, who lives aboard and keeps moving up and down the coast wherever schooner events and whim may take him.

Some of the "Apella" crew showing off the silverware in 2014.

It was as we crossed the start line last year that, sitting astride the cockpit coaming and grinding the Genoa winch, I dislocated my left knee. Ill have to be careful about my body placement when grinding this year.

I was wrapped up because it was chilly last year, after a stormy party night.

Great news is that twin sister to "Apella", "Moonbeam", has been bought by a friend of Dan Hall and she is being brought north from Florida for a refit, after which I anticipate that the two boats will get together often. I look forward to match racing these boats down the Bay in future years.

To view our range of designs of all types, please visit http://dixdesign.com/ or http://dixdesign.com/mobile.

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Boat Plans Stitch And Glue | Didi 950 Downunder

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue

I have shown the Didi 950 project of Fred Grimminck in Queensland, Australia, in previous posts. Since then he has progressed nicely and is now well into the fitting-out phase. This, of course, had to start with turning the hull right-way up. Fred used a similar method to the hull turning that I showed recently in Ohio, except that he replaced one of the engine hoists with a tractor-mounted forklift, to lift the hull and pull it out of the building shed, then push it back in. Here is Freds video of the operation.

The fitting out is moving along, as can be seen in these photos.

Starboard water ballast tanks

Port water ballast tanks and double quarter berth.

Building the saloon settees.

Same area, from above. The open area where the vacuum cleaner is
standing is where the engine is located in the fixed keel version.
This boat has a lifting keel, which will pass through this area.

Looking forward at the foredeck, with deck beam flange being laminated.

This is the second boat of our design that Fred has built. Five years ago he built a Didi Cruise-Mini that he sailed for a few years, then sold recently. Watch this space for more photos of the progress of Freds project.

See more of this design and others in our portfolio, at http://dixdesign.com/.

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Boat Plans Bolger | Shearwater Upgrade

Boat Plans Bolger

The owner of the very nice Shearwater 39 "Bagheera" has really enjoyed owning and sailing her. So much so that he has upgraded to a bigger sister, the Shearwater 45 "Maggy May. She will soon be sailing from the Caribbean to her new home on Chesapeake Bay.

Shearwater 39 "Bagheera" on Chesapeake Bay

Owning two big boats like that is out of the question, so "Bagheera" is looking for a new home. She is a nicely-finished example, originally launched in Cape Town as "Bess" and owned by the editor of a prestigious glossy publication. She was completed in-house by Nebe Boats, whereas many of the others to this design were completed by owners or outside contractors. Here are some photos of her nice interior.

Saloon and galley, looking aft

Saloon and galley, looking forward

Starboard aft cabin

The Shearwater 39 is a comfortable and very seaworthy classic ocean cruiser, with surprising performance. Always a pleasure to sail, owners have reported just how much confidence these boats give them in storm conditions. Add to that the classic aesthetic that grabs attention on the water and in marinas and you have a boat that owners love.

Shearwater 39 "Bagheera", classic beauty

See more of "Bagheera" on my website at http://dixdesign.com/bagheera.htm. She is available for US$170,000.

To see this and our other designs, go to http://dixdesign.com/

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Boat Plans Wood | Didi 38 Prototype Birthday

Boat Plans Wood

"Black Cat" is the prototype of my Didi 38 design, built in my back garden in Hout Bay, South Africa. She was also the experiment that developed into my radius chine plywood range of designs, all under the Didi name. Today is her birthday, it is 19 years since we launched "Black Cat" at Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town.

Didi 38 "Black Cat" at the start of the 1996 Cape to Rio Race.

Much has happened since then. She has 70 sisters in the water or in build around the world, in the Didi 38/40/40cr design series. She also has hundreds of smaller radius chine plywood monohull sisters being built or in the water, from the Didi Sport 15 through to the Didi 34. She has also spawned catamaran designs in the Dix 470 and DH550.

When I designed her, I did not imagine how popular this construction method would become. The Didi 38 design was for my own use. After that I drew the Didi 34 for a design competition that was run by South African Yachting magazine, now part of Richard Crocketts Sailing for Southern Africa magazine. Since then I have always had at least one other concept waiting in line for me to draw it for this method of construction. Now is no different, I have a commission for a 38ft big sister to the Didi 950 and have many people asking for smaller sisters to the two catamarans, in various sizes. All that I need is the time to draw them.

"Black Cat" in Brazils Bay of Islands.

Happy Birthday "Black Cat", you have been very good to us.

To see more of our designs, go to http://dixdesign.com.

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Boat Plans Wooden | Our Schooner Race on Shearwater 45 Apella

Boat Plans Wooden

The 25th running of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race proved to be a well-run and memorable event. The weatherman came close to creating big problems but it all worked out in the end. The massive cold front that tore apart parts of USA in the previous week arrived in Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon, dumping enough rain to wash out the planned Parade of Sail through Baltimores Inner Harbor. Other than that, everything went off with the usual smoothness of a well-practiced organisation.

"Apella" alongside "America II" at the start of the 2013 race.

Behind the wind-driven soaking of Wednesday, we were handed a couple of gorgeous days to carry us down to Portsmouth. The weatherman didnt get it all correct though. The forecast light breezes from the south at the start, swinging to westerly for most of the race, held only for the biggest and fastest boats at the front of the fleet. Behind them the wind was sometimes the opposite of the forecast and then fell apart into increasingly large holes that trapped boats for hours. The further back that they were in the fleet, the larger the holes and the longer they battled to get through.

As for us on Dan Halls Shearwater 45 "Apella", we had a pretty good race, one to store in the memory banks for recall in the coming cold winter days when only professional seamen and crazy people are out on the water. We had a good crew, comprising the owner, myself and a bunch of friends who are capable sailors.

Dan Hall, Dudley Dix, Paul Schaub, Dylan Bailey, Tom Miller & Scott Page.

We had a crazy start. Dan was on the helm, labouring under advice from Paul and myself that obviously conflicted with his own thoughts and must have been comical to anyone paying attention to us on nearby boats. Complicated by current, spectator boats and a big boat fleet that started 10 minutes before us but was mostly late to the line, we were dodging boats and going the wrong way within the last minute, yet still managed to cross the start line first, within 10 seconds of the gun and right at the committee boat. As Tom said, "sometimes too many chiefs actually works".

A Class gaff schooner "Hindu", which gave us some close-quarter racing.

We worked our way through much of the big boat fleet and had mostly good sailing all the way down the bay. Most of the time we were lying between 7th and 10th on the water and thoroughly enjoying what we were doing. A highlight of the race was twice managing to get ourselves ahead of the beautiful Baltimore clipper replica "Pride of Baltimore". When the wind came through after we broke out of the hole together, she sailed away from us.

Creeping up on the beautiful "Pride of Baltimore II".

We were in B Class, with our Windmill Point finish line 40 miles short of the Thimble Shoals line for the bigger boats in Classes A and AA. We planned to sail the optional additional 40 miles to claim "bragging rights" but gave up on that idea when the winds went light and onto the nose. Mission accomplished, we whimped out and motored the rest of the way to Portsmouth.

The awards party was today and we came away with first place in B Class, ahead of "Tom Bombadil". A great end to an enjoyable few days. Thank you to the crew of "Apella", all other competitors and especially to the organisers and volunteers who together made this such a successful event.

Tom, Dudley, Paul and Dan with the silverware. Scott & Dylan missed the party.

Dylan has promised to bring his Little Creek 47 "Flutterby" north from St Augustine, Florida, for the 2015 Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race and we will race the bay together again. I look forward to it.

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


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