Skandanavian beauties long lean and all perfect

Last summer Rachel and I visited my mother in Helsingborg in Sweden. This was in June. We were there to celebrate her 80th birthday which was in April but we put off the party till June as my sister and her family would be back in Sweden too. The weather was cold but not too cold for a Caribbean guy like me. It was a nice change. What always happens to me the first week back in Sweden is because there is very low humidity and I never wear shoes my feets calloused soles start to dry out and crack. Because the majority of the sidewalks there are paved with granite stones my calves ach from the hardness. We walk everywhere in our lives but the first week there for me is painful.

It had been ten years since I was last in Sweden. I had flown from the Azores when on my atlantic sailing trip in the Hogfish to see my mom and sister. My memories of Sweden have always been of a very clean and organized country. On this trip the thing that had changed the most for me was the amount of forieners living there and how dirty the place had gotten. This is not a fair discription as I spent most of my time in Helsinborg which is a costal port town. Lots of immigrants here now working.

It was hard to spot the Swedes now. I enjoyed this very much as so many different cultures now about and the different faces to go with them. 

I have never felt very comfortable in Sweden as a half Swede. Its just too perfect and orderly there. I like things to be a little rough around the edges. I feel way more at home in my Cuban half.

For me a trip to Sweden is seeing my family, with a glimpse of my heritage which is mostly eating as much of the Sill, herring, caviar, smoked eel and bread that I can.Then its all about looking at the long lean, very refined, sailing craft that abound in the harbors around the coast.

Because the sun is never overhead like it is here in the Caribbean Sea the boats all are in fantastic shape. I have been going back to lust after some of these boats since I was a teenager. They never age. Its like looking at your first lover and she is still young and its only you thats aged. The sailing season is short so the boats dont get used as much as in other climates. Also the Scandinavians really take care of their craft.

Lets look at some beauties.

This hull is built in fiberglass or in plywood. It has a deep keel. I saw one as a kid sailing in the pacific when I was there. It must be at least 45-50 years old. They sell for around $ 12,000.00 US

Lots of all varnished boats about

Had to include a nice little Dutch sloop. Kind of like sailing around in a little coo coo clock.

This was a miniature Folk Boat all varnished but needing a bit of TLC 

The Brithish Fisher class of double ender.

Lots of these simple little inboard engine day boats 

A Fiberglass Folkboat.

A Danish sloop. These boats have fin keels

Iam suprised the hatches are facing foreward on this low sloop

Heres one with the mast up. Notice the foot pad for getting onto the dock. 

Its very rare to find a boat that has an anchor roller off the bow. Most all of these boats have stern anchors and tie off the many little harbor sea walls when out cruising.

My favorite mini cruiser from childhood. This is a 23 version of the Albin Vega sloop. My father lived and cruised aboard his Vega  " Adios" for 25 years up to the morning he died of a heart attach.

I wonder how wet this bow is .

Rachel striking the pose next to a Volvo boat in Copenhagen. 

No bow roller but a simple u pad eye to tie ashore with.

This was the dirtiest boat we found.

Lots of these boats around when I was kid.

Classic. Its black from all the oiling its had over its lifetime.

Wood decks with a glass hull.

A lap strake Folkboat but built in fiberglass

Danish design

An old 1/4 toner

A beauty. The people who sail these boats are the same as thoses that drive around in vintage cars. They just really enjoy a boat with history.

These sloops all had similar hulls but with different deck layouts. All are around 40 plus long.

This is the one I want.

All of these boats were in Copenhagen Denmark. Most were under 30 LOA.

In Denmark eating my herring and egg sandwich sitting on Granite stones next to a nice castle looking out over the straits to Sweden.

The water is perfectly clear but cold. So many Flounders on the bottom of this harbor.

Granite rocks everywhere.

Rachel striking the "pose". On this trip Rachel was mimicking all of our kids girlfriends habits of taking photos of themselves striking the pose. 

Rachel in front of my sisters old apartment. She owned a place on the top floor. 

We had lots of fun on this trip making light of our lack of language knowledge.

It has been pouring rain here in Antigua so I took a few minutes to share these boats with you.

The HFM is back in the water where she belongs. The storms missed us giving us some rain and about 50 knots of wind.

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Long Distance in Small Boats

For as long as man has been on this gorgeous blue planet of ours he has sought to find adventure wherever he can. There have always been those who simply have to see what is over that next hill. When we all know what is over that next hill then the adventure becomes going over that next hill in some way that has never been done before. It has probably not been done that way before because it is just too big a challenge for most people to consider trying.

That insurmountable challenge is the best of reasons for some people to try it anyway, to prove that it actually can be done and to prove themselves to themselves. In the process of succeeding they also prove themselves to the rest of mankind. Some of mankind thinks it exceedingly silly to do these things and will be eternally critical of those who try. They have no adventurous spirit themselves and would never attempt anything that they consider the least bit risky or dangerous. Some of them become bureaucrats to control others or they encourage bureaucrats to stop the adventurers from being adventurous, a misguided attempt to protect them from themselves.

I have written here before about one such adventurous person, Anthony Steward. He is the only person to have sailed around the world in an open boat. I am fortunate that Anthony selected my TLC 19 hull as the basis for his open boat voyage. Everyone thought that he was crazy in his quest but he was permitted to do it. That is how it should be.

Now I am working on a design for another person who has the aim of circumnavigating the globe in a different way from how everyone else has done it before. His name is Davey du Plessis and he plans to peddle his way around the world. My job is to provide to him the boat that I believe will give him his best chance for success. At the same time, it has to be economical to construct because he is on a tight budget for the voyage.

The result is a multi-chine plywood craft of approximately 23ft length overall. The hull is of fairly classic form that will also make an excellent pulling boat. It has a fine bow at waterline for wave penetration and a fine stern for low drag at the low speeds that can be expected under long term human power.

Hull of the Ocean Peddle Boat for Davey du Plessis.

The superstructure is also multi-chine plywood, so that it can be quickly and easily built using stitch-&-glue building methods. It is a closed boat for maximum protection from the elements but with the ability to open up large surfaces of the central cockpit area to allow air to flow through when needed. This also increases the safety tremendously in rough conditions, making her essentially self-righting if all of the gear is properly stowed and secured.

Basic 3D model of hull and deck.

The model above is very basic, it doesnt show the details of the deck, like windows, opening panels, hatches, solar panels etc, which are detailed into the building drawings.

The whole concept is conceived to make a seaworthy boat. It is not designed for speed, it is designed for cruising slowly under human power, aided where possible by wind, wave and current.

What about the crazy man who will live long term inside this eggshell? Maybe Davey is not as crazy as you think or maybe he is more crazy than you think, I doubt that he knows for sure. He is no doubt less crazy than Anthony Steward because Davey has chosen to have a boat that will give him shelter for his long voyage. Does Davey du Plessis have the legs for this voyage? You can bet that he does, he has ridden a bicycle the length of Africa, from Cairo to Cape Town. Davey is an adventurer and I applaud him for it.

Daveys boat will be built in Knysna on the South African South Coast. The builder is his uncle, Tertius du Plessis, who has previously built one of my designs, a Didi 34.  I doubt that I will even get to see Daveys boat because his route is unlikely to pass anywhere near to me in USA.

I will add this boat to my website when the design is complete. I will no doubt offer it as an open pulling boat but it is possible that there are others who would also like to build it as a trans-ocean rowboat or peddleboat.

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

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Long Distance in a Bigger Boat

My last post was about people going long distance in small boats and most of my readers know that I am soon to go long distance in a slightly bigger boat. This will be on the Didi 38 "Black Cat".

She is well on the way to being ready, with smaller items like installation of new electronics going on and the major still outstanding items being to tune the rig and test the new sails (which have still to be delivered). She is looking awesome, after a full repaint and new graphics. This 18-year old lady is looking young again.

"Black Cat" with her new paint & graphics.

Preparation of "Black Cat" for her next adventure has been a lengthy process but a worthwhile one. It was unfortunately extended by 2 weeks due to damage sustained at Royal Cape Yacht Club during a gale just after she was relaunched when the repaint had been completed. Cape Town is well known for furious winds and this one apparently gusted to 75 knots in the yacht basin. Some mooring chains holding the marinas broke and "Black Cat" was in the unfortunate position of serving as the meat in a steel sandwich, not good for a plywood boat.

My navigator for this race is Dave Immelman, nicknamed Wavy. Dave has been in charge of the preparations and has done a great job of it. That includes getting the extra work done that resulted from poor "Black Cat" getting squeezed tighter than any lady in a corset. She has been freed, repaired, repainted (again), given the OK by the doctor (scrutineer) and is raring to go.

New Cat logo on port side. Starboard has the butt end.

 This is a boys adventure on which we are embarking. As in 1996 and 2000, "Black Cat" will be the only lady enjoying it with us. That said, we would not be doing it without the support of the other ladies in the lives of all of the crew, namely wives, mothers, daughters and others. They tolerate our passion for boats, adventures and ocean crossings. Maybe some of them look forward to our departure to get us out of their hair, I dont know. I do know that they will be happy to see us again when we return and we will be equally happy to be greeted by them when our adventure is over. We will return home with another big drawer full of images in our memory banks, memories that cannot be equalled by any travel documentary or computer game, no-matter how good the filming or graphics may be.

For those who have never experienced this, it is a big one to add to your bucket list. Having done it 3 times before, I can say that it will take a big bucket if it is to hold other items that are bigger than this one. But you have to have a strong sense of adventure and not be easily scared. If you dont have those qualities you will be petrified at times, incapacitated by sheer terror while your shipmates are enjoying a great roller coaster ride that goes on for 2-4 weeks (depending on the speed of your chosen boat), with no chance of getting off the ride.

We have sailed this boat very hard in the past and the new go-fast goodies on her will help us to do so again. We sail her safely but we do so sometimes at very high speed, with lots of spray flying by and mixed in with flying fish, squid, albatross  and even the occasional sword fish. "The Cat" enjoys it and allows us to enjoy it with her.

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