The Brasilian Navy visit Peters Place

This amature radio QSL (reply) card was first seen by myself when I was in the home of Peter Thurridl,which is more or less where this picture was taken from,his normal QSL card being a view of the beach taken from the water and where Rod and Mary on Sheer Tenacity are now at anchor, I have the beach scene QSL card that Peter kindly gave me just prior to our return trip back to Cape Town on Ocean Planet,does anyone have this card for me?

This was the Ham Radio Net run and controled by Peter,I have asked Rod and Mary on Sheer Tenacity to enquire if anyone took this net over when Peter passed away?

1130 21.325 South Atlantic Roundtable DSATL tfc, also 2330Z PY1ZAK

Sheer Tenacity arrive in Ilha Grand,Brasil!

Sheer Tenacity, a Shearwater 39 designed by Dudley Dix,on her home marina dock,here in Hout Bay,South Africa.Rod and Mary are now part of a quite small group of persons who not only built their own boat but crossed and ocean on it too,well done to them both!CKD Boats provided materials and advice while they put their boat together.

This was the trade wind route that Rod and Mary took,its the logical South Atlantic trip around the south atlantic high weather system,starting in Cape Town,they then went to St Helena Island,saw in christmas day there and headed off to Ascension Island,the next stop was to be Salvador in Brasil but considering the race fleet that will flood the facilities,they chose to dive south,past Rio de Janerio and find the peace of Ilha Grande,an island largely untouched in the last thirty years and more due to it being a part of a very large nature conservation area.Try this link to their blog pages on the Hout Bay Yacht Clubs own site.

http://hbyc.co.za/2007/

An extract from their daily passage blog,this was yesterdays,January 23rd 2009


After exactly 15 days since we left Ascension, Sheer Tenacity is at anchor =
in Ponthina Bay (Peters Place, Pedro's ), Baia De Ilha Grande.I started =
writing a long blog in the early hours of this morning, to which I wanted =
to add our anchorage details. Forgot to save it in the work file and lost =
it all! Too great a need for a beer to start it all over again, but I will, =
because the last 300miles were challenging ,and memorable!
We did 2029nm on this last leg, which took 15 days exactly. In total we =
sailed 4925 miles to cross the Atlantic, OUR WAY, (which is a very long =
route), which took 33days of sailing time. Time now to relax, drink beer, =
and sleep!
Thanks to everyone for the support and assistance.=20

Portnets dry dock timbers

Left click on any picture to view in a full screen size with great detail,all pictures taken by R McBride,Canon FT camera with a 50mm lens and 100 asa film. Skilled trades men from Portnet showing how its done with an Adze.

Portnet craftsmen, sizing and adzing the ends of the Karri wood timbers to take the wrought Iron bands 

they had made in Cape Towns harbour works.

  This sawmill was self sufficient in making their own AC 220/360 volt electric power,waste from the mill drove the fires which ran the generators,what a great idea! The visible cracks are of no importance,once the square has dried out it probably closed those cracks up. With the karri wood as supplied by Commercial Lumber cc,then strapped correctly,there was no degrade and the squares could be used for many years. This was the result of another attempt at use local karri,the ends were not steel banded correctly,we worked closely with Portnets engineering dept,they had two carpenters visit our suppliers mill and fitted Iorn bands with an adze as soon as the squares were cut,after that the squares could dry out without splitting. When Portnet,Cape Town Harbour required large squares of timber for blocking up ships such as the Agulhas in the Ben Schoeman Dry Dock,they bought them through Commercial Lumber cc,which was our trading name before we founded CKD Boats cc,the idea was to supply Iroko from west africa but at twice the price of our local Karri,it made little sense,we supplied the quality required and in time for the next dry dock session,we also saved Portnet a lot of expense.

Andrew and his yacht in build Tididi (read that backwards)

I rang Andrew mid way through the christmas holidays to check on progress with his planed hull skining of his Hartley 37 build,Andrew had just fitted the last hull stringer and was about to start laying up the hull skins,that was about three weeks back,just look at his remarkable progress!

Taken from Andrews blog:

Today marks another big milestone, and this entry is for Roy Mc Bride from CKD Boats in Cape Town, who has taken a keen interest in TIDIDI. It is nice to have someone in the boat building industry do so and Roy asked that I post some pictures as soon as I started with the planking. I recently bought all the 6mm Marine Plywood for the hull and decks from Roy, and the service and wealth of information from Roy has been superb.

A wave,a man and a lighthouse

I have no idea what happened next!

Roy

Sailing into Punta Pargo,Venezuela

This happens to be my all time favorite photograph of the voyage we made as a family of four,starting with the two girls and my wife in Salvador,Brasil,we cruised up the coast of Brasil and past the mighty Amazon River,untill we could bear off to starboard and lay an easy line to Tobago Island,famous for its crystal clear waters.We later sailed on down to Los Testagos,Venezuela,a group of five islands, mainly uninhabited,after which we sailed directly to the tax free island of Margarita,just off the Venezuelan mainland,stopping at Pampatar village to clear in,we later moved the short distance to Porlomar,a more sheltered bay and closer to the main town,its a long walk in but not a bad hike.Our next trip was down to Puerto la Cruz,with a memorable over night stop in the fantastic and land locked Mochima bay.

Genaker sailing

This is John (spinaker) Holmes sorting out what he loves best,our Genaker made by North Sails in Cape Town,note the matching staysail to give some windward ability,the idea works well.

The Chameleon nesting dinghy,new for you

Its not often we see such a neat design and while nesting dinghies are nothing new,not many appear so well thought out as this one.

Owner info,which he then called the Geko dinghy.

It's a multi-purpose nesting dinghy ... and can be constructed with a sprit sailing rig and/or outriggers and rolling seat and can be fit with a small outboard. But the foredeck of my Fuji 32 Ketch, VALHALLA, would not accomodate the designed nested length of 5'4" so I did a linear reduction of the plans by 11% to get a nested length of 4'9". This gave an overall length of 8 1/2 feet. The sailing rig would also be too much gear to stow onboard so my project was for a basic rowing and motoring version.

Danny Greene of Bermuda sells his Chameleon dinghy plans for a very reasonable U$35 payment direct to Danny with materials and kits from CKD Boats in Cape Town.

Roy

The Melik,the Blue Niles Sailing club house

The Melik,afloat.


Gone With The Wind
Article reproduced from SUDANOW 1979

The Blue Nile Sailing Club’s racing programme was badly hit recently by lack of wind. Sailing conditions are generally much lighter than elsewhere in the world, but the unseasonably hot weather between mid-December and the middle of last month led to not only poor, but also erratic winds. In the course of a race the wind might vary from due East to due west, making sailing either interesting or extremely exasperating.

A moonlight race organised just before the Christmas holidays was abandoned due to the almost total lack of wind. Instead , the competitors motored or towed their boats to Tuti Island for a barbeque supper and carol singing.

The Blue Nile Regatta, scheduled for 22nd December was similarly affected, and the majority of the programme was postponed for a week. Only the eliminating heats of the Tracy Plate were completed. The final of the Plate was attempted, but the competitors ran out of time, with Stevens (32) having a commanding lead.

A moderate wind on the 27th enabled the final of the Tracy Plate to be held. Stevens was unlucky. At a crucial point his rudder became disconnected, leaving him floundering in the middle of the river. Casson (36) was first, followed by Koutsoudis (50) and Robertson (3). The rest of the Regatta programme included the final’s of the Commodore’s Cup, the Cadet race for competitors under 18, and the Vanian Cup. Koutsoudis came first in the Commodore’ Cup, followed by Stevens and Ellis (43). Stevens won the Vanian Cup, with Casson second and Le Poldevin (27) coming third.

The trophies were presented by Mrs Carden, wife of the Ambassador. The Ambassador, himself, competed in the final race coming 6th.

The annual long-distance race from Umm Dom Island – for the Watson Trophy – was held on 5th of last month. Unfortunately, the low water level of the Blue Nile made it unsafe to race around the island. Amid a great deal of confusion concerning the starting time of the race, 13 boats set off from the “MELIK”. They raced to the Northern end of Umm Dom and back, with the return journey being particularly difficult. A blustery wind caused moderate waves , and most of the boats had shipped several litres of water by the time the race ended.

Those boats carrying extra weight, in the form of additional crew, were most successful. Again Stevens was unlucky, losing his rudder, and with it a comfortable lead, with only a quarter of the distance remaining. The final result was a win for Koutsoudis. A close fight for second place followed in which Casson beat Wilson (35) by only half a metre or so.

However, due to the confusion at the start of the race, a protest was lodged and a decision made to re-run it a later date.

Despite the difficult weather conditions three race series were completed last month. The One-Design Trophy was won by Casson with 82 points. Kpoutsoudis was second with 79 points and Ellis third with 72 points. The’A’ and Novice class trophies for the series also went to Ellis.

In the Cadet Cup for under 18’s, Neil Casson was first with 65 points, and the Robertson brothers second and third. The Tuti Island series was won by Koutsoudis, with Stevens and Rollason taking second and third places respectively.

A second moonlight race was held on 9th. A fleet of nine boats completed a short race under a bright full moon. This sort of race is particularly appreciated by foreign members of the Club, who seldom get the opportunity to sail under such conditions. After the race, the boats sailed to Tuti, and, in spite of what seemed to be the coldest night of the winter, everyone enjoyed the barbeque and campfire which completed the evening

Khartoum One Design Dinghies and Fire in the Sudan

The Blue Nile Sailing Club as it is today,I had heard a restoration of General Gordons gun ship had been started,when I was there,the gun boat was beached in an accesable and vertical position on the far river bank.


Morgan Giles,designer of the Khartoum One Design

A Roy McBride photo,taken with a Canon FT 35mm film camera with a Canon 1:3.5(model53203) 200mm tele lens,the film was Kodaks Ektachrome asa 100 professional slide film,simply the very best there is.

This started off to be nothing at all to do with boats (what!) but is a memorable picture of the kind of fire that can and does self ignite in Africa,I took this at Jebl Abu Dhum near Damazin,which is on the Blue Nile,I sailed a Morgan Giles designed sheet steel Khartoum One Design there,we sailed down the blue,around into the white nile and then around a small island,finishing third in the race, back at the club house,a beached cast Iorn ship, which used to be General Gordons gun boat back in the days of British Rule,Queen Victorias days?
Looks like I got a mention in on sailing after all!

The designer,Morgan Giles:

Orders from abroad were also being received including six yachts built of galvanised mild steel for specific use on the River Nile at Khartoum.

Hillman Imp wins its class in the 1966 South African Saloon Championships

Left click on text to be able to read it full size.

This was an extract from the South African publication CAR Magazine,I had just started restoring our Singer Chamois 875cc (hillman imp based) when I thought possibly I could find my own 998cc race car Hillman Imp from the Argus Championships run here at the Killarney Race Circuit in the early 1970s,I was not successfull in finding my car but I did receiive a hugh amount of information and leads of both parts and cars,many of which I still have.