Holiday snaps,a little culture

One of my regular customers sent me some pictures of his pet pigs (honest) he also sent me this one, which is a remarkable performance (even in still life) by a bunch of guys,I know which one is my customer but I aint telling!

Roy

Herritage Day sailing pics?

The plan was good but the Cape Town boat show started on this years 'Heritage Day' here in the cape,so no pictures of Flying Cloud a Dix designed 'Dix 43'(wood epoxy) this year,we still have some great pics of Dixy Roller out in Chapmans Bay though,taken a few weeks back by Max.

Kayak is completed using our materials supplied.

Well,as far as being fully water proof,it is complete,Alain may want to paint the boat next? this was a father and son,plus small grandchild project done over a number of months,its a nice family adventure,next they will be trying it out.We can supply floataion bags and life preservers,flare kits too!

Learning as we go

My thanks to Full Circle magazine for publishing the original story,please left click on the page to view it full size and read the text.


My dear mum is now 84,she is alone and misses her husband and my dad who died a few years back,she was here with us recently for Janet and Nigels wedding,we tried to get her to think of using a computer and stay in touch with us when she traveled back home,my mother was not really interested,even though she was a typist in her working years.

Here is a nice story of a mother of a customer and friend of ours,he is in New Zealand but the brother who set up a PC and communictations world wide lives just across the road form where we live,as they say we are never too old to learn,if we want to that is!

The ninth Cape Town Boat Show,24th to 27th September

The show will open in the morning,which this year is a public holiday,named Heritage Day its also named National Braai Day,so I had better get my charcoal and braai tongs ready for action later in the day.



We are told over 160 stands will be on display,thats in the main CTIC halls and also in the V&A Waterfront,where boats will be on display too,thats a long walk,so take the water taxi (free?) see you all there tommorrow!

Roy roy@comlumber.com

This Cruising Life

Left click the picture to view in a larger size.

The picture sums up life as we want it? work for it,build it,sail off in it,enjoy it,so why not,the picture is of Taffy (in red shirt) and Shirleys Lavranos 39 named The Road (royal order of anchient druids)the hull is black with a staggered white line all along the center,just like a normal road! Taffy is of course a welshman.

The place is Scotland Bay,Trinidad,two of the guys on the boat at last sundays raft up,will soon be doing the long trip to the Panama,then Pacific Ocean and eventually all the way back to Hout Bay,where Taffy,Shirley and Rubbish the parrot sailed of from originally.

AIS by Watchmate with a built in receiver

This is new for an October release,the screen now has its own receiver built in,you will still require an antenna splitter,which we can supply also.
roy@comlumber.com

AISWatchMate®RX Two Channel Receiver and Display
The AISWatchMate is now available with an integrated two channel AIS receiver.
Excellent receiver sensitivity for maximum range.
Designed especially for highest AIS performance.
Easy to install. No external "black boxes".
Winner of two international innovation awards.

OverviewFeaturesBenefitsSpecificationsDownloadsThe AISWatchMate RX incorporates an internal high performance two channel AIS receiver with the award winning AISWatchMate collision avoidance display. Vesper Marine has designed the AISWatchMate RX to help avoid collisions at sea. Using the Universal Shipborne Automatic Identification System (AIS) the AISWatchMate RX displays data from all AIS equipped vessels in your vicinity. Audible warning alarms are sounded if a potentially dangerous situation exists.
The alarm sounds whenever a ship is detected that will come dangerously close even though the ship may still be many miles away. You are alerted immediately with the closest point of approach (CPA) and the time until CPA.

Unique and customisable alarm and filter settings help to eliminate false alarms. Ships and alarms are displayed in a prioritised order assisting you to safely navigate in crowded shipping areas.

The AISWatchMate RX has a built-in AIS receiver. It can be interfaced to other on-board electronics and will provide full AIS output. However, it is not necessary to connect it to anything other than a GPS.

Traditional Stuff?

Left click on any of the pictures to view in a larger size and see more detail.


Gumptions Dynema rope chainplates by Equiplite.

The yacht Gumption at Hout Bay.

Traditional dead eyes,picture by Max.

Dixi Rollar,sailing in Chapmans Bay,note the traditional rope and dead eyes.Picture taken by Max.
As a founder member of Cape Towns Traditional Boat Asscociation and a person who is interested in things that went before,I am always pleased to see old ideas being re invented,Harken have been using rope loops for some while now,they save weight and take up any angle required,inclding a twist,only custom made fittings will allow that,the related cost can make the idea not worth it?

The RCYC,HBYC and FBYC had whats called a 'feeder race' at the weekend,boats from the three yacht clubs would meet at Hout Bay and race to FBYC in Simonstown on sunday morning,then be ready for the Spring Reggata next week end,whats traditional about this you may ask?

We had a few very high tech boats arrive,carbon,mast,booms,spinnaker poles etc,one boat,Gumption, really caught my eye though,its rod rigging was fastened to the boats hull with loops of rope! looking closer at the boat I noticed the boat had no deck cleats for mooring,rather loops of rope exiting the hull where a mooring line would tie to,this saves weight and again,the fastening angle is always 100% correct.Ian Frazer at Sparcraft,Cape Town, has just told me the rope is made from Dynema and produced by a company named Equiplite Chainplates,try www.equiplite.com Ian agrees with me that the wheel has turned 360 degrees,as what was done decades before in traditional rope,then changed for exotic metals,has now returned to rope but in modern fibres,so we now have a whole new range of traditional boats!

My pictures show the boats feature,I also include some pictures that Max took on a cruise into Chapmans Bay on Dixi Rollar recently,she has just beeen re rigged with traditional dead eyes.