Dirty Dicks, London

My mate and long time sailing pal,Notty,with his lady Sonia and workmate Ken in the original Dirty Dicks,London


ALEX, SONIA & KEN 1960's-DIRTY DICKS LONDON PUB

Hi mate,

This was one of the old photo's that came from Sonia's sisters place when her kids cleared it out, we have an old pile of them but this is the only picture I have of me with an almost full head of hair.
Soni looks to be startled in the picture as the barman just caught her out! The other guy is a Salford bloke I worked with call Ken, he was as mad as a snake and helped me to pull daffodils up out of Hyde Park gardens for Soni's birthday once when we were both 3 sheets to the wind.


The pub we're in here is the famous Dirty Dicks near Liverpool Street Station, London, the ground floor is a gourmet food bar where you can sit and eat oysters, fine cheeses and all type of cooked meat with crusty bread.
Down stairs where we are, is a sort of dungeon complete with cobwebs and real dead cat skeletons that are made to jump around when the barman pulls a string to scare the young birds like he just had with Soni hence her popping out eyes. The youg girls are asked to stroke the lucky cat and make a wish, the barman pulls on his string and the biltong like dead cat leaps around.

Well, mate, that was the young and hairy Notty enjoying the good life in the 60's long before we even knew we were going to SA.

Notty.




Opposite Liverpool Street Station, on Bishopsgate, is Dirty Dick's, an historic city pub, which takes its name from the dirty Warehouse on Leadenhall Street.

Before the beginning of the 19th century, the pub was called the Old Jerusalem, but the owners transferred the name and the storey from the warehouse because it was too good and too famous a name to let die.

The original Dirty Dick, was Richard, or some say Nathanial, Bentley, a prosperous city merchant living in the middle of the 18th century, who owned a hardware shop and warehouse, and it said to be the inspiration for Miss Havisham in Dickens' Great Expectations.

Bentley had been quite a dandy in his youth, but following the death of his fiancée, he refused to clear up or clean anything.

His house, shop and warehouse became so filthy that he became a celebrity of dirt. Any letter addressed to The Dirty Warehouse, London, would be delivered to Bentley. He stopped trading in 1804 and died in 1809. The warehouse was later demolished.

The pub that perpetuates the name and legend was described thus in 1866: " A small public house or rather a tap of a wholesale wine and spirit business"..."a warehouse or barn without floorboards; a low ceiling, with cobwebs festoons dangling from the black rafters; a pewter, bar battered and dirty, floating with beer, numberless gas pipes tied anyhow along the struts and posts to conduct the spirits from the barrels to the taps; sample phials and labelled bottles of wine and spirits on shelves- everything covered with virgin dust and cobwebs."

It seems that successive owners of the Bishopsgate Distillery and its tap capitalised on the legend. By the end of the 19th century, its owner, a public house company called William Barker's (D.D) Ltd, was producing commemorative booklets and promotional material to advertise the pub.

For years it kept the cobwebs, dead cats and other disgusting things in the cellar bar, but these have now been tidied a to a glass display case.

The Selborne Dry Dock in Simonstown

With March 6th and 7th being Navy Day at Cape Towns,Simonstown,why not do a feature on a dry dock,not just any dry dock either.
As a very regular visitor to Simonstown Naval Dockyard delivering either sealed tenders,delivering wood and collecting cheques from Dawn in the payment offices,I got to know my way around and meet some interesting people,one being the Dock Master.
He told me the dock was part of the British Empires way of doing things in the world,the stone was cut block by block in India,then shipped to Simonstown for construction,it was laid with a fall,end to end of exactly one foot (12") and even today if that fall is measured its exactly the same now,thats now 100 years later on!


In 1900 the yard covered about 13 acres, exclusive of the victualling establishment and naval hospital, and was provided with a small camber, slipways for torpedo-boats and small vessels, together with various dockyard buildings, storehouses, coal stores, &c., but had no dry dock or deep-water wharf. Under the Naval Works Loan Act of 1899 £2,500,000 was provided for the construction of additional docks east of the original naval yard. These works were begun in 1900 and completed in 1910. They consist of a tidal basin 28 acres in extent, with a depth of 30 ft. at low-water spring tides, enclosed by a breakwater on the eastern and northern sides and a similar projecting arm or pier on the west. The entrance to the basin faces'north-westerly, and is 300 ft. in width. South of the basin is a large reclaimed area forming the site of the new dockyard. Opening from the basin is a dry dock, 750 ft. in length on blocks, with an entrance 95 ft. wide and having 30 ft. over the sill at lowwater spring tides. The foundation stone of the dry dock was laid in November 1906 by the earl of Selborne, after whom it is named, and the dock was opened in November 1910 by the duke of Connaught.

The Selborne dock can be subdivided by an intermediate caisson in such a manner as to form two docks, respectively 400 lt. and 320 ft. in length, or 470 ft. and 250 ft. in length on blocks, as may be required, or the full length of 750 ft. can be made available. The dockyard buildings include extensive shops for the chief engineer's and chief constructor's departments, the pumping-engine house, working sheds, &c., while ample space is reserved for additional docks and buildings. Berthing accommodation is provided in the basin alongside the wharf walls which surround it. The walls available for this purpose have a total length of 2585 ft. lineal, are constructed of interlocked concrete block work, with an available depth of water of 30 ft. at low water, and are furnished with powerful shear-legs and cranes for the use of vessels alongside. Extensive sheds for the storage of coal are provided. The whole of the dockyard area (35 acres), including the enclosing breakwater and pier, was formed by reclamation from the sea; and the total area of the new works, including the tidal basin, is 63 acres

This then came in as a response to my blog:

Hi Roy,
Thanks for the article on the Selborne Dock. Just for info the granite blocks came from Scandinavia, not India. You will probably be interested to know that we are planning something special for the docks centenary in November this year.

Best regards,

John Sutherland
Simon's Town Dock Master.

Newspaper bilge cleaners

A clean and dry bilge is not always a posibility,its easier on a wood/epoxy boat though as they are so dry,unless you have an internal leak? Trying to mop up those last drops used to require a hands and knees appoach with a clean rag,these days I just roll up some clean news paper to the right size,lay it in the area to be cleaned and remove it the next day,its clean,it works and its free!

The family sitting center in the Avon are from the yacht and Durban,thats mum with a cover on her head,two daughters,dad and a son who is out of sight,who are they?
Left click the picture to view full size and see their faces clearly.

This was way back in 1977,the yacht and the family are from Durban,does anyone recognise them at all,we first met them at the RCYC prior to sailing to Salvador ourseves,we were on a river trip to Maragogipe,in the bay at Salvador,Brasil.
Left click my pics to view full size.

A day trip to Cachoeria,Salvador,Bahia,Brasil.

Joy Nicholson with her back to the camera was off the yacht Rainmaker (durban)the guy she is next to is American,the two girls and the woman walking out of the picture are also American and from the city of Atlanta,Georgia,USA,I think her name is Rae Ellen Syvenson,she was working for an american company in Salvador.

An American we met in the city,he was working in Salvador,here he is trying a local rifle for size.




For a great day trip from Salvador, experience the fascinating city of Cachoeira. Soak in the city's unique history and colorful, mostly preserved colonial architecture. This tour also includes a visit to the town's churches - Igreja Matriz and the Ordem Terceira do Carmo.

During the Brazilian Empire, Cachoeira was Bahia's wealthiest and most populous town. While having been developed over time, its original character still remains in the houses, churches and historical buildings.

Protected by the National Institute for Historical and Artistic Heritage since 1971, Cachoeira remains one of the unique cities to display important Baroque architectural heritage in Bahia.

After crossing the colonial bridge (Ponte Dom Pedro II) over the River Paraguaçu, you'll visit São Félix. Included is a visit to a traditional cigar factory, founded in 1873.
Following on with the theme of slavery we were taking a tour out of Salvador to the city of Cachoeira in the heart of sugarcane and tobacco country and what once used to be Bahia's wealthiest and most populated towns. En route we stopped off at a little market town. Paula took us around the various market stalls to see the local fruit, palm oil, honey all of which was decanted into any container you may have brought. The kids were mesmerised by the mangrove crabs, which were strung together in groups of ten and coated in thick mud. One of Paula’s friends waved and we ambled over to his tobacco stall. Here were two enormous baskets made out of rolls of tobacco coated in molasses. He demonstrated crumbling the tobacco and making cigarettes. He also gave Ian some of his 'Viagra’ tonic (which gave Ian indigestion).

On arrival at Cachoeira we went straight to a converted convent, which is now a hotel for some lunch and then drove across the river to the cigar factory

Fynn and Root Vegetable!.

The Danneman factory came to Sao Felix in 1873. However as the work was to be done by women and the Portuguese women would not deign to lower themselves to work the work then went to the Africans. However the labour was paid and this meant the only Africans who could work here would be the freed slaves. The majority of the freed slaves were women, this is because they could sell their wares and earn money on the side to raise the money for their freedom. This city then became a popular place for freed slaves to live.

What was once a busy factory now houses a crew of about 20 women rolling cigars. We were shown how various tobacco leaves were selected for what type of cigar and then how they were rolled, then wrapped in stretchy tobacco leaves.

Didi mini drop keel foil order

This shot will give you a good idea on how we CNC cut the Iroko foil,its really accurate and very clean,including the top cut out as well.

This is a drop keel foil for a Didi Mini Cruise,we made it a year back and shipped it to Australia.






We often get extras on the base boat orders such as sails and deck fittings,sometimes Yanmar engines too,a kit sent to John in the UK has also resulted in an order for extras,being deck fittings,tiller,stainless chain plates,rudders and a drop keel foil,we include the 400 kgs of cast lead with the foil.

Dixi Dingy to Thailand

The Dixy Dingy is the most economical boat kit we sell,it comes out of two sheets of plys and costs R3299 plus vat for SA residents,or only U$445 for off shore buyers,thats little money to get you on the water.


This is Scotts Dixy Dinghy kit order being packed,we included the North Sail and Ronstan deck pack as well,in this one pack was all that was required to build his new boat.The crate was later steel band strapped and shipped by sea.

More racing to Maragogipe,Bahia,Brasil

Brahma Cerveza Logo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqyZb6FzSW8&feature=related

Check the link above to see the 2008 race,now a sponsered event and really well supported still.

The crews of Brer Terrapin and Preussen enjoy a Brahma cerveza (beer)


This was the fleet,we are in front,pity we did not stay there.

A local Saverio we passed on our way to Aratu YC.

Pruessen arrives from Rio de Janerio,they took five or six days and had a good sail.They later joined us in Aratu and entered the race with us.Those of you from Cape Town may remember a very large steel boat in Ravenscraig Road,Woodstock and opposit Ticktin Timbers,early to mid seventies,this is the same boat designed and built in steel by its german owner Coiler.

Brer Terrapin leaves the old city of Salvador bound for Aratu.

A Durban yacht with family on board,I can not remember the boats name.

The Aratu yacht clubs race to Maragogipe

Dennis stares back in disbelief as the following fleet catch us up,we were aground in fine soft mud,we felt no impact,just slowly stopped with all sails still full!

Brer Terrapin in the lead with a smiling owner and skipper Dennis holding out a sail with one hand with a gin and tonnic in the other hand,we then ran aground and the fleet sailed past us!

This brasilian chart shows the river on the other side of the bay from Aratu,the route was to sail the river untill we got to the small island,turn left and then anchor off Magrogipe which is on te right hand side but not visible on this chart.


The fleet on a very light wind day but we broke away and soon were in the lead of the entire fleet.

With now wind Dennis decided to motor to Magrogipe.

Wandrin Star in Aratu,Salvador,Brasil

A sad sight to see,an abandoned boat, being a Durban boat,this yacht had sailed 1000 miles further than ourselves when we started from Cape Town.
It was left unlocked and was leaking through the rudder stock,I went aboard many times and pumped its bilges,an attempt to contact the owners and have it gifted to me was made but with no success.It was really well fitted out inside too.

Left click the picture to view full size,in the left corner you will see a small section of its sister ship,also from Durban,Rain Maker which circumnavigated,then on another trip with new owners John Hemmins,was lost in hurrican Luis in St Maarten.

The Aratu Yacht Club in Salvador,Bahia

Our arrival at Aratu yacht club in 1977,things have changed,there is a marina here now and a block of flats was built just under the hill at the back of the club,the water will still be nice and calm though.
Left click the pictures and chart to view full screen size.
The large yacht center of the picture is the ferro cement yacht from Durban,Wandrin Star,it was abandoned.

Yacht Brer Terrapin an Atkin 38 design at anchor in Aratu.

Aratu is on the extreme right of the picture,seen as a a large expanse of land locked water,access is via the river to the right.

The yacht club at Aratu is a family type place,its quite a long way up the river from the city,just keep bearing right and you will find it just past a naval yard,some quite large coasters go up that river but not as far as Aratu.You can take a bus into the city easy enough,or a AYC member may offer you a free ride? We anchored off but there is a marina there now,slipping of yachts may now be a possiblity?The entire water space is basically land locked,the only movement is up and down with no tidal effect such as waves,its a nice place to take it easy and work on your boat,you can paint the water line its so calm.
Left click on the pictures to view in a larger size.



The large building is not the yacht club,its a block of appartments higher up on a hill above the club.
Brasils Salvador has many interesting spots to discover for a yachtsman,with Manfred Marktel about to sail single handed to Salvador today (6,03,2010) memory comes back of happy moments in Salvador on two yachts,Brer Terrapin in 1977 and Ocean Cloud in 1988,when I was there with my family.

Didi Mini Transat Cruise Rudders

We have done a good many sets of rudders to the Didi mini transats,the first were cut by hand using templates set every 200mm down the blade,just shaping took three days,they were never going to be perfect,close was as good as one could hope for. Now we have them programed into Nigels CNC machine,we just supply him with the oregon pine blanks and he cuts the shape and profile for us,we know that each blade is exactly the same and we save about two days doing the shaping too!

Rudder Foils pre cut by Nigels CNC machine,they will shaped by hand,glassed with epoxy and biaxial glass cloth,epoxy primed and when finished,shipped to John in England when ready.

Toylander filler work starts

After removal of all the screws,cleaning up the joints with a chisel,then a light hand sand with a sander block and 60 grit paper,we were ready to apply the first mix of epoxy putty (we supply the parts to make this) there will be at least two more sessions of epoxy putty to apply,this is the part where things slow down as we sand and putty,its a 24 hr wait untill we can do the next stage,eventually we will use thin epoxy (supplied) and a 75mm foam roller to seal the entire Toylander body before we move to the painting stage.

Part one of the application of epoxy filler.

A smooth and level finish is what your trying to achieve,the epoxy filler will add massive strength to the Toylanders body,we use no wood cleats to support the body joints as with our epoxy and finger joint build,they are just not required.

Use a 50mm wide painters blade to apply your epoxy and micro balloons mix.

Filling and working cleanly is important,remember the finished surface will only be as good as your preperation.