Dragon Boat Racing,SA,the beginning

A Dragon Boat head,on one of the original gift boats in the V&A Waterfront,Cape Town.





The phone rang just now,could we make dragon boat heads? it became a very interesting discussion on the heads,tails and paddles,as Commercial Lumber cc,the beginning of what is now CKD Boats cc made all three items over ten years ago when the racing started here in Cape Town,I shaped some 500 plus paddles by hand myself ,they even gave me my own lapel badge for the opening international event,all South African entries used our paddles.Given reasonable new orders we may well be making paddles to the Dragon Boat class once more,only now we will CNC cut and shape them,they will all be exactly the same then.

Knud Riemers,yacht designer 1906-87

Some mention of the yacht Astra means its about time to mention the man who designed the boat he called a Tumlaren,as Jeff Stevens commented yesterday,it was a Composite Design,today the word 'composite'probably means plastics mixed to us but back when Knud was designing in the early 1930s it could easily mean a mixture of timbers,in our case oak frames and honduras mahogany planks but also shaped steel internal 'I' beam frames to support both the keel and linked to support the rigging loads above too,it was a genuine 'composite' in its day.

Born in Denmark, Knud Reimers (1906-87) became educated as shipwright at Krupp-Germania in the twenties. He then worked as apprentice at Bremen-Lemwerder under the supervision of Henry Rasmussen, while paralleling his studies in Bremen. It was there that Reimers became familiar with the design of sleek fast yachts.

1930 Reimers took over the office of Gustav Estander in Stockholm, Sweden. Reimers launched his career as a naval architect for square meter yachts.

1934 he designed the popular double-ender "Tumlare", the predecessor to Adlard Coles’ seagoing legend "Cohoe".

Mel Stevens and the yacht called Astra,a Tumlaren

Astra's Story...
by Roy McBride - Cape Town, South Africa - ckdboats.com

... Plus a part history of The Lipton Cup and other long
forgotten sailing issues in South Africa.
© Roy McBride





Thats Astra to the left of the picture and you can see the old Cape Town waterfront as it was then,circa 1960?







Credit: INTERNATIONAL PAINTS, Cape Town, donated all the paints used in this restoration, that’s a 100% free supply, when and where we required them. For this I would like to say a very big “Thank You!”



We had a vist from Jeff Stevens of 'Gemini Inflatables' yesterday,he needed some information on laying genuine teak decking on some of their larger rubber ducks,up to seven meters long I think he told me? Jeff was driven from his factory to our own by his dad,Mel Stevens,a gentleman well known in local cape yachting circles,one of his sucesses being to start Gemini and probably he can rightly be called the father of rubber duck construction in South Africa,many years back I used to visit Mel at his premises behind the old Roeland Street Jail,now the State Archives,Mel used to service life rafts back then too.

Mel asked was it I who restored the Tumlaren called Astra,most know I did,that was over ten years back,she is on moorings in False Bay now at the FBYC,Mel then goes on to tell me he was at the harbour berth in Cape Town when Astra was off loaded from the whaling service vessel,it had arrived from Norway? he says he was about eight years old then,yes Mel is into his eighties now and looking well I think you will agree.Mel is one of very few I know who used to live on Robben Island,he and his brother Brian,mother and father lived there at one time.

Note,Mels son,Jeff is a fifth generation RCYC club member,I doubt many others can claim the same?

Astra was hull number eight at the time of her build in 1934,she arrived here in 1935,so was still a very new boat at the time,the RCYC club house back then was at the lower end of Long Street,probably quite close to where the CTIC convention center now stands,yes Astra,a Knud Reimers design is now seventy four years old!

Didi Cruise Mini Transat kit being prepared

Didi Cruise-Mini
Radius Chine Plywood Mini Cruiser






We have done a great many of the race versions,the kit order we have now is our first cruise mini with the drop keel,it will slide up and into the boat,the ballast is 100 kgs more than the race mini,it is a genuine trailer sailer,you may have to tilt the hull on the trailer to conform with your local highway laws?We are looking at a Tabernacle for the mast,so it can be lowered easily.

Finance has never been better!

With the Rand currency loosing some 40% in recent weeks against the major currencies,financing the purchase of our products is looking better for overseas clients than we have seen for some years,you score,we get the order,we both win.To put this into perspective,the Rand to the U$ Doller last July was around R7.85,it has now passed R11.00 to one U$ Doller.

Rates ex www.fnb.co.za this mornings postings:

Public Exchange Rates against the rand for amounts up to R50 000.


Published at 2008/10/22 09:01:00 AM


Rand per foreign currency unit

Description Code Bank Selling rate Bank buying TT Bank buying TC's Bank buying notes
EURO CURRENCY EUR 14.2676 13.6923 13.6496 13.6784
BRITISH STERLING GBP 18.1268 17.3957 17.3263 17.3781
US DOLLARS USD 11.0337 10.6870 10.6310 10.6762

Navigator sail boat as a kit set

We have done a number of the John Welsford design boats as kits,we sell the plans,cutomers ask can we cut it on our machine,its a long process to set things up but of course once we have done the work,its ready for others then.We have a complete set of Birds Mouth mast and spars to make for the same design,we do all the shaping and machine work,the customer does the assembly and finishing works then.

Dassen Island QSL Cards

It seems we really do not have to venture far to find another South Atlantic island that ham radio has been used on,this one is in full view of our own Table Mountain,Cape Town,the island is a sanctuary and no landing is permissable,I assume a special permit was given for the DX transmision.

Ham Radio QSL cards,Ascension Island

Continuing the South Atlantic amature radio links,with QSL cards to show the contacts (by others) I had a much easier time finding pictures and info on Ascension Island,due I expect to it being such a busy place,both the BBC and NASA have bases on the island,I have been there twice myself,its a wonderfull place if you keep your eyes open.

Atoll Das Rocas

This is another magic place I sailed to as a family of four,we left from mainland Brasil from Cabedello,Brasil,went out to sea and to Fenando do Norohna,then after a short stay there we sailed down wind to Rocas,its a genuine atoll,its really coral from what I saw.I know DX stations have been set up on the island but this far Ive yet to locate a QSL card picture,I will update this blog when I do.The fishing and swiming is great but beware of scorpions and lice,rats too,we saw the scorpions and lice everywhere but not the rats!

St Helena QSL Cards

We used to work a station on the Island of St Hellena,he would advise what was needed on the island,normally potatoes and the like,we in turn would advise the various cruising yachts leaving Cape Town and the island would be serviced in this way,small in cost but a great way of saying thank you to such a friendly island.

Fernando do Noronha,Brasil DX ham shack,QSL card

To continue on a Ham Radio theme and for a change to an island off Brasil I myself have sailed to twice,its a mystical place,full of nature,clean water and welcoming people.

Another super rare Ham radio shack

More than 800 km from South America, St. Peter and St. Paul’s Rocks (0°56’N, 29°21’W) are a small group of islands in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. The island group is 250 m across, and their highest point is 19.5 m (Smith et al. 1974). Composed of mylonitic peridotite, the submarine mountain of which these rocks are the pinnacles extends 4000 meters into the ocean depths (Smith et al. 1974). St. Peter and St. Paul’s Rocks were one of the few sites visited by Darwin on the 1860 Beagle expedition.




This is mega rare,its been used for DX competions in the past,getting there is one thing,landing with your equipment is another thing altogether!

Johnston Atol Kit Order hull built and ready to ship out on the barge

Mike was working on JI,this is a few words taken from his web site.

Welcome to my site about Johnston Island
I have put a few more pictures on my Flickr photo site


My Guestbook is back up and running. Please take a look and feel free to sign it. I clean out the Spam droppings daily.There are over 900 entries.


Johnston Island has finally gone to the Birds. I was on the next to the last flight off of the Island June 14th 2004. They were tearing down the East Redwoods and loading the last barge to haul everything away that morning. A C-130 flew out to get the last 50 or so people on June15th,2004. There shouldn't be anything there now except the shell of the JOC, and the cement slabs of the buildings torn down.

Aloha,Mark













Mike himself ( i think)





The kit we sent to Charles at JI was expected to take a number of years to complete,eventually Charles would come to the end of his contract (civilian) and just sail away,that was the plan,he had three years to do it in.Charles certainaly wasted little time,it was not long before he had produced the hull,it was also not so long after this when he was told the island was to be closed down,all buildings flattened and all equipment removed,the island would be left bare and then mother nature could take over.One of the interesting sides to my job,is the people we meet and of course the places they live and work in,my understanding of geography has taken a quantum leap for sure! look at this about Johnston Atol and why it eventually became called an island.

The American brig Sally, captained by Joseph Pierpont, grounded on a shoal near Johnston Island on September 2, 1796, but did not name or claim the land.[2] The island was named for Captain Charles J. Johnston, commanding officer of H.B.M.S. Cornwallis, who claimed its official discovery on December 14, 1807. Johnston Atoll was claimed by both the United States and the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1858. The Atoll's guano deposits, mined by U.S. interests operating under the Guano Islands Act, were worked until depletion in about 1890.

In Charles case he was told to cease work on his boat as he was to leave the island with the rest of the islands staff,now what thinks I? well he knew all equipment was to be taken off the island by whats called a 'Barge' would they take his boat too?he was lucky they said yes,and their destination was close to where Charles lived on mainland USA too.

With this blog in mind I searched the web and found a web site called Aloha from Johnston Island,its run by a guy called Mark,the site is full of the island as it was when being closed down,here are a few pictures taken from Marks site.