The 1995 BOC yacht race, HBYC or RCYC as hosts?

In my previous blog on this subject, I left out the specific cash sum of money asked for by the RCYC up front on purpose, I was not at the meeting when the money was asked for, at first it was a rumour, then a published fact.

http://ckdboats.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-hbyc-hosts-boc-sailing-race.html

This blog is about the reason that Mark Schrader, who was  then working for the  BOC group, asked the HBYC to come up with an offer on what they could do for the race should the HBYC be successfull in their bid.

Click on the scanned copy so that you can read it better.

There are two sides to the tale, I now have the archive file from the HBYC which includes a collection of news prints. The fact was that the RCYC asked up front for a donation of R65,000 (some say R60,000) as a payment to fund the event in Cape Town and the RCYC Small Craft Basin.

The BOC group had already moved the start of the race in the USA for similar reasons and now were considering other South African ports over Cape Town for the same reason.

Mark is toasting John Martin's attempt to secure a sponser for the next event.

Both of Cape Towns daily newspapers carried the story, it was an event of  great importance to those involved.
Many did not know what a battle royal was going between each club, for sure the HBYC was holding an upper hand for a great deal of time.

In the end it was the RCYC who won the prize.

Shame!

 Hout Bay from the Chapmans Peak Driveway.

Its now 2013 and Cape Town has had the Volvo Ocean Race for a number of years now.

Those boats are too large to fit in the Small Craft basin in the Cape Town Harbour and in the past hve been berthed at the V&A Waterfront. The news now is that as Cape Town refused to pay for the 2014 fleet to visit here, so we will not see them at all in the next race.

They do two stops in Brasil, then next Dubai, who will pay lots to host them I understand? Brasil is of course cash rich and wants to promote both the next Olympics and also the next Fifa World Cup series, both events will be held in Rio de Janerio.

Times change.

Roy

Cape Henry 21 boat roll over jig

This was taken from the Dudley Dix blog, its a customer of Dudley who had made up a clever turning jig to roll his hull over with.

Today's post is a good follow-on to my post of yesterday about building boats in exotic places. It is also in South America but in Brazil rather than Colombia.

Today I received a link from Eugênio Herkenhoff in Vitoria, Brazil. He has been building a Cape Henry 21 for awhile and sending me occasional feedback and photos of his progress. Eugênio is a professional builder but this video shows that he is very different from the professional boatbuilders you will find in most other places.

Eugênio has a very small workshop and it is in a very built-up part of the city. I have seen workshops like this in Rio de Janeiro as well, so they must be common in Brazil. All sorts of businesses operate out of these small facilities, supplying custom woodwork, metalwork, plumbing, electrical etc. But there is only so much that can be done inside the building. In the video at Voiles et Voiliers magazine it is described as "a boat in the streets". That is where Eugênio builds his boats. The video is narrated in French but you can get the gist of it without understanding the language.

The graphics were done by the boat builder, very well done I must say.

Roy

Jig-Saw joints

For years we have supplied larger panels such as bulkheads, with a three stepped scarph, they are then glued and positioned with a two small dowel pegs, which when fitted ensure a pefect joint.

Dudley Dix @ www.dixdesign.com is now also introducing the jig-saw joint as well.

Click on the image for a larger view.

The joint requires very little work and also ensures your joints are perfect.

Dudley now offers this system on large and small boats, the Didi 40cr and DS15 being two such designs.


How nice is that!

Roy

Will's i550 is in Sailing magazine.

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Will Goodlet


My build is in the local SA Sailing magazine…looking forward to getting my copy!

Will is building hull # 001 for South Africa, CKD Boats cc supplied him a CNC cut plywood kit. A second set of plans has been bought recently, so the class is growing already.

Roy.



http://471.sailspace.org/wp/  Check Will's progress at the link.

Monday, 4th March 2013, my own copy has just arrived. Will has writen a nice story and tells us just how easy this design is to build yourself.

Yacht Jenal in port

Two mates on the classic William Garden designed yacht named Jenal (ex Perazim)

The days work is just about complete, what a great time for a break and a natter.

The place is the HBYC marina, the guys are John in the blue and Jenal's owner Athol in the dark top.

Looks like fun to me!

Roy

Roys 1967 Singer Chamois in the HBYC car park

Seen here and not that many meters from what was the original HBYC car park is a Singer Chamois, based on the Hillman Imp, this more up market car outsold all other Imp varients.

Now some forty seven years old and about to see 100,000 miles on the odometer, thats 160,000 kms near enough. The engine is still at the standard 875cc size, it was rebuilt a few years back, uses no oil or waters and runs very well.

Thats how it should be!

Roy

Imp 50 a magic number

The picture will say whats required, fifty years of the Hillman Imp is quite a happening!

My first car and at the age of 17 was a Mk1 Hillman Imp.

Roy

Anchor warp stowage

How much is too much, this will depend on the size of boat and also the stowage space you have?

Cleaning out a locker where I had some deep water anchor lines stowed, I saw that the space taken and the mess of the coil could be better used if I made a decent job of the way I coiled the line up?

I thought to air the line out, then lay it along the marina walk way to measure it. The line when laid the length of the walkway was around 55 meters in length. It was last used in a deep water anchorage in Venezuela but also in St Helena and Brasil, such a line comes into its own when its too deep for your anchor chain.

I was about to start coiling it up using my hand, when Athol from yacht Jenal suggested a drum to roll it around? Great idea but I had no such thing, next moment Athol was off to his boat and on returning hands me a suitable drum!

I  was pleased to try and really did have my doubts that a line 55 meters long and 16mm in diameter will coil around such a small diameter coil? As it turned out I could get another 5 meters on it quite easily. Of course rolling up was a mission and really a dedicated drum with a center spindle is required. In this case I am just happy to be able to stow the line properly coiled and ready for its next use.

Great things happen on the Hout Bay marina!

Roy

 

Note, the anchor used with this line was a genuine forged 10kg Bruce with an 8 meter length of 10mm short link chain, this I found was easy to handle and set and stayed set with no bothers at all. The boat in question was a loaded Endurance 37, so about 10 tons in all?

Dix Design DS15 kit set boat

This is the prototype of a new design design by Dudley Dix Yacht Design , the DS15. It’s a 4.5 meter hybrid dinghy/mini sportboat.

She’s constructed from 6mm okoume marine ply and Sitka spruce for stringers and rails, dyed with sapphire blue dye and clear coated with system three silver tip resin, deck ply will be dyed bright red, so nobody notices the the bloodshed of competition, custom sails by Jerry Latell @ US Sails Deltaville. Spars 50 year old, Sitka spruce hand carved to a tapered air foil.



220 lbs total mass.

Planing 5.6 knots.

6 ft beam .

Hull Draws 3.5″

Daggerboard Draft 4 ft

See Her in person finished at the Mystic Seaport Woodenboat Show late in June.

Gulliver at Slangkop, a crew remembers

A mail came in from Claude yesterday, my first such ever from one of the four who were on the boat that night.

http://ckdboats.blogspot.com/2008/09/gulliver-of-knysna-sea-rescue-by.html

Open the link to read more on this story, which happened around twenty four years ago.

The original painting as used on the NSRI news magazine hangs on a wall at Station Eight, Hout Bay. Awards were given for the bravery of the NSRI crews actions on this really foul weather night.

Hi Roy,

I came across your article about Gulliver stranding at Kommetjie, and well remember that night.
How the NSRI made it out there is a damned wonder.The waves were sky high and we could not see
the NSRI craft until they were within 50 metres, and it was wild. They did as you say, have to stand off
and we got into the life raft and were pulled towards the rescue boat. They had difficulty starting the
motors again after that wave struck, and the skipper was injured. I was cold and already quite calm,
but if I had been part of the rescue team I would have thought twice about going out on that night.
Brave thing to do and I am always thankful to them. I have crossed many oceans since then and rode
many a storm in small boats, but that one I always remember clearly. The members of the NSRI who put
us up in their homes made us feel at home.  I am still suprised that I am not linked more securely
to those members of the NSRI, because I owe them a life

regards

Claude

We really do all have a lot to say thank you to the NSRI.

Roy

Claude, I have tried a number of times to reply to you by email, each time my reply bounces, please contact me.

Rodriguez film wins an Oscar

A story that is so strange that it must be true, so writes Andrea Nagel in her Film Revue, the Times Friday August 31st 2012.

1971 and I was by then an SA resident, the music over the radio often included songs from Cold Fact, a record made by Rodriguez and I believe in the USA? the album sold just 6 copies in the USA but when it was pirated and released in the RSA, some 500,000 copies were sold!

Taken from the Sunday Times (?) and dated September 2nd 2012. 
Why my interest in this man? Well about three years back I made contact with Stephen Segerman of Mabu Vinyl, Rheede St,Cape Town. I was trying to find a drive belt for my old Yamaha turntable, Stephen told me where to try and I have been playing my records ever since!

http://ckdboats.blogspot.com/2010/11/zebu-vinylrheede-streetgardenscape-town.html

The shop that Stephen runs has large pictures of Rodriguez on the walls, some of them show the man at the shop, so they are more than passing friends, what I did not know was the story behind finding Rodriguez after so many years.

The story was so good that they made a film about the man and his discovery, that film won an Oscar on Sunday night, February 24th 2012!

Roy

Now I need the mans records of course.

Rodriguez wearing a Mabu Vinyl tee shirt.

Stephen in his record store.


Rodriguez now has an Academy Award to his name after ‘Searching For The Sugarman’ won Best Documentary in Hollywood.


Rodriguez: Photo Ros O'Gorman

‘Searching For The Sugarman’ was a British-Swedish documentary telling the story of Rodriguez’s incredible success in South Africa in the 70s and 80 even though not only was Rodriguez unaware of this fame but how the South Africans also thought he was dead.

Bluesfest director Peter Noble said, “After being the first country in the world to realise his greatness – AND to continue to bring him back for his fans over recent years – it is incredible to see Rodriguezfinally getting his dues after working in obscurity for so long – Welcome back Sugarman

Directed by Malik Bendjelloul, Searching for Sugar Man tells about the obscure Detroit singer and made a near-sweep of documentary awards since its premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.


"Thanks to one of the greatest singers ever, Rodriguez," Bendjelloul said during a brief on-stage speech.

The film tells the story of how for years it was thought that the 1970s singer-songwriter known as Rodriguez had either committed suicide, or faded into obscurity. But through the searches of music lovers Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom from South Africa, where he unexpectedly achieved a startling level of fame, he was discovered to be very much alive, living and working as a construction worker in Michigan, having never achieved recognition in the US or anywhere else in the world.

Rodriguez himself was not at the Oscars, having just completed a tour of South Africa

How to loose excess weight while you eat

Seems this program works.

My friend was complaining about putting on weight as he became older, now seventy he has things under control!

Then a picture of the diet I've invented to replace breakfast every day.

It consists of a half cup of Swiss style Meusli at the bottom of the bowl with the fruit you see on top which can be first either a chopped apple, a chopped pear, or a chopped banana with 2 plums, 2 kiwi fruits a hand full of dried cranberries and 12 white grapes. Over that I pour about a cup full of the Organic Yogurt you see by the bowl. That keeps me going till 13:30 when I then have a fresh farm egg of two slices of buttered whole grain toasted bread.

For dinner we have a normal beef, lamb, chicken or fish dish with some green veg, a green salad and either roast, chips or baked spuds and a John Smith beer.

Just before going to bed I have 4 digestive biscuits and some dark Belgium Chocolate with Hazel nuts and a pot of tea.

I can't believe with all that food I am still losing weight and down from just below 12-stone to just below 10-stone in around two months so that diet works without any major exercise apart from walking to the shops every day.

I have never been down to that weight since I was about 20 apart from when we got back from Rio in 1985.

Notty.

You could post this link to people on how to know that they are buying whole grain bread or flour. It tells them what to look for on the label. The fastest way to see is if it says that it is either 100% Whole Grain or 100% Whole wheat flour used to bake the bread.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthy-kitchen-11/reaping-benefits-whole-grains

This is a no nonsense self worked out diet that works for the man who developed it, if you have the same weight worry, try it out and see if it works for you too.

Note, the man concerned is on no medication other than the bottle of John Smiths beer he has each day.

Roy

Nottys Good-Morning Fruit Diet.

Note, the opinions of the writer may not be the opinion of myself, just read it a couple of times and decide for yourself!

Hi Roy,

It's not whole wheat bread that is hard to find, there are hundreds or brands claiming to be whole wheat, it is WHOLE GRAIN bread that is hard to find. This is bread baked from whole grain flour where the entire grain is used not just the inside bits. You don't need more than a couple of slices of whole grain bread to keep you full for hours where as most other breads just make you want to eat more.

I don't think I'm on a diet, just one that starts the day with a little muesli but a hell of a lot of fruit, enough to fill a bowl as you could see from that picture. You need to eat so much that you will not be hungry for 4 or 5 hours. The rest of the day can be anything except cake and sweet stuff, I've avoided anything that is man made or processed in a factory such as cereals, Kelloggs being the worst as would be anything American would probably contain HFCS =  High Fructose Corn Syrup the stuff responsible for millions of overweight people in the USA and UK.

So, if it comes from a farm, or out of the ground or is part of an animal that has not been processed or tampered with in a factory so altered in some way, then its OK to eat.

Anything else like biscuits is a luxury that I try to keep to a minimum. The very dark chocolate seems OK now and then. It's not the natural fat that they have been shouting about for years that is killing us all, but the fat that is produced by sweeteners such as HFCS, that is bad fat that the liver cannot deal with so stores it where it can arround your middle in most cases. Natural fat is not bad for you so don't worry about butter or a bit of fat on bacon or meat its better than all the spreads and marg. You need some fat to get your liver going so that it can process the natural fats from natural food.

I should give up beer as well but have just cut that down a bit.

All soft drinks including fruit drinks made from concentrate will have HFCS in them especially those invented by the Americans like Coke so best not to drink those at all, they are pure poison.

I am no dietician so don't think this is in anyway a diet to follow, I just happen to notice that I lost 2-stone since I started it a couple of months ago. All I need now is to do some exercises to turn what's left of the fat into muscle.

A good name for it would be Good-Morning Fruit Diet if you wanted to call is something.

My latest idea is to eat a little natural licorice root every day and you will never be bunged up. I ordered half a kilo on line for 6-quid + post and there is enough to last months. I started one thin stick and it has lasted four days, you just chew the end and suck out the juice as you're doing something else and boy do you get an amazing dump.

Look it up on line and just check out the benefits of eating is.SEE THE LINK BELOW.

http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-licorice-root.html

More news on the diet idea,

What I've been doing over the past two weeks is to experiment by going back on some of the things that I gave up eating to see if I started to put fat back on again and I did!

Not sure which of these was responsible but I am sort of addicted to crumpets so I've been having a couple instead of the egg and toast, sometimes even with Cheddar cheese on them, then at night I swapped the dark chocolate for a chocolate coated biscuit and one or both of these have resulted in the belly starting to grow again so bloody amazing really how fast that happened. Back to the whole grain bread and drop the crumpets. My reasoning was that I thought that I was getting too thin? Good luck with your blog.

Notty.

That was posted 26th February 2013, check the news below.

 I have stopped that diet I was on as its been too successful and I look like I did when I got back from Rio with you. I have now shrunk from 73-kg down to 61-kg and even though I'm now eating more I continue to shrink.

Note,

I suggest that any long term diet should be under the supervision of a doctor.

No liability of any sort  will be accepted if the results of what worked for one person does not
work for you!

Roy

Keel details Inside a wood/epoxy built boat

Some parts of any boat are hard to access, in this case the area was closed in some fifteen years back?

Click on the picture for a larger image.

Note the partners which support the laminated spring floor cross beam, that then accepts the 20mm 316 studs and nuts, one of which can just be seen. The area had just been washed out when this picture was taken, the traces of white in the right corner and lower center are soap bubbles, the white lines are paint runs!

Dudley Dix designed this boat and did the keel and laminated frame details, the glues used were Balcotan 100 on the laminted African Mahogany frames and Shell 816 epoxy on the keel members and the hull skin, all joints remain as good as when made one and a half decades back. All surfaces are given a coat of thin epoxy to keep moisture out of the plywood and timber.

This area will now be painted out as its a great small parts store!

Roy

Dudley Dix comments:

I studied your photo carefully. I saw the bubbles on the surface and droplets hanging from above and wondered what was going on. Then I realised that you had just washed it out and I was seeing water and soap. The laminated frame looks in excellent shape, no signs of any separation in the frame or between the frame and backbone.

New shaft anodes fitted

I discovered that two shaft anodes last more than twice as long as one, so the fitting of two per haul out is now standard on this boat.

The Max Prop Classic has been spray coated with International Paints Prop O Drev antifoul, in aerosol cans and highly recomended, as it works!

While the cost to genuine zinc anodes has risen in recent years, so has the cost of the bronze propellor they protect, saving money on anodes is not worth the saving.

Hint, when you fit the shaft anodes ensure the shaft is clean stainless and not painted or has oil or grease on it. Tighten the screws into the nuts in stages and tap the anodes sides as you go, the anode will sit tighter to the shaft then.

Roy

New anode fitting on a steel keel box

Dix Design www.dixdesign.com provides the drawing to make the Dix 43 keel box in steel.  In the case of one wood/epoxy  boat the keel shoe is 1.1mtrs, high and 4.4 mtrs, long and around 430mm wide at the top of the keel. It weighs one ton and the internal cast lead five tons.

'This zinc anode can be re used but as the new one had been purchased, that one  went on anyway.

This anode weighs four kgs, the one it has replaced was the same and had lost just 80 grams in two and a half years in the water.

The stud below the anode is a drain out plug to remove the fluid (diesel) from the tank area in the keel box.

Note the hole in the zinc, that was drilled out using a new 32mm flat bit and a large electric drill.

There are some alloy anodes on the market, they sell for less but will do less and not last as long!

Roy