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.

Auto Pilot Hydraulic Ram wanted

Does anyone have a ram suitable for a 43ft yacht,linear drive and hydraulic prefered,new or used and at a decent price please.

Commercial Lumber timber suppliers

A gentlemans yacht.



Athol washing the dishes.



A nice interior

CKD Boats cc was formed out of what is best called a parent company called Commercial Lumber cc,which in its self was formed one night at anchor in Trinidad, when I realised that the wide group of exotic timbers being grown and sold locally,would make a nice base for a timber sales company when and if I ever got back to Cape Town, where I had just sailed from on, my Peter Ibold design Endurance 37 named Ocean Cloud.What happened later was the growth of a very small but special timber sales shop,both local and imported timbers,our stock list just grew and grew,we moved into plywoods,regular and bending plys, epoxies and other glues as time went by.

The timber species were based on marine use to start but soon moved to local commerce and building types,some being:

Pine,Meranti,Ash,Beech,Teak (plantation too) Kahya Mahogany,Honduras Mahogany,Karri,Blackwood,Red Cedar,its this last species that was chosen to fit out two Shearwater 45 yachts that Frazer Marine built,seen in these pictures with a rather dark red stain,the real colour of this type of Cedar is a pale pink,the latin name is Cedrela Mexicana Roem,also known as Spanish or Mexican Cedar.

As time moved on we became suppliers to such boat yards as,Stremple Marine,Southern Wind Shipyard,Robertson and Caine,Fortuna Marine,St Francis Marine,Matrix,Longmeadow Marine,Wilbur Ellis Co,Portnet,SA Navy,Sterling Yachts,Sentinal Boats,plus many others,our specialist selection and understanding of how to cut teak decking saw that we supplied a very large segment of the marine trade when teak decking was involved,we still undertake this work today and while our timber stocks now are more appropriate to our CKD kits,we do still import specialist timbers to order.

Nelson would not approove,the tiny 2" cannon balls are useless

I have no idea what this boat is all about,excepting its built on the GRP hull that was designed by the well known designer Angelo Lavranos,its plastic of course,I assume it is destined for the tourist trade,mabye the film industry too.Nelsons ship the Victory will still outlast this!

The Anna Woolf Story

To the best of my mind its never been writen,for sure its a film waiting to happen,Anna has been round the world at least one and a half times and she is out there again on another boat she built with very little help,this one is steel,the first time I saw her was when she was building her 44ft ferro cement yacht in the car park of the RCYC here in Cape Town,that was around 1975? with that built,she sailed to Scotland to argue in court for the custody of her two small sons,she won too,ask her the rest of the story if you meet her?

Wooden boats,how long will they last?

The question 'How long will a wooden boat last' is not a new one to me,I have a picture of the Victory on my office wall,I normally point at that and mention that that one is about 230 years old? to be serious,wood can last an incredible amount of time,the Vassa is a point in case,some of the Californian Redwoods are over 2000 years old too!If we are to be serious,many yachts see a half centuary and more,the plywood RCOD designs are at least forty years old now and this was well before the days of epoxies and polyurethane paints,we are so used to them now,we probably think they have been with us forever?

note: a customer told me her father completed his last year in the Royal Navy at Portsmouth,he was signed on to the crew of the Victory as a thank you gift from his officers,imagine your navy CV having HMS Victory on it! she also said quietly,not a single orginal plank exists from the boat that was built 230 years back (now you know)

Lowe and Halversons last wooden trawler build?

Brer Terrapin,RCYC Small Craft Basin,with the RCYC club house in the background, the picture is from a postcard,circa 1973



The logo of the Traditional Boat Association,which is based in Cape Town,its members are world wide.

Cape Towns TBA was founded around 1993 to keep the memory and spirit of traditional craft alive,membership is inexpensive and open to all,a monthly newsletter is issued and dicussion groups meet on the last thursday of each month,normally with guest speaker.You will find them at www.tba.org


This I can not be sure of,I took the picture from the deck of Brer Terrapin,a yacht I sailed to Brasil in in 1976,I was away a year,in that time another such boat may have been built but I never observed one after my return from the Sudan.At this time the vessel is un named but someone will know her name,the name Hesko was mentioned,she was lost but I dont think this is the same boat,does anyone know?
The boat was taken out of a shed in parts,it then was assembled as you see,this took days to raise the keel,then the frames,it was a awe inspiring event to witness,thats the slopes of Table Mountain and Woodstock in the background.

Jul 1974 Hesko Fishing Vessel 66 South Africa Off Henties Bay Sank, lost

The above is proof that my picture is not the Hesko,as she was lost before my picture was taken?

Argie 15 boat kit,delivery to Alan.

For a change this one is a local delivery,thats why my Ford 1600i delivery truck is in the picture,Alan works shifts,he is stuck with spare time during the day when he is on nights,so taking a Dix Design Argie 15ft as a nice project was his good idea,his wife did complain that the lawns around the house never got cut any more but thats another issue! Alan sure made a good job of the boats build,he did it quickly too,about six weeks and he was then painting it I seem to remember?

A few words from the designer,Dudley Dix,

Alan Armstrong buit his Argie 15 in our home town of Hout Bay, South Africa. He started from a hull kit supplied by "CKD Boats" and did a beautiful job.

Pacifc Ocean Marshall Island Didi 26 kit order

This is what you can build with local stuff,if you need a larger boat try a CKD Boats kit!


We have done many shipments to the pacific,I suspect the reason is there is just so little there by way of marine stores!We have also shipped none boat kits,anything that you need,just ask.

A collection of islands sparkling like diamonds on a turquoise velvet sea-rug.
The Marshall Islands comprises over a thousand flat coral islands of white sand beaches and turquoise lagoons. There's pristine diving and lush tropical greenery, and the Marshallese people retain many of their pre-colonial crafts and traditions, especially on the outer islands

Johnston Island Kit Order

Johnston Island from the air,now disused and I believe has become a sanctuary.



Charles has managed to recieve his kit.



International Paints supplied the right paints for the job,its the stack in front of Clinton and Tim.

Where you may ask is that? well its as far away as a piece of land can possibly exist from the City of Cape Town where we work from,it is about 170 miles from Honolulu and in the Pacific Ocean.We sent Charles a complete Didi 38 boat kit,what started as the bulkheads and related timber and plys,eventually became all and anything we could jointly think of,paints,mast and sails,engine,deck and interior fitings,elctronics,we did our best to fill a 20ft container for Charles!The picture shows him when he had opened the container,its not as neat and tidy as when we packed it as it was transhipped but still arrived in good condition and all found to be correct and present,we had a surveyor check off each item as it was loaded in Cape Town.

Geography Johnston Atoll
Location: Oceania, atoll in the North Pacific Ocean 717 nm (1328 km) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii, about one-third of the way from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands
Geographic coordinates: 16 45 N, 169 31 W
Map references: Oceania
Area: total: 2.8 sq km
land: 2.8 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative: about 4.7 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC