AIS antenna spliter for the Watchmate AIS

Tony was installing the antenna spliter to his Watchmate AIS today,this box is a clever bit of kit,it means you can still use your existing masthead VHF antenna for transmission on VHF but also send and receive with the AIS,plus,this unit allows you to also receive FM AND AM radio signals too,what a bonus.

The Argie 10

Picture credits,all taken from the Dix Design web site.



This was Dudleys first venture into mass produced dinghy design,free plans were issued in the evening news paper The Argus,many must have been built at that time,its still a very good design.Light enough to carry on a small cars roof rack carrier but large enought to carry four adults with ease,sail,row or motor power,its happy with any of the three.

The Dixi Dinghy

We have found this boat is being looked at more and more,while its our smallest kit boat its also a big load carrier,its fine under motor and sail its also low priced at R3299 for the base kit plus plans.divide by 7.5 to get to a U$ price.
Sergey Kravchenko made a nice job building his Dixi Dinghy in Khabarovsk on the River Amur in Eastern Russia.

Dixi Dinghy Tender.

Dixi Dinghy sailing.




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The Pink Boat

This is new to me,pink paint primer,the boat is a Cape Cutter 19 we supplied as a kit to Ian in Picton,New Zealand,Ian is close to being ready to do a final fill and sand,having a primer of another colour is no bad idea,it allows you to moniter the coats that follow,as in white on white can be hard to see? for fairing and finding those high spots,a very light mist of grey or black can work wonders,as soon as you apply a sander block,the darker colour comes off but the hollows and bumps are exposed,its an auto trade trick,try it and see.

Traditional mast repairs

Traditional style,Steve raises his new top mast on Dixi Rollar,the original wood one having snapped off while on a trial sail in the bay prior to sailing off to Brasil,the new spar is painted steel,Steve tells me its is painted,he tried a steel section that was hot dip galvanised,it was a fair bit heavier than a bare steel section,so painting with marine grade paints made sense to Steve.
Left click pictures to see full size and just how casual Steve is up high in his rigging!

The Shipwreck

We have been 'gifted' a fine model of an old sailing boat,at some time it was mostly fully rigged but seems to have hit quite a storm in later years,its time to raise its top masts again and make her look a little more presentable,the deck fittings are fantastic,tiny bronze,rigging screws,cannon,anchor,propellor,lots more,check her out in my office next time your in the area.Thanks to Lars off Redfin for the gift.

Roy
Left click the picture to see more detail.

Flying Cloud from aloft

Ten years old today,the boat was/is a one off,Dudley Dix drew the hull and deck lines but in steel,later designed the steel keel shoe and balanced rudder assemblies,I built the boat and added the center coach roof,later the hard dodger,the end result was very pleasing.She is one ton lighter than the original steel design,with a 50/50 weight split on the keel to boat when launched,so always sails well,even though the boats mast is 1.7 meters shorter than designed.The hull took me six weeks only to build on my own,excepting a little help in the first few days setting up the bulkheads.We can offer CNC cut bulkheads to this Dix 43 design.

A birthday boats mast head vista

A general view from the top of Flying Clouds masthead looking towards the village of Hout Bay,thats the back of Table Mountain in the distance.The marina is accesed from the north mole,the HBYC is located at the other end on the land,its behind that fish factory with the blue roof.
Left click pictures to view full size,pics by R McBride using a Canon G11 on auto setting.

Flying Cloud from the masthead

The view from the top of this Dix 43 is great,the boat is wood/epoxy,now ten years old today,thats January 17th 2000 that it was launched,time to get the flags out!

The Didi 34 by Dix Design,yacht Nandi being launched.

One of the best designs in a kit package,this boat has it all,its ocean capable,you can build it yourself,even the keel and Dudley Dix supplies you a set of plans to make a hollow box section mast,it has a batt car track with carbon spreaders,we can supply the mast and boom as a kit too.

Watchmate AIS by Vesper Marine arrives in South Africa

Tony,a visiting Australian yachtsman and world cruiser, is full of smiles after installing his new Watchmate AIS by Vesper Marine,we did a direct import for Tony,he supplied his yachts registration and required MMSI number and Vesper Marine did the pre programing at their factory,you can program yourself if required.

The local magazine Sailing has a feature on AIS in their January issue,its in two parts,this one is four pages long,Ausi Bray tested Watchmate,NASA,SR161 (new to me) and Winradio G305e,which needs a plotter.

There were two tests in different locations,NASA was excluded from both sets of results due to a fault?

Tests were done in Australia.

Test one in Botany Bay gave a result as below.

SR161 42%
Watchmate 94%
Winradio 32%

Test two in Careel Bay

SR161 54%
Watchmate 100%

Its probably a bit simplistic to only view the final percentage but very interesting all the same.

Jessica climbs her mountain!

JESSICA CONQUERS CAPE HORN!
Wednesday, 13 January 2010 (10.00pm AEDT)

We are incredibly proud to announce that Jessica Watson has conquered the Mount Everest of the maritime world by rounding Cape Horn this evening at 8.40pm (AEDT), doing so in 40 knot winds, mist, drizzle and a bumpy 4 metre sea.

However, the miserable conditions have not dampened the spirits of this inspirational 16 year old who is having the time of her life out there!

The predicted gales hit as scheduled today and Jessica has been sailing in 30-40 knot winds for the past 24 hours, but they are expected to abate soon as she heads north east towards the Falklands.

Jessica has now sailed 9,800nm on day 88 of her solo circumnavigation as she approaches the half way mark of her journey. Whilst there is much work still to do for Jessica, this day is one she will never forget.

Fnally, a huge thank you to all the loyal bloggers for your wonderful contributions to Jessica’s journey to date. The image below is a tribute to Jessica and her team on behalf of all the bloggers, from blogger Samurai (Sam).

More detailed updates on Jessica’s rounding will be posted tomorrow (AEDT

Thailand,skipper your own boat.

This boat is Outcast,built in Thailand from plans,we make life and building a lot simpler by offering a full CNC kit,designed by Angelo Lavranos,this boat is a winner.

Jessica Watson closes on Cape Horn

Jessica has a Watchmate AIS on her boat.


Wednesday, January 13, 2010
A Stones Throw from the Cape!

With the wind gusting to 35knots Ella's Pink Lady is really surfing away the last 80nm to Cape Horn. It's looking like we'll be rounding the Cape first thing tomorrow morning, super exciting! Fingers crossed that the cloud lifts a little and I get a half decent view as we sail past.

Up in Punta Arenas (Chile), Mum and Dad are getting ready to take off later today and will be circling around overhead in a plane. We'll be able to chat over the VHF radio so looking forward to that.

Also, boats from both the Chilean Navy and Argentinian Navy are expected to swing by to give us a wave. It's been over a month since I've seen another boat and almost 3 months since I've seen another person, so I feel totally thrilled and spoiled to have so many guests all at once! I was extra careful brushing my hair this morning, (which is of course completely pointless in this wind!).

The other exciting news is that I heard from Dilip that he and Mhadei rounded the Cape ahead of us and are now on course to the Falklands to sort out his steering problems.

Anyway, there's plenty happening and things that need my attention out here, so I'm going to sign off for now.

Jesse
Posted by Jessica Watson at 7:03 AM JESSICA PREPARING FOR MORE STRONG WINDS BEFORE ROUNDING THE CAPE
Tuesday, 12 January 2010 (9.10pm AEDT)

As Jessica prepares to round the infamous Cape Horn, she may first have to face more gale force winds over the next 24 hours, the result of a low pressure system to the south of her current position.

Jessica is currently 150 nautical miles from Cape Horn, sailing in winds of 20 knots and a 3-4 metre swell. She is well prepared for the possible and excited about rounding the Cape.

“It is only 20 knots at the moment, but it looks like we may get some stronger winds before we round the Cape. But Ella’s Pink Lady is doing fine and we are in good shape for whatever conditions we may face,” said Jessica.

Despite the forecast of strong winds during the next 24 hours, the good news is that conditions are expected to improve as she rounds the Cape.

On current predictions, it is expected Jessica will achieve one of her dreams and round the Cape at some stage on Thursday morning (AEDT). Note her currnent position is 14 hours behind AEDT.

-END-

Watchmate AIS arrives in Cape Town

Watchmate AIS by Vesper Marine are available from CKD Boats cc,contact roy@ckdboats.com

This Tony,a cruising yachtsman from Australia,on yacht Ragin Cajun,he wintered over in Hout Bay and will soon be ready to sail to warmer waters north of here,he will be using his RX/TX Watchmate AIS by Vesper Marine to both track ships and be tracked himself,Jeff of Vesper Marine in New Zealand pre programed Tonys AIS for him,it is owner programable if you want to do it yourself.