Howdy Bailey Boatbuilder with a Difference

Howdy Bailey is a long-time friend, from long before we moved to USA. Howdy had bought plans from me for the Pratique 35 and we visited him in Norfolk, Virginia, on our first trip to USA in 1983. I was a young designer, not yet through with my studies at Westlawn School of Yacht Design (now named Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology) and was totally unknown. Yet, based solely on the design that he had bought from me and a few hours chatting over dinner, Howdy Bailey had the confidence in me to commission the design of a 64ft charter yacht that was to be built for a consortium in Norfolk. That design is the Dix 64 and the boat was launched and went into the St Thomas charter trade as "Rising Sun".

Dix 64 "Rising Sun" shows off her exquisite finish.Howdy Bailey in the red shirt.

"Rising Sun" was beautifully built in steel, finished in flag blue Awlgrip that displayed her blemish-free surfaces to perfection. Rigged as a staysail schooner for ease of handling by a small crew, she surprised all who sailed on her with her speed under sail and characteristics.

Over the years and on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Howdy Bailey and I maintained a lasting friendship and worked together on many projects. They included the Echo 38 cruising tug "Echo" and the Little Creek 47 "Flutterby", now owned by Howdys son Dylan Bailey.

"Echo" at home on a backwater of Chesapeake Bay.

Little Creek 47 "Flutterby" waiting to start a Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race

Howdy was instrumental also in me receiving the commission to design "Sabbatical II" as a custom design for a local businessman and friend. Howdy and his very capable crew turned her into a work of art, with beautiful detailing of a complicated boat.

The ketch-rigged "Sabbatical II" sailing in sloop configuration.

I have always thought of "Howdy" as a nickname, maybe short for Howard or some other name. Not so long ago I asked him what his real name is and he replied "Howdy". He was named Howdy at birth. Howdys interesting name carries through to him being one of the most interesting people that I have had the pleasure of knowing in the boating industry. He no longer builds boats and instead works in the marine service industry. He and his small crew take on service work of all types, from rebuilding joinery to rerigging and new plumbing or mechanicals. Whatever you need done to bring your boat back to pristine condition, Howdy and his guys can do it. Custom metalwork is their specialty, able to produce aluminium and stainless items to a very high standard. They are currently completing the keel/engine support structure in steel for the Didi 950 being built in Ohio.

Howdy also has great community spirit. He introduced me to some surfing friends a year or two after we arrived in Virginia Beach and I joined their very informal Iguana Surf Club. Every year this club hosts a fun day on the beach as a fundraiser for the Norfolk-based Childrens Hospital of the Kings Daughters, with surf contest, fun events and a big party afterwards. The past few years Howdy Bailey has really come through with large amounts of cash that has been donated by his customers and local businesses toward the fundraiser. Howdy has a big heart.

Ever since we met, he has done business from various buildings near to Cobbs Marina at Little Creek, an inlet off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. It was always an interesting place to visit, with all kinds of fascinating bits and pieces hung on the walls or suspended from the roof. Howdy is a collector, not of "stuff" but of "interesting stuff". His workshop just wasnt big enough to display all of his eclectic collection.

City codes have now forced a relocation and Howdy Bailey Yacht Services has moved into a larger shop at 7527 Avenue J, Norfolk. This has much more open space and it has been put to good use to show off Howdys collection of toys, bicycles, boats, signs, classic cars, old tools and a host of other things. The heavy items are on the floor and lighter items are hanging from the roof or along the walls. Even if you have no interest in boats or quality metalwork, Howdy Bailey Yacht Services is an interesting place to visit.

Main entrance to Howdy Bailey Yacht Services

Howdy in red shirt and Larry Foster, long-time colleague.

View of the shop from the front entrance.

Lots to look at, in every direction.

Howdy and I go back a long way and I look forward to continuing that way for many years to come. If you have some boat work that needs doing by competent people, visit Howdys shop or call him on 757-480-0058.

To see more of our designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/.

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Stability with Water Ballast

A potential builder of the Didi 950 asked me a question about stability with water ballast. He could not find an explanation on the Internet describing the effects of water ballast on a boat when capsized, so here it is.

After looking at the stability curve, he was concerned that the stability curve with water ballast to windward, the normal position for sailing in strong winds, has a very large area of negative stability. He wanted to know how that affects the time that the boat will take to right itself if capsized. This is a natural question following the amount of discussion that has been happening after our recent capsize in the Didi 38 "Black Cat" and the very rapid manner in which she returned to upright.

Shown below is the stability graph of the Didi 950 in fully loaded condition; click on the diagram to enlarge it. This is the condition of lowest stability due to the inclusion of crew, stores, liquids and many other weights that are above the centre of gravity (CG) of the boat. There are three curves shown. When looking at the graph, consider that the area enclosed by each curve above the horizontal 0 line is a measure of the energy that is required to take the boat from upright to the point of vanishing stability (AVS) where the curve crosses the 0 line. Until the AVS is reached, the boat will return to upright if no additional heeling force is applied to it.  Beyond the AVS the boat will continue to full capsize unless there is another force being applied that will return it to the positive side of the AVS.

The green curve is with ballast tanks empty, so akin to sailing a boat that has no water ballast. This curve is very similar in form to that of "Black Cat", with the area enclosed by the curve above the 0 line many times greater than the area enclosed by the curve below the 0 line. She would right herself very quickly with no water ballast. The red curve is with the windward ballast tanks filled, good for powering to windward or power-reaching in strong conditions. The blue curve is with the leeward ballast tanks filled. One would not sail her like this but it is a situation that could result from an accidental gybe in strong winds.

Didi 950 Stability Graph. Click to enlarge.

With no wind or waves and the ballast tanks on one side filled, the boat will not rest upright. It will heel over until it stabilises at a heel angle that places the CG vertically in line with the centre of buoyancy (CB). That will be the nearest crossing of the curve with the 0 line, which is at 5 degrees in this case, seen on the blue curve. Add some wind to bring the boat to 0 degrees heel and the righting moment that is working is the point where the red curve hits the left edge of the graph. Without water ballast the boat must heel to 6 degrees to reach the same righting moment. That is where the power benefit is coming from with water ballast, the boat will sail more upright than with empty tanks, in the same wind strength.

Note that all three curves are closely bunched when the boat is heeled 90 degrees. This is a knock-down situation, probably from losing control when driving hard downwind under spinnaker. The mast is horizontal but not in the water. This bunching of the curves at 90 degrees is because of the position of the ballast tanks in this design, low in the boat fairly close to the vertical CG. There would be a bigger spread if the tanks were located high up under the deck.

The red curve shows the benefit of increased righting moment when the windward tank is filled. There is considerably greater gain in stability shown by the red curve than lost stability, shown by the blue curve, when ballast is on the wrong side.

All three curves show that the wind alone cant capsize the boat. When the mast hits the water there is still considerable righting moment available for all three situations. If the boat is in large waves and hit by a big one while knocked flat, the added energy from the wave can capsize the boat in all three situations. 

It seems counter-intuitive but the condition most likely to invert the boat under wave action after a knock-down is with the water ballast to windward (red), i.e. the condition in which the boat will be sailed in strong winds. This is because after the water ballast passes beyond the point where it is vertically above the overall CG of the boat that extra weight is on the wrong side of the CG and is helping to capsize the boat rather than to bring it back to upright. It pulls the red curve below the green curve and reduces the AVS from 133 degrees to 122 degrees. 

Overall it takes more energy to capsize the boat from upright with water ballast than without, evaluated by comparing the area enclosed by the red curve with the area enclosed by the green curve. When the area enclosed by the blue curve is compared with the green curve, there is very little difference. It will take a similar amount of energy to capsize the boat without water ballast and with water ballast on the wrong side, when going from upright. Ironically, the wrong side has the greatest amount of reserve stability after a knock-down and has the greatest angle of AVS, so it is the condition least likely to capsize after a knock-down.

Back to our capsizing boat. Once past 122 degrees it is into a big range of negative stability that shows as the area enclosed by the red curve below the 0 line, taking it all the way to 180 degrees, i.e. totally upside-down. But see that the curve does not return to 0 at 180 degrees, which means that it is unstable at that angle. Same as happens when the boat is upright, the water ballast off to one side prevents the boat from resting at the 180 degree position. It has to rotate to where the CG is vertically aligned with the inverted CB. That is at the point where the curve crosses the 0 line. If the red curve is extended to the zero line it will be to the same angle that the blue curve crosses,  i.e. 160 degrees.
 

There is no windward or leeward when the boat is upside-down, the sails are under water. The boat is stable in the 160 degree position, so leaning 20 degrees to one side of upside-down. It needs to get past the nearest zero crossing to come back to upright. The boat doesnt care which way it goes. It needs a lot of energy to go back the way that it came along the red curve but very little energy to get to the 140 degree AVS crossing of the blue curve. With the motion from just a small wave it will continue past that 140 degree point. Once that point is passed, the righting moment of the blue curve takes control and will return her to upright. If the rig is still standing then the sails will fill and she will be back into the stability situation shown by the red curve. She has capsized along the red curve and righted herself along the blue curve.

In essence, it will take a lot less energy for the boat to right itself with water ballast than without, so she should right herself more quickly with the water ballast. The difference is that without water ballast she can go either way from inverted to upright but with water ballast she has to go full circle.

To visit our website, go to http://dixdesign.com/

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Didi Sport 15 A Family Boat with Juice

Some of my supporters have been waiting for this boat for a long time. I have posted sneak previews of the Didi Sport 15 (or DS15) but the design was taking its time to reach completion. It was leap-frogged in the design queue by designs that were much more demanding of my time.

Now the plans are complete aside from some minor details and the prototype is into the final stages of build. This boat is looking very good, with interesting finishes and excellent standard of finish. The builder is creating a work of art of which he will be justifiably very proud.

This design, like the Didi 950 that I introduced last week, is a development from the Didi Mini Mk3. It has a modern hull shape with topside chine aft, built from plywood.

Didi Sport 15 hull, radius chine with topside chine.

The concept of the DS15 is a boat that can be stable and safe for family sailing and raid type racing, exciting as a little ballasted sportboat and super-fast as an unballasted trapeze dinghy. Choose your style of sailing or switch back-and-forth depending on conditions or who will be sailing with you.

Didi Sport 15 rig

The rig combines a reefable square-top mainsail with self-tacking jib, as working sails, with an asymmetrical spinnaker on retracting bowsprit to supercharge it downwind. It also has a light drifter/reacher Genoa for light airs when your wife is aboard and doesnt want the excitement of the asymmetrical.

Didi Sport 15 Prototype, round bilge from plywood.

Didi Sport 15 plywood framework ready for stringers.

It can be built by amateur or professional builders, from plans and offsets, from plans and full-size Mylar patterns or from plans and a CNC plywood kit. Go to our pricelist to order plans or plans and patterns. Go to our USA kits page to order a kit of all plywood components, accurately cut by CNC router.

Please visit our website at http://dixdesign.com/ for more info on this and our other designs.

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A lovely little daysail with my Daughter

Blake Island is a lovely little Marine State Park located 8 miles West of downtown Seattle.  The island has an interesting history.  It was an ancestral camping ground of the Suquamish Indian tribe.  Legend has it that Chief Seattle was born there. Capt George Vancouver noted the small round island in his journal in 1792 during his exploration of the area, but didnt bother naming it. It was later surveyed and named Blake Island in 1841, but local settlers referred to it as Smugglers Island. Shortly thereafter the island was logged until its timber was exhausted, abandoned, and neglected until the banks foreclosed on the loggers.  Around the turn of the century it was sold to the wealthy Trimble family who renamed it Trimble island. They built a mansion and a beautiful estate where they lived until 1923, when Mrs Trimble died in a freak accident. The Trimble family abandoned the estate. Once again, smugglers, this time in the form of bootleggers and rumrunners, used the island during Prohibition.  It was rumored to be used as an ammo dump and a unit of the Coastal Artillery of the US Army was garrisoned in the Trimble mansion.  After they left, the mansion was gradually plundered, vandalized and finally burned down in the 40s by two High School students who camped there in a home-made 16 boat.  The neglected island was traded to an investment company. After the war, developers expressed an interest in building a luxury resort hotel on the island, but it was traded for timber instead to Washington State where it was turned into a State park. Tillicum Village, a popular tourist attraction featuring Indian arts, culture and food , was added in 1962.  Today, about 100,000 people visit this lovely little island every year.

Last Saturday my Daughter Heather and I were two of those visitors.  We launched Ellie and headed for Blake under beautiful blue skies and 5-10kt winds. We knew we couldnt linger long on Blake because the forecast was for bad weather to move in that evening.

Heathers little dog "Spud" was very excited to come along. He enjoyed every minute of the hour long sail across the Sound.

Nearing Blake Island

The Indian longhouse of Tillicum Village behind the breakwater.

We tied up in the marina and went ashore. Blake Island was buzzing with activity. The entire shoreline was covered with dozens of tents belonging to Cub Scout Pack 144, there for a three day campout.  They were having a blast building driftwood forts and fishing off the docks for pile perch.

The tour boat Argosy dropped off tourists at Tillicum Village while we ate lunch and a steady stream of pleasure boaters filled the marina for the weekend.


After lunch we set out to explore the island.

We were only able to stay for a few hours.  Storm clouds were starting to gather so we headed back towards Seattle.  With the wind picking up, this was a great opportunity for Heather to do some sailing.

The Space Needle served as a great navigational aid

Meanwhile, Spud found a nice cozy spot to take a nap.

 

It was a wonderful little daysail to one of our favorite local spots. We hope to do it again soon.

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Migrating South with The Geese

There will be some disruptions in our normal service over the next few weeks. We will be away from the office while we fly with the very sensible migrating geese from the cold northern hemisphere into the summery south. I will be skippering the Didi 38  "Black Cat" in the 2014 Cape to Rio Race, which starts from Cape Town, South Africa, on 4th January. Dehlia will be in Cape Town also, to wave goodbye and to have a well-deserved holiday.

That means that the entire staff will be away from the office for a few weeks.  We will do what we can to minimise disruptions for our supporters.

Printed Orders
We can supply printed orders that are placed up to 11th December. Any printed orders received on 12th December or later will be supplied after Dehlia returns on 15th January.

Email Orders
Email orders will be supplied throughout the break. The process may slow down a bit but you will receive your order by email within a day or two. Items that can be supplied by email are study packs for most of the larger designs and plans for the Dixi Dinghy, Argie 10 and Argie 15.

If you will be in the wintery north, think of us in the sunny south. You can follow the progress of "Black Cat" and the other boats in the fleet across 3250 nautical miles of open ocean. There will be electronic trackers onboard all of the boats that will allow you to keep updated at  2014 Cape to Rio Race.

I will be back sometime during the first week of February.

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Messing About with Oysters

Yesterdays TSCA Hood Canal Oyster Messabout at Twanoh State Park was absolutely wonderful, with good friends, perfect weather, a variety of boats, and five dozen enormous, delicious oysters.

Marty Loken and Marjiann (Mojo) Moss who operate Island Boatshop, debuted their 1955 Bill Garden-designed Port Madison Pram, recently refinished and ready for its first sail in a few decades. Port Madison Prams, Marty explained, were designed by William Garden for members of the sail-only Port Madison Yacht Club, whose members wanted a sail-training boat for youngsters and a boat adults could race on weekends. The prams are 13-6" and resemble an El Toro on steroids, with tons of volume-per-foot.

Tom and Susanne Regan who operate Grapeview Point boat works brought their shellback dinghy.  This dinghy is fast!  We spent a good part of the day trying to catch up with them.

Doryman Mike Bogoger brought his Ken Basset Firefly Finesse. Finesse is a beautiful boat, but unfortunately Mike had some technical difficulty with his oarlocks (he, uh, sorta forgot em). Mike had some limited success with a borrowed set of oars and oarlocks but unfortunately we were not able to witness Finesses full potential. I pounced on the opportunity and invited Doryman to come sail Ellie with me, and he accepted much to my delight.

Randy Jones brought his Core Sound 17, which he later loaded up with a crowd of TSCA members.

Bob Hancock brought the fiberglass sloop that hes been working on over the winter.

Boats were rigged and launched by 11:00 and we all enjoyed a lively sail.

Then it was time to get down to business. Time for some serious oyster shucking.  These oysters were huge and they put up one helluva fight..

We eventually won and let me tell you, these were the most delicious raw and pan fried oysters ever!

After the oyster feed, it was time for another terrific sail.  Conditions had improved even more, if thats even possible, from the mornings sail with a bit more wind and sunshine. With Doryman at the helm, we set out to find Marty in his Port Madison pram to get some action shots.  We couldnt find them, so we tried instead to catch Tom and Suzanne in their speedy shellback.

I sure hope we can do this messabout again next year!

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Argie 15 A Boat with Multiple Personalities

The Argie 15 is our most popular design, with about 50 plans sold to builders worldwide every year. I designed it in 1988 for the Argus newspaper group in South Africa, for publication of the full plans in their newspapers around the country. The prototype was built by journalist David Biggs, who wrote their weekly DIY supplement, in which the drawings were first published. It has also been published in magazines in Australia and USA, with amateurs able to build from the articles. We can only record plan sales and have no idea how many have been built from those publications.

Newly launched Argie 15 prototype, Dudley at helm.

The Argie 15 started life as a large 3:1 dinghy, able to be rowed, sailed or motored. The design brief was for as large a dinghy as could be built from 6 sheets of plywood. To that I added the ability to be used for camp-cruising, so I laid out the cockpit to give enough length and width for two adults to sleep on air mattresses in the cockpit, under a boom tent.

Over the years that followed, many builders added side seats to make it more comfortable to sail than was possible with the thwart-type seating of the original design. Eventually I added information to the drawings for building with full-length side seats, which added another two sheets of plywood. These also increase safety for sailing in rougher water by reducing splash water entering the cockpit and adding flotation. For camp-cruising, the seats add watertight stowage compartments for clothing and food.

The Argie 15 has proven to be a very versatile boat, well beyond the scope of the original design. It was intended as a large open boat for family fun but has proven capable of so much more.

This photo of Nick Fairleys boat shows the capacity of the Argie 15 pretty well.

The late Colin Farlam, a larger-than-life character around the yacht clubs of Cape Town, liked to tell the story of his first sail in an Argie 15. He was visiting a friend at Zeekoevlei, the lake where I grew up and did most of my small boat sailing. The Zeekoevlei Yacht Club fleet was on the water, racing in quite strong conditions. There was an Argie 15 on the lawn and the friend said "Come, lets go race the Fireballs". Colins response was "We cant race them in that". They did "race them in that" and Colin was shocked. He told me that they could hold the Fireballs on all headings except that they sailed a fraction lower to windward. Not bad for a 3:1 family dinghy. But this 3:1 family dinghy can pick up its skirts and fly like no 3:1 family dinghy is supposed to do. Colin immediately bought one for himself and later declared to me that the Argie 15 was the best dinghy that he had ever sailed.

The Argie 15 has classic styling, with a springy sheer and good freeboard. That makes it a dry boat in lumpy water and well-suited to fishing in moderate coastal conditions. This was the plan of Pete Frielinnghaus when he fitted a centre console and 30hp outboard to his Argie 15. He reports that it can do more than 20 knots. Pretty good for a 3:1 family dinghy.

Pete Frielinghaus in his Argie 15 centre console fishing boat.

 After the 2004 tsunami, I was approached by a church organisation from California, asking if I had a design that could be used to help replace the decimated subsistence fishing fleets. I donated the Argie 15 design for as many boats as they needed to build. They cut plywood component kits and supplied the kits plus all other materials needed, as well as training, to allow fishermen to build the boats on the beach in India. I have no idea how many were built this way.

The Argie 15 would be a great boat for raid-type adventure sailing events. It has the load capacity to carry the crew plus stores, camping gear etc. It is fast enough to get there ahead of most of the competition. It is light enough to be portaged over short distances or trailed on a dolly for longer overland legs.

I have been promising myself for years that I will build an Argie 15 for myself. Somehow there has always been some other project or adventure in the way, so it hasnt happened. This would be a good boat to take to the Wooden Boat Show at Mystic Seaport. I must pull finger and build one to take to the show in the next year or two.

Construction is the most basic of basic boatbuilding methods, stitch-&-glue plywood. It uses 6mm plywood that is jointed mostly with fibreglass tape and resin. This method sometimes produces rather boxy shapes but the Argie 15 manages to be quite elegant. It can be built from plans only, with components drawn full-size from dimensioned diagrams on the drawings. An optional extra is to order full-size patterns that save the measuring work by supplying printed patterns of the components, for the builder to transfer onto the plywood.

Pre-cut kits of all plywood components are also available from suppliers in a few countries. Our USA kits are cut and shipped by Chesapeake Light Craft in Annapolis but must be ordered from us direct. For suppliers in other countries go to our kits page.

There are many sailing videos on-line of the Argie 15. A new one by Justin Philips of Nick Fairleys new Argie 15 sailing in about 12 knots of breeze, shows how responsive and quick it is, tacking on a tickey and accelerating very quickly out of turns. http://youtu.be/gNFx8FHGiww

To see our full range of designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/ .

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Yachts with keels

Heres a bunch of boats that have caught my fancy. There are so many similar fiberglass production sailboats out and about today I just kind of glaze over when seeing them. The anchorages here today are filled with these boats, lots of catamarans, with a sprinkling custom and one off built boats.

A well built Swedish Bruce Roberts steel ketch.

Vintage Swedish double ended sloop. 

Wow, love this creation.

Nice French very wide ultralight aluminum deep keel sloop. This boat is at least 15 beam with an open transom and cabin entrance. I dont think this boat would survive a knock down.

Simple sturdy steel French one off 

Old steel French steel ketch. When the sails furl up into a Zig Zag size you know its been around for a long time.

Contemporary Swedish double ender with every thing that can be added to a boat. Sheesh

British Twister design, being sailed by 4 very big young Blond Norwigens . This is a great all round world cruising starter boat. Good for a young couple. Has been sailed every where.

A German steel built and designed sloop. This is a very popular design built by amatures. I have seen about 50 of these one offs in my travels. A young Dutch couple anchored in front of our house last year in one that they had built.

A bigger sisters ship design. Some have bilge keels.

Classic French sloop.

Another Swedish boat that has the illness of buying everything.

We saw this ketch in the Canarys 10 years ago. Good to see them out and about.

Le French aluminum.

A Spirt sloop from England built in wood with a very deep fin keel and torpedo bulb . I raced on this sloop years ago with its owner who is a very eccentric middle aged English women that single hands her sloop about. She was handing out the rum drinks at a fundraising party we went to ashore the first night here. She looked like she has gone native a bit but her yacht is in great nick.

Trying to stay with the British theme here.

When I sailed in the pacific as a kid in the early 70s these kind of boats were all over. Now you see them here and there. 

I have seen this German steel boat years ago. Same gold colored deck.

This is an old California built Coronado 40 sloop redone by Canadians to fit the now norm . These boats were built in the 70s with the original advertizing photos of them with bright yellow cushions and shag carpeting throughout. Glad that era is over. 

This aluminum sloop is a Peter Lavranous design with a 7 draft. When I was single handing down here I could hear Chris Parker the weather forecaster giving this young couple advice on the weather. I only have a reciver.  They were on the same course and track as me but 100 miles behind me. We were both in no wind so were both motoring making our easting. They gave their waypoints every morning so when they were getting close to me I called them up on VHF. We had a nice chat. I ran out of fuel early so they passed me. Three days ago we ended up in the same anchorage. Lots of fun to see each others faces.

Classic French steel sloop.

Another one.

This is a french fiberglass Dufor sloop. This is an excellent starter boat. Can be bought very reasonable in Europe and is a well built and designed fin keel sloop.

I would like to hear this boats tale from itself.

21 mini Transat Pogo Go anywhere if you can mini yacht.

A one person boat.

Open 40 sleds. Very fast off the wind. To weather still fast but very wet, like a sub, pounding like crazy. Needs water ballest to work. I have never been so wet on a monohull as when I crewed on one of these machines.

With someone else at the helm you can put in your earplugs and bury yourself in a bean bag and try to forget about the noise. How these single handlers race in them having to hear whats going on is beyond me. It is like being in a huge cored , ribbed trash can that is being pounded to death. Its just you as these boats are built to take it. 

Long lean one off with the hungry look in the aluminum plating. This sloop left in a good blow reefed right down pounding away to weather. But the cockpit is way aft so maybe no big deal.

These Volvo boats even at the dock touching them feels like a Terrier ready to pounce on a rat. 

So many boats, which one will suit your needs ?

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