Hogfish Maximus sailing photos

Being a photo boat taking pictures of a  Roades 41. Same speed both boats.

Off the Canary Islands doing 7 knots 

Finishing the Carriacou single handed regatta. Mid fleet.

Leaving Barbados for Bequia trying to keep up with Grace May a Prout Catamaran. The boat behind was a Tyanna cutter being single handed around the world. Last leg.

Glen Maxwell with the Matt Layden Paradox design that he built called Zoey. Our dinghy on deck is bigger. Glen and I left a few weeks later sailing the Hogfish to the Azores .

Sailing down wind the other day to the Exumas single handed with Bequia the sea dog.

Exumas

Sailing with Lillian at the helm.

Off Royal island on the way home

Rachel posing next to the ultimate shoal draft sailboat in Denmark . All you do its tilt the 12 keel to the side ,drop the rudders and this sled draws less than Hogfish!

Read More..

An Arctic Tern in Florida

Doesnt seem very likely, does it?

Of course we are talking, once again, about the pretty little double-ender from the pen of Iain Oughtred.

Tim Haney, from St Augustine, Florida, who describes himself variously as a professional boat carpenter and a dyed-in-the-wool boat nut, sent me some photos of a beautiful Tern he built last winter.

"Hi Doryman,
Here are some pictures of my Arctic Tern sailing on Salt Run in St.Augustine a couple of weeks ago. I can’t say enough good things about it. The plans are excellent and if followed closely you can’t go wrong . A long boat is no more difficult than a short one to build and the difference in cost is minimal, however, the rewards are huge."

"I finished the Arctic Tern last February, so have had plenty of time to learn the boat. Its pretty much a solo
rig which is fine because thats how it seems I do most of my sailing. The sail is also made in my shop. Im proud of my first effort."

"The cloth came from Duckworks and I consulted The Sailmakers Apprentice."

Tim is interested in networking with local sailors and we wish him luck with that.

He has one last word of advice for those who have dreamed of building their own boat...

"If any of you are sitting on the fence, all I can say is get going and make some sawdust."


"See you on the water!"
 Tim Haney


Could happen... its cold, wet and drear here in the Pacific Northwest right now and all that warm sun looks really good!
Maybe Tim would let me sail his new boat..........

Read More..

Long Distance in a Bigger Boat

My last post was about people going long distance in small boats and most of my readers know that I am soon to go long distance in a slightly bigger boat. This will be on the Didi 38 "Black Cat".

She is well on the way to being ready, with smaller items like installation of new electronics going on and the major still outstanding items being to tune the rig and test the new sails (which have still to be delivered). She is looking awesome, after a full repaint and new graphics. This 18-year old lady is looking young again.

"Black Cat" with her new paint & graphics.

Preparation of "Black Cat" for her next adventure has been a lengthy process but a worthwhile one. It was unfortunately extended by 2 weeks due to damage sustained at Royal Cape Yacht Club during a gale just after she was relaunched when the repaint had been completed. Cape Town is well known for furious winds and this one apparently gusted to 75 knots in the yacht basin. Some mooring chains holding the marinas broke and "Black Cat" was in the unfortunate position of serving as the meat in a steel sandwich, not good for a plywood boat.

My navigator for this race is Dave Immelman, nicknamed Wavy. Dave has been in charge of the preparations and has done a great job of it. That includes getting the extra work done that resulted from poor "Black Cat" getting squeezed tighter than any lady in a corset. She has been freed, repaired, repainted (again), given the OK by the doctor (scrutineer) and is raring to go.

New Cat logo on port side. Starboard has the butt end.

 This is a boys adventure on which we are embarking. As in 1996 and 2000, "Black Cat" will be the only lady enjoying it with us. That said, we would not be doing it without the support of the other ladies in the lives of all of the crew, namely wives, mothers, daughters and others. They tolerate our passion for boats, adventures and ocean crossings. Maybe some of them look forward to our departure to get us out of their hair, I dont know. I do know that they will be happy to see us again when we return and we will be equally happy to be greeted by them when our adventure is over. We will return home with another big drawer full of images in our memory banks, memories that cannot be equalled by any travel documentary or computer game, no-matter how good the filming or graphics may be.

For those who have never experienced this, it is a big one to add to your bucket list. Having done it 3 times before, I can say that it will take a big bucket if it is to hold other items that are bigger than this one. But you have to have a strong sense of adventure and not be easily scared. If you dont have those qualities you will be petrified at times, incapacitated by sheer terror while your shipmates are enjoying a great roller coaster ride that goes on for 2-4 weeks (depending on the speed of your chosen boat), with no chance of getting off the ride.

We have sailed this boat very hard in the past and the new go-fast goodies on her will help us to do so again. We sail her safely but we do so sometimes at very high speed, with lots of spray flying by and mixed in with flying fish, squid, albatross  and even the occasional sword fish. "The Cat" enjoys it and allows us to enjoy it with her.

Read More..

Design 2207 Swan 50 Motorsailer

This motorsailer design was a departure from Nautors ocean racing bloodlines. Rod Stephens must have had a major hand in the development of this model as he favored the type for cruising. 9 boats were produced during a production run that started in 1976 and ended in 1978.


Heres a design review from Yachting magazine. Please double click for zoom.


Here are the plans.


The molds were later sold to Siltala Yachts of Finland, the plans were modified and the boat was marketed as the Nauticat 52. More about that model in a future posting.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 48-10"
LWL 37-6"
Beam 15-1"
Draft 5-6"
Displacement 51,000 lbs
Ballast 14,500 lbs
Sail Area 1,113 sq ft

Read More..

My love affair with Hogfishes

 People always ask what is a Hogfish and why would you name your boat after one.

When I first sailed to the Bahamas in 1977 spearing a Hogfish was the most sought after goal of all boaters as they are the best tasting fish around. They can be speared relatively easily if they have never been approached before. If they have been shot at and you missed then they can be a challenge to get near for a kill shot. You have to have a kill shot if using a Hawaiian sling or you will loose your spear. 

Spearing them with a pole spear you can just hang on to the rubber and get towed about if your shot is in a solid spot. This has been lots of fun over the years for me.

When I first designed and built the original Hogfish sailing Sharpie yawl I knew it was going to be a different looking sailboat than the norm. I wanted a boat that just fit me with my type of sailing, cruising and lifestyle. With this in mind I needed a good name to go with this new boat. The Hogfish is a goofy looking fish when swimming about the bottom. I has a fearsome looking mouth but these fish are really just big Wrasses that eat crabs, sea biscuits and what ever comes their way. They can change their

body colors in an instant to camouflage themshelfs. When they die they can be very beautiful, like a sunset. 

Following are some pictures of my carved Hogfish and others that have crossed my path.

Carved for Kim Sands in Abaco out of cedar

Carved from a mahogany tree that washed ashore on Powell Cay in Abaco for an American client.

Carved for Dale and Mandy Roberts in Abaco 22 years ago

A female. All Hogfishes are transsexual where as the dominate female will turn into a male and grow the long snout and take over the female harem. I wonder how all the Christian male homophobic spear-fisherman deal with this fact. Can the fish just decide not to change at any time?

About as big as they get.

A stylized one for Bill Hutcherson

Our house with a neighbor. I love the colors here in this shot.

Mahogany with copper "Spriggs" as they call the three dorsale fins here in Spanish Wells. I have seen up to four at times.

Rachel on our front porch awhile back. The trees and bushes are now 10 higher. Our neighbors that have just built a house next door are always asking us to cut them down saying they are blocking their view. Some people want to sit in the front row and still be able to look at everything on both sides. We just smile at them knowing that all our grey water from our house is watering these native plants that give us shade, privacy, protection from storms and give a place for all the creatures that inhabit them to live. Our neighbours have cut 80% of their trees and bushes down replacing it with grass.

Kalessin with a Hogfish I speared in Exuma 23 years ago free diving in 45 of water. I have used a tracing of this fish for all the carvings you see here.

Back in my ole spear fishing for a living days.

Made of crab wood I found in Bequia a while back. Now in the home of Theo and Kims in Spanish Wells.

When I designed and built the original Hogfish sailing Yawl I wrote a note to myself naming my design company " Hogfish Designs". This was 26 years ago. I knew back then that the hogfish was going to some day be the "it" fish. I mailed this to myself and keep this  unopened letter as a sort of copyright time frame of when I thought it was cool for me to sail about the Carribean sea in a boat with a huge pink stripe down the side calling itself the "Hogfish".

I like to think I made it easier for men to now wear bright colors .

Read More..

Didi Mini Mk3 Kit from CKD Boats

I would have to dig deep in my files to find when CKD Boats first started cutting kits to our plywood designs. Owned by Roy McBride, this Cape Town company has the longest history of cutting our kits and has shipped kits for our plywood boats to many countries around the world. They also have the most experience with packaging large or small kits securely enough to arrive at their destination without damage or loss.

The most remote was a Didi 38 kit sent to Johnston Atoll in the North Pacific. It was a very comprehensive kit that included all plywood, complete rig, keel, engine, sterngear, galley equipment, deck hardware, pulpits, sails and even pre-cut window panels and all the cushions pre-upholstered. This was all packed into a standard 20ft container and had to be shipped via New Zealand and Hawaii, all expertly managed by Roy, his staff and his subcontractors.

CKD Boats has just completed cutting a kit for the Didi Mini Mk3 for a customer in France. It will be packed next week for shipping.

Didi Mini Mk3 sheet fresh from the CNC router.

The plywood components are held in place in the sheets by thin tabs that are left between the full-depth cuts. They are released from the sheets by cutting through the tabs with a box-cutter or jigsaw. This system keeps the plywood as full 8x4 sheets for easy packaging and protection of the components from loss or damage.

Didi Mini Mk3 hull skin panels with jigsaw joints.

The Didi Mini Mk3 is one of the first boats that I converted to jigsaw joints instead of the stepped scarph joints that we used previously. This results in easier assembly and is easier to cut, with less machine time involved. These two panels both show a narrow cut on one side and a wide cut on the other. The wide cut is at the junction between flat and radiused panels, so it has a half-depth rebate pre-cut full length of the panel for the structural joint of the radius panel to the flat sheet.

When this kit is out of the shop, the next will start cutting. This is for a Didi Sport 15 to fill an order from a South African builder.

To see these designs and others in our very broad range, please visit http://dixdesign.com/.

Read More..

Chine ideas round stern details

Heres some sketches of my current thinking on my lower lifting Chines, spray strakes, and a round transom.

This is how I see certain Chines working. When running your skiff and others look at how the water flows out from under the skiff when at all angles of trim. Do this in flat water to get a good view and then in rough water to see what really happens. All small skiffs suffer from the fact that they cannot travel fast enough to get away from beam sea spray blow back. To help in this I feel you need to help direct the spray away from the hull in a downward and hopefully aft direction.

 

I use this reverse spray strake to direct the spray down. Small light skiffs do not need any lift from the middle of the skiff forward. You will have to use trim tabs to get the bow down so why have these lifting  strakes there? In a solid glass bottom they do add some strength but at the cost of being wet.

  Station # 1

Starting at the stern going forward my latest ideas on my bottom lifting - keel strake .

The added keel drawn could be added to the HBBWs Guide and 17.8 and others as they have enough vee to the bottom that will allow these mini keels to not drag.

Station # 2 

Station # 3 

I feel by softening the inner chine it will keep the water flowing closer to the hull and that will  

Get it to be directed downward and lower. Do this starting at the helmsman seat. Aft you need sharp edges to get speed and planning ability. All the spray there is going away from you. 

Station # 4 

A free hand sketch of how this really round transom will work. The bottom stern edge is straight but all above is really very round and soft. I do not like trim tab pockets as too much work . These reverse outty Pockets will be easy for installation as they can fit all kinds of trim tabs and sizes. 

Lots of lines , and angles here. Hope you can see whats happening here.

 

In reality its all very simple but on paper its a lot of lines. To remove the boat hull from the mold you will pull the hull out like taking off a shoe. The only thing is the stern sheer flange downturn will not be there to stop the hull. This is no big deal as it will be under the deck flange.

Hope this helps in thinking of different ways of getting rid that damn spray and making for a quiet stern for the purists out there.

 

Read More..