C&L talking about the real deal, a worthwhile interview, and while I've never been a big fan of Rickie 12-strings in this case I'll make an exception...
Dudley Dix has a new design of interest...
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned in the past that I really like his DIDI series and have often mused to friends how I'd love to build one with an alternative rig like an evolved balanced lug or some-such.
Well, while it might not sport a balanced lug rig, it would seem that Mr Dix has been thinking in a similar vein...
Billed as the DIDI 29 Retro is building on the tried and true DIDI hull form and adds a modernized gaff rig... What's not to like?
This is a boat I'd love to sail because if for no other reason it would be a lot of fun to blow past a Bendytoy 50-Something or catamarans to windward with a gaff rig! Hey, call me shallow, but kicking butt is sometimes a whole lotta fun and this boat has the potential to be a serious fun making ass-kicker.
Better yet, this is just the sort of design that can teach us all something about what really makes a boat go. The problem with some of the traditional rigs is that they've had little or no development in the last hundred years and most folks drawn to them are not drawn to the fact that they are good rigs but because they are quaint and old (i.e. evolution adverse folk)... Tell a member of the Olde Gaffer Brigade that he can improve his windward ability by switching to a low stretch halyard and he will tell you that it's not proper because a proper line in a gaffer is three strand because it has the proper look...
Then again, some of us who like rigs like gaff or lug would enjoy seeing them evolved into the current century. We're not looking for quaint or historically accurate, we're looking for a better boat and if it comes in the shape of a gaff with composite spars and Amsteel running rigging, all the better!
Is this a boat for my short list? Nope, but something along the same line of thought based around a shoal draft DIDI 38/40 (which IS on my shortlist) with say a balanced lug rig would certainly go to the top of the list in a heartbeat...
In the meantime, I should add that CKD is currently set up to do kits for the DIDI 29 Retro and that Dudley has a lot more info on his blog.
Listening to Cindy, Ellen, and Michael
So it goes...
