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Samoa 34 home-builder goes for a canoe adventure

Our client Jayme Bubolz, a home-builder of the sailboat stock plan Samoa 34, is a chemical engineer who left the prosperous Southern Brazil to establish as a civil servant in the recently created State of Tocantins, located in the Central South American Plateau, a place where the typical savannah ecosystem of the central plains borders the Amazon forest. This region has its nature preserved like in ancient times, remaining almost untouched by modern civilization.

Jayme’s backyard is the perfect place for an amateur construction. Presently he is preparing the bulkheads of his Samoa 34 for assemblage. Gurupi, State of Tocantins, Brazil

When arriving in Gurupi, being a stranger where he would settle, he acquired a property which in the old times had been the most stylish brothel in town. He reckons that heaps of cattle heads and even farms might be buried there.

Being a lover of cruising under sail, he decided to build the Samoa 34 in his home garden in the secluded area where he lives during his spare time. He is lucky enough to have an affluent of the Amazon meandering in his backyard with direct link to the sea, thousands of miles away, so, when he completes his work, all he will have to do after launching will be to drift his boat downstream until reaching the Amazon River estuary.   

However since life is not only dreaming with the enchantments of distant places praised in books and films, he wanted to profit from the opportunity of already living in one of these places.

This photo shows the Javaé River winding along the natural boundary of the jungle. To the right is the fringe of the Amazon forest. To the left begins the Brazilian central plateau savannah and meadowland (Bananal Island, the largest fresh water island in the world)

However, while his sailboat isn’t completed, Jayme decided to make, in the company of Leo and Eduardo, his two sons , an open canoe excursion along the Javaé and Araguaia, this last river being an important tributary of the Amazon. From their account of the adventure, we reckon their experience was something out of this world, an experience to be printed forever in their memories.

We were absolutely fascinated by the description of their journey. What a privilege must have been witnessing the existence of such unspoiled region in the planet! Perhaps our friends and clients from the U.S., Canada and Europe may wish to follow their wake, and this report is intended to promote this suggestion. At any rate, we design cruising boats to take you to the most desirable cruising grounds, and this is a place that might stir your imagination.

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Even though Jayme is fond of the quiet local pace of life, he admits being fed up of having to listen to country music all the time, and waiting for the frogs to start their preachy croaking during the days after August first full moon, as they did for ages, and will continue doing so if the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world in 2012 isn’t to come true.

The long and beautiful trail.  This will be our typical scenery for the next ten days.
Eduardo and Leo ready to start the ten days long journey

Human nature being permanently unsettled, what really counts according to Jayme isn’t arriving at your planned destination, but continuously going ahead in order to have a look at what’s hidden beyond the horizon.

 Jayme (to the left) and Leo enjoy supper at the first camping site. The paraffin Primus pressure stove is identical to the ones used by Amundsen and Schackleton in 1911/1912

The second day of the journey started from this heavenly nook

The report he sent us about the canoe expedition is pure adrenalin, and the gallery of photos attached are enough to let any cruising enthusiast with his mouth watering.  

Actually a cruising sailboat is just the tool to carry you to your endeavour. Notwithstanding, on many occasions you would rather leave your boat stationed in a safe haven or marina and extend your travel employing another type of craft more appropriate for the purpose, which may be your inflatable, in case of short distance gunk-holing, or yet, either kayaks, for leapfrog traveling, or canoes, for longer distance journeys, when camping for the night is required.

Alone in the savage water-world

Going downstream an Amazon River tributary is an amazing experience. The digital photos will help keeping  the adventure forever engraved in our memories. With the employment of two canoes instead o a larger one, the captures became more illustrative, saving for posterity the best scenes of the passage.

Following is Jayme’s description of the expedition:

While not being able to sail in salt water, I must find a way of enjoying life with the wonders our backyard has to offer us. From the first to the tenth of July, I and my two sons, Leonardo and Eduardo, had a ball going in a canoe safari exploring the nearby rivers Javaé and Araguaia. We roamed for 230km (125 nautical miles) downstream, starting at “Barreira da Cruz” (Lagoa da Confusão County), reaching the Araguaia at a locality called Caseara, ten days later. We traveled along the west margin of the Cantão Natural Reserve, visiting places of stunning beauty, with a profusion of white-sanded deserted beaches, where wildlife was a stone throw away from us; fish was plentiful, with human presence almost inexistent. For four days consecutively we didn’t find a single soul!  During these days we came to know things that we ignored, like discovering a five stars tourist resort encrusted in the jungle. However, we felt so lonely that we only came to know the winner of the match Brazil x Holland of the world cup three days after the venue was over.

In six of the seven camping sites we saw jaguar trail foot prints

Being bitten by the sailing bug, we couldn’t restrain our wish to providing some sort of sail propulsion for the canoes, which we managed to do with a  satin rag we found among our stuffs, profiting from then on from the morning breezes to improve our speed.

We made a makeshift sail with a satin rag, a welcome assistance when the wind was favourable

The trip lasted for ten days, seven of them paddling and sailing, and the other three just loafing, angling and drinking tots of white lightning, our favourite tipple.

This catch was intended for lunch; however ended up becoming supper,…hic…hic

The first day’s run was quite stressing. We were on the brink of a nervous break-down caused by the weariness of preparation, a forecast of wind storms, and a certain apprehension of camping in places where jaguars reigned. To crown it all Eduardo had a bout of yellow fever and we had to medicate him. After the third day we were already acquainted with the imponderable, and soon our self-confidence was reestablished.

This tiny two metres long aligator (Melanossuchus Niger) followed us for a while. The species can reach one hundred years of age and is capable of surpassing six metres in lenght

We were astonished by the incredible amount of fish, otters and fresh water dolphins. We were lucky enough to be able to sight a rare example of pink dolphin. For two long days we were followed by one of these mammals, and since catching fishes was so easy, we fed it with our own hands.

We were presented with gloamings of rare beauty. In late afternoons we progressed faster due to the lull of the land breeze

On late afternoons, when the choppy waters settled with the wind relenting, was when we progressed most. Our average runs were around thirty-five kilometers (approximately nineteen nautical miles).

The Cherokee canoes proved to be worthy for the task, being able to carry an impressive payload.

There was no chance of feeling protein starved so easy it was to catch a nice fish for dinner. We virtually had a larder following the path of our canoes. All we had to do was to throw the lure and bring the catch aboard.

Gator race…

Watching the local fauna from afar was a constant experience during the days we glided downstream. Large birds flying in couples sometimes landed on tree branches not far from our camping sites, fascinating us with their boisterous shrieks.

We saw many birds typical of the Central Plateau. This fowl, the red-chested jacu is an early riser. It started crowing way before dawn, waking us up for the next stretch

Whoops!!! Leo felt like an angling champion

There are nowadays few places left untouched by civilization as the thresholds of the Amazon forest. We felt privileged being able to visit it. The diversity of species is so rich that what we wish most is that the area remains like it is now, being preserved for the next generations as a sanctuary. The “onça pintada”, the South American Jaguar, is one of the dwellers of this habitat. We were lucky enough to have a glance at them from the distance, being pretty sure they watched us all the time

I only managed to see one of these pretty girls from the distance at the other margin of the Javaé River. Nevertheless, even though they were concealed, I’m quite sure that they watched us all the time. They are beautiful… and ravenous. The guess-work is that there are 2.35 jaguars for each ten thousand square metres in the State Park of Cantão

Finally we reached the Araguaia River and our journey was coming to an end. We were sorry that the expedition was over. On the tenth day we reached the first settlement since we left, Barreira do Campo, in Santana do Araguaia District. Now the river was so large that in some places we had glimpses of the gibbous horizon of the earth.

Enjoying the last evening away from civilization. Soon we would be back to the rat race. The “mate” bowl is the Gaucho’s faithful companion.

The first day brought us a mixture of exhilaration and apprehension. However at the end of the journey we felt like if that was our world. Our canoes proved to be excellent and we learned we could survive with our own resources. Sometimes we fished beyond our needs, and when catching a rare species we turned it back to its element.

Pirarara is a praised fish delicacy. However with the abundant catches we were experiencing, we rather freed this one, saving it for another occasion

Before freeing the pirarara Leo gave it a good luck kiss

The trip was coming to an end but our imagination was breaking loose. Before we reached the settlement an empty thatched roof hut with two hammocks set to be occupied by whoever came there loomed before us. With all that fish in the river, Leo’s guitar and those gorgeous gloamings, why not stay in that very place forever? But then we remembered that we wanted to know what was hidden besides the horizon in front and for that purpose the Samoa 34 construction was there to be concluded.     

A hut, the hammocks, the river, what else should we want more? Perhaps, who knows, Leo’s guitar.

Jayme Bubolz is a good friend of ours and he is a participant in our forum. Since he is a lover of adventures above all other things, we are pretty sure that if you have an affinity with his way of life and would like to contact him, he will welcome you. His e-mail is: jabgpi@yahoo.com.br . 

Barreira do Campo, Santana do Araguaia District. I could live here forever if it was salt water. Who knows if Mangue Seco in the Brazilian northeast coast could be the paradise on earth. The neighbour’s lawn is always greener!!!

Click here to know more about the Samoa 34 class

Cabo Horns 35 boats join in an ocean race

The Cabo Horn 35 class, one of the most successful designs in our office’s career, after more than twenty years of existence keeps brimming over with alacrity. This September three of these boats will participate on the traditional three-hundred miles Recife to Fernando de Noronha Island Ocean Race. They are Stella Maris, owned by Roberto Kivitis Nogueira, from Alagoas, Brazil, Marcelo Balbo’s Thalassa, from Ilha Bela, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the most famous member of the class, the legendary Utopia, now belonging to Manrico D’Alessandro, from Florianopolis, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil.

To crown the participation of boats from our design in this magic race to one of the most beautiful ocean islands in the South Atlantic, this year we will have no less than sixteen yachts in the competition, some of them authentic icons in the yachting regional scene, as is the case of Utopia (see in Cabo Horn 35 home page – club -  “Marco Cianfflone’s Utopia round the world trip”), and Amyr Klink’s  laureate fifty-foot polar yacht Paratti II, the first boat to sail single-handed non-stop around Antarctica, and to winter alone in that frozen continent, for those achievements being awarded the coveted Royal Cruising Club of England “Tillman’s Prize”, besides being commended with a Brazilian Mail stamp. “Paratii Between Two Poles” and “The Endless Sea”, the books he wrote relating those feats, were best-sellers published in various languages, having sold more than one million copies worldwide. We are still going to report about Paratii II and the other yachts from our design taking part in the race, but for the time being the three home-built Cabo Horns 35 are the boats we would like to praise in this article.

Paratii II will be competing in the 2010 Recife to Fernando de Noronha Race.

Many clients of ours tell us they nurture long time dreams of taking part in the Recife to Fernando de Noronha Race, perhaps this being the reason for the steady increase, year after year, in the number of our boats in the competition. Since the island is a national park with a fragile ecosystem, the maximum number of participants is limited to one-hundred sixty yachts from any nationality. So, having 10% of the fleet representing boats from our office is quite an impressive number.

Cabo Horn 35 interior layout. The most “off-road” of our cruising designs

The race being an event where what counts most is to be there, wining in each class simply represents an extra bonus. It becomes evident in the minds of participants that boats specifically designed for cruising offshore have a clear edge over “off-the-shelf” production yachts, which are mainly intended for club racing and weekend short-distance sailing. It is frequently commented in the verandahs that taking part in the Recife to Fernando de Noronha Race is a life-time accomplishment for production yacht owners, while it is a not to be missed annual event for those who own a proper offshore cruising boat. The race attractions are many, beginning with the warm welcome typical of the Brazilian way of life from the part of Cabanga Yacht Club, the sponsoring club, when a fortnight preceding the race there are live shows to be seen or parties to be enjoyed up to late evenings. The arrival in the lush and green paradise of Fernando de Noronha, where crews have at their disposal heaps of different social events and diving attractions to highlight their stay, having the prize-awarding party as the grand finale, is no less enjoyable.

Fernando de Noronha, being a national park, is yet unspoiled by heavy tourism

Most probably this is the prevailing factor for the captains of our line of authentic cruising sailboats wanting to be there year after year. In this case owners find their boats the most adapted to live aboard and to endure the long round trip to reach Recife, added by the twice 300 miles run to reach the island and be back to the continent. Aboard a Cabo Horn 35 you don’t need to get stressed when you are on watch. With its pilot house boasting internal steering and excellent visibility 360° around, you can be on watch seating in the pilot chair, having only to stand up to reach the fridge for an ice-cold beer

The racing fleet stays anchored in the leeward side of the island close to the yacht harbour. This belvedere is one of the many the island has to offer to its visitors

The competitors of the class in this year’s event have in common their construction sagas. The three of them are amateur constructions accomplished with a very high level of workmanship, resulting in outstanding yachts. Being three boats from the same stock-plan, their owners might apply to obtain from the racing committee the status of class with exclusive prizes for them. At least this had been the rule in previous races.   

Stella Maris is a home-built Cabo Horn 35, constructed by her owner, Roberto Kivitis Nogueira, in Maceió, State of Alagoas, Northeast Brazil

Stella Maris was built  by her owner, Roberto Kivitis Nogueira, in a shed belonging to him, in Maceió, Alagoas. Roberto, had never built a boat before, never mentioning a fixed keel offshore yacht intended for a round the world trip.

As a start point in Roberto’s intentions is an Atlantic crossing by the roaring forties from Maceió, his home-town to Cape Town in South Africa (see the article about Stella Maris in the Cabo Horn 35 home page published by “The Alagoan Gazette: Roberto Nogueira builds a Cape Horn 35 for a round the world trip), being left to the long run the so cherished circumnavigation. Meanwhile, while his professional activities as a civil engineer don’t allow him the spare time for staying out for so long, he is being satisfied with his annual cruising schedule along the Brazilian coast, culminating with the entry in the Recife to Fernando de Noronha race. The boat is unquestionably very well prepared for any challenge in an ocean passage, and if the intended overseas voyage didn’t happen yet, at least his boat has already an impressive number of miles sailed since her launching in 2004. In one of the races to Fernando de Noronha our office had obtained the record of participants of boats from our design, and Stella Maris was one of them.

Roberto Kivitis  Nogueira (with white cap) receiving from Roberto Barros the commemorative plaque for being one of the twelve skippers of boats designed by the office on that race. With the studio change of address to Perth, Western Australia, unfortunately this year the new record can’t be commemorated as deserved

To toast the achievement B & G Yacht Design, then Roberto Barros Yacht Design, offered a lunch party at the town of Recife for all crewmembers of our fleet, when was offered to each of the twelve captains a commemorative plaque of the event, Roberto Kivitis Nogueira being one of the skippers honoured. This season the new record can not be commemorated accordingly, since there will be no representative of the office in Recife, but what really counts is the fact that Stella Maris is in Bristol shape, ready for accomplishing any new challenge.  

Thalassa is a Cabo Horn 35 extremelly well built by two totally inexperienced amateurs, Álvaro Brant de Carvalho and his father, João Brant de Carvalho, in the workshop of their farm in the interior of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Thalassa is a good example of boats belonging to the Cabo Horn 35 class. She is so well built and well finished that “Revista Náutica”, the most important Brazilian yacht magazine, just published an article about her. Marcelo Balbo, the new owner, is so much infatuated with his boat that he made a site/blog just to tell in detail every step about her wanderings (see in our links page – Cabo Horn 35 Thalassa).

Thalassa’s saloon matches the coziness of varnished wood with white upholstery

We are going to follow his blog with special interest, since it is expected from any Cabo Horn 35owner to get itchy feet as he discovers the pleasures of sailing offshore aboard one of these boats.

Utopia is the best known Cabo Horn 35. In her currículum is included a round the world trip and the fact that she survived a fierce hurricane in Saint Martin and a devastating tsunami in Pucket, Thailand.

What is flying around about the Cabo Horn Utopia is that she is the boat with seven lives. Her full story is a thrilling book of stunning adventures. She was built by Fausto Pignaton, an amateur who made his living making surfboards in a workshop in Guarapari, a small town in the Brazilian east shore. Soon after being launched her owner departed bound for the West Indies, even though he had no previous experience in sailing offshore. Since he was sailing in a very limited budget, he had to do some charter work to be able to keep the cost of his trip under control. After spending a whole season successfully sailing among the Windward Islands, with the approach of the hurricane season he picked the lagoon inside the island of Saint Martin as the haven where he would stay. It happens that, in spite of that island having been spared of any major tropical cyclones in previous years, that time it was hit by the fiercest hurricane ever, the infamous Louis. In a fleet of more than nine hundred yachts, eighty survived, even though no one unscathed, being his boat one of the less affected. What made the difference was Fausto’s courage, refusing to leave his boat, going against a warning issued by the authorities for crews not staying aboard. When he saw a catamaran flying upside-down not far from Utopia’s mast top, in seeing a huge steel yacht coming adrift in his boat direction, he let the anchor rod go and from then on assisted the boat to go aground in a mangrove patch. This measure saved his boat and probably his life too. To perform the maneuver he left the relatively comfortable shelter of the pilot-house wearing a pair of shorts, but had to recede, since the shorts’ cloth inflated like a balloon, obliging him to quickly undress, proceeding forwards entirely naked, wielding a boat-hook in one of his hands, as if he was old Neptune himself, emerging from the deep.

When the hurricane abated, Fausto had only minor scratches to fix in his boat, mainly the tip of the rudder. In two weeks the boat was ship-shape, ready for the intended return trip to Brazil.

This he had done single-handed, sailing non-stop from Saint-Martin to Fernando de Noronha, most of the time close-hauled, making the whole passage in twenty-one days. Back in his country, Fausto soon became a celebrity, being invited for T.V. interviews and having his saga being published by the most important local yachting magazines. His boat became object of desire, and in a blink it fell in the hands of another owner, the helicopter pilot Marco Cianflonne.

Marco, an adventurer by heart, wanted this Cabo Horn 35 to accomplish a round the world trip single handed, and this was what he managed to do in great style. If a cat has seven lives, we don’t know to say how many this fantastic boat has. During his round the world voyage, Marco hit a rock at full speed in Indonesia, was caught in the terrible tsunami that devastated Thailand, had been attacked by whales in the South Atlantic and arrived in his country unscathed. The report about this trip you can read in the Cabo Horn 35 home-page, CLUB, an extract from an article he wrote for an important magazine. In 2010 Utopia is as good as new, even though she can still show the signs of the mishaps she had endured. Now, in the hands of a third owner, Manrico D’Alessandro, she is ready for taking part in the Recife to Fernando de Noronha, 2010 edition and beyond.

Utopia anchored in the lagoon of a South Pacific island.

click here to know more about the Cabo Horn 35MKII

Virtual step by step slide show from the assembly of a Kiribati 36 metal work will help builders

Taking advantage that the Kiribati 36 design was created using state of the art 3D computer modeling, B&G Yacht Design is making available a step by step virtual slide show from the assembly of a Kiribati 36 metal work, with the parts added in the suggested order.

This will come to help possible builders to evaluate the magnitude of the task at hand and help them decide if this Project is for them.

In another fact related to this design, it is already in progress the development of a fixed keel version, which will make use of the already proven appendages that are found in the Multichine 34/36 series.

Green Nomad has its rig now

This will confer to the design a more universal appeal, with it becoming available to a range of sailors that do not need extra low draft and prefer the simplicity and lower building costs of a fixed keel boat.

Green Nomad´s interior nearly complete

The concepts of simple systems, ruggedness, panoramic view from inside the cabin and several others linked to the Kiribati 36 appeal to a big range of sailors, and the incorporation of a fixed keel version will be a great plus for the design.

To see the full assembly slide show and know more about the Kiribati 36 Click here

Multichine 28 Atairu: a dream come true

Our client Antonio Piqueres is the happy owner of the  Multichine 28 Atairu. He and his wife Ivana are having the time of their lives cruising with their brand new boat the shallow swamps that surround Lagoa dos Patos, the interior sea in Southern Brazil, with its innumerous creeks where wild life swarms, and where human occupation is almost nonexistent, representing no threat to the environment.

Ivana jumped ashore to take this photo not having to wet her feet

We regularly report Multichine 28 stories in our news section, some of them informing about single-handed offshore passages, as was the case with Flavio Bezerra’s Access and  Roberto Barros log book entries of his  former yacht Fiu, presently Stella di Fioravante, now belonging to the Brazilian/Canadian engineer  Roberto Roque, a resident in Calgary, Canada, who is also a contributor in our adventures section; in other articles we had pointed out how cozy the MC 28 can be below decks, with the appealing warm-feeling interiors of some of them, as was the case with the article: “Multichine 28 Ayti stunning good looks”, or yet, about the same Atairu when she was launched. However this is the first time we praise the design’s shallow draught cruising potential.

Atairu is stationed at the Jangadeiros Yacht Club, Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil.

The beauty of this feature in the project is that there is no movable appendage, just a cruising version of a bulbous fin-keel, so efficient in offshore passages that our clients forget the fact they are sailing a relatively shallow draught yacht, having only good references about its behavior. Mentioning the scant 1.55m (5’1”) draught of their boats is only reason for satisfaction, especially for the fact that despite being an affordable boat to be built, the MC 28 is Category A according to the European Union regulations for offshore mono-hull sailboats, an accomplishment seldom found in yachts of similar size. Perhaps these might be the reason hidden in the subconscious of our builders for the MC 28 being so popular among the cruising communities where boats of the class are already sailing. 

Click here to know more about the Multichine 28

Curruira 42, a trawler with style and comfort

Since its introduction the Curruira 42 stock plan has deserved small attention from our part in promoting it in our site. You would only find it when browsing our list of stock plans in the trawlers and motor yachts section. This treatment was unfair with this outstanding mid-sized trawler which has been reason of curiosity by those who found her hidden in a secondary home-page.

It is not easy for us promoting with equal footing our more than fifty stock plans, so we need to do it one each time.  We use to high-light a design when the first boat of the class is nearing completion, and this is exactly the case now with the Curruira 42. The first unit is in its last stages of construction at FLAB Boatyard, from Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil, www.flab.com.br, and now we believe to be the right moment to turn the spotlights towards this design. Let’s tell something about the story of this relatively new project:

Curruira 42 wishful dreams. Rendered figure: www.ideebr.com.

Since a long time we had the intention of designing a motor yacht of affordable cost, remotely resembling a small tramp ship of classic lines, much in the same style of Humphrey Bogart’s old Hollywood films. When we received an enquiry about a boat like that, instead of informing that we had only the intention of producing a design with these characteristics, we didn’t hesitate in offering the Curruira 42 to this potential client (curruira is the name of lovely South American little bird) as a stock plan, never minding to still having to develop the whole design from scratch.
We have no reasons to regret our decision, since this project became an important achievement in our career and have been very well received by the cruising community. 

Fantasy and reality are coming together. Rendered figure: www.ideebr.com.

Our first client, Nico Araujo, is a medical doctor who lives in one of the most beautiful regions of the Brazilian shoreline, the coast of the state of Bahia, more precisely, Camamu Bay, a lush and green tropical paradise that seems not to be totally discovered by jet-setters yet. Nico intends to live aboard and do some social practicing, assisting the less favoured communities of fishermen around the bay offering them non-remunerated health support. He also intends to cruise with his little ship, perhaps bound for the Caribbean.
Other builders followed Nico’s path and now we have other clients in South America and Europe, even though the promotion of the design had been practically nonexistent.  

The interior has two variations of layout to contemplate larger or smaller families. This is the three cabins, two heads version.  Rendered image: www.ideebr.com

Many retired couples have preference for a stateroom of larger proportions.
Rendered figure: www.ideebr.com.

The Curruira 42 was designed to be built in plywood over wooden frames and sheathed on the outside by a thick layer of fiberglass. This building method is very simple, and even though it requires more labor to be accomplished than laminating inside a female mould, it is more recommended for the amateur, or the non-specialized carpenter, not mentioning it isn’t required to build an expensive female mould. Besides, it provides a light boat for its strength, immensely durable, possessing the best virtues of fiberglass construction and the warmth of a wooden interior. It is in the specifications that the whole interior surface be impregnated with two coats of epoxy resin.

She is also specified for steel construction. Building in steel is something within the reach of many persons who are more familiar with metallic construction than with wood-work. Besides, steel is a material easily available anywhere and the equipment to process it is common place to be found in any country. For these people with inclination to deal with metallic work we specified hull and superstructure to be built with this raw material

We opted for a displacement hull with long cruising range (about two thousand miles) proportioning great savings in engine cost and fuel consumption. With one or two engines options and allowing up to two 125Hp inboard engines installation, the Curruira 42 reaches 10 knots at full speed.

Curruira 42 details unveiled. Rendered figure: www.ideebr.com.

 Hybrid propulsion with electric drive mode coupled to the explosion engine is also a possibility. Installing the environment friendly hybrid solution is a break-trough in boat propulsion technology. Its adoption brings several advantages, like dispensing another generator for other on board equipments, considering that the electric motor generates electricity when being propelled by the diesel engine, besides ensuring silent, pollution-free, propulsion at low speed when employing the electric motor. The plans for hybrid installation are optional and can be customized for the engine chosen. The adaptation, however, is quite simple and straightforward and there is sufficient space at the engine room for its installation.

Click here to know more about the Curruira 42

Samoa 34 Arandu

We designed the Samoa 34, initially Samoa 33, during the nineties, when our office still operated in Rio de Janeiro Downtown, years before moving the office to Perth, Western Australia.  Our champions of sale at that time were the Samoa 29, now discontinued, and the MC28, two easy to build and relatively cheap sailboats, both at the reach of an amateur builder and equally fit for living aboard, or to accomplish the most ambitious offshore voyaging plan, even a round the world trip, if  wanted.

This decision had already been taken by two Samoa 29 owners who sailed round the globe in flawless trips reported in our news a few years ago.  A reference to these two trips is made in our Hall of Fame list: Samoa 29 Jornal and Samoa 29 Hypocampus.

The MC28 Class, being younger, hasn’t accomplishments of same footing yet, being Access the farthest going representative of the model, having her owner and amateur builder, Flavio Bezerra, sailed single-handed from Rio de Janeiro to the West Indies, where he stayed for two years and now is planning crossing the Panama Canal and travelling around the Pacific.

Arandu and Soneca, (means nap in Portuguese),two Samoas 34 sharing the same anchorage. The design contemplates two cabin trunk styles as shown above

In spite of the success of these two designs, our team was interested in developing a new project, also within the reach of the amateur, but turned towards another profile of yachtsman, one with a bit more resources and wishing something larger with more room to live aboard. It is understandable that for each purse there is an optimum size of boat. Actually, when designing the Samoa 34 we had the north hemisphere community in mind, since Americans and Europeans who venture offshore are more acquainted with yachts from thirty-four foot up. Obviously we were conscious about the little chance of somebody picking a design for later considering the boat too small for his needs.

At the very beginning our prevision was correct. The first person to acquire the new plan was a young man from the State of Arizona who was wiling to sail the Pacific. He liked the design flush deck which allowed him to lash his surfboard to the life-line stanchions without obstructing the traffic forward. However, we have been surprised with the interest for the model in South America, where we had smaller hopes of success. In a very short time after the introduction of the plans we were being invited for a sail aboard Camino, the first boat of the class (then Samoa 33) to be launched. Perhaps for the good impression this boat raised among the sailing community, the class never stopped growing locally.

Arandu’s cockpit shimmered by a paraffin lamp. A good occasion for a happy hour

Only recently we began to find supporters for the class in the north countries market we had envisaged initially, while heaps of Samoas 34 were being built in most parts of Brazil, from the Amazon forest to the cold climate southern states of the country.

We reckon the initial small interest for the design was due to lack of knowledge about the project, while our smaller models which we believed had less chances of sales overseas, the MC28 and the Samoa 28, the boat that substituted the Samoa 29, were surprisingly very well accepted by cruising sailors in northern countries. However as soon as the Samoa 34 became better known abroad, the situation began to change, and now we have quite a few Samoas34 being built overseas.

One of the most recent articles published in our news referred exactly to the Samoa 34 class: the report of Luthier, the Samoa 34 that won the three-hundred miles Recife to Fernando de Noronha offshore race, perhaps the most important event in the South Atlantic, being the first to cross the line in its class.

Soon after publishing this article, however, we received an e-mail from the owner of another Samoa 34 which had been launched a few weeks before, belonging to the aeronautical engineer Geraldo Macedo, from Sao Jose dos Campos, State of Sao Paulo. The fact that Geraldo is an engineer and an air force fighter pilot gives him credential for rating the merits of the design, considering sailboats having some affinities with aeronautical technologies.

The Samoa 34 saloon is very cozy.  The prolonged version of the cabin trunk enhances the sensation of spaciousness and improves headroom forward.

There are two versions for the cabin’s trunk: the original all windowed pilot-house style small cabin abaft the mast with a huge flush-deck forward and the prolonged trunk reaching the fore compartment, which is Arandu’s  option.
Next is Geraldo’s e-mail:

Arandu made her maiden cruise during the first days of September. On this occasion she met Soneca, another Samoa 34, when staying in Sitio Forte Cove and later visited various other havens in Ilha Grande Bay.

The Belgian guest considered the comfort of Arandu’s galley comparable to his forty-one footer.

We had aboard with us a Belgian yachtsman who owns a Dufour 41 in his country.
He praised the Samoa 34 design and construction while assisting us to tune the rigging and sails. Besides, he presented us with cordon bleu meals typical of French/Belgian culinary skills.

He found Arandu’s performanceoutstanding, considering she is such a strong cruising boat. With brand new racing oriented set of sails her performance close-hauled was comparable to that of an offshore racer. He also considered the steering control of the rudder stunning, with instant response to helmsman’s demand; something aeronautical engineers know how to appreciate. When under engine the boat practically pivots in its axis,  bliss on those tight marinas, like Pirata’s Mall in Angra dos Reis.

Arandu anchored in Ilha Grande during the first cruise after being launched.

We are stationed at Refugio das Caravelas Marina, in Paraty, and you will be always very welcome aboard if you happen to rove in that direction. I spend quite a few days weekly there, going back to my town, São José dos Campos, at least once a week, since I didn’t manage to retire and my family isn’t totally adapted to living aboard yet.

 
Geraldo’s daughter seems to be enjoying the stay on her father’s new yacht.

The first gallery of photos shows Arandu after having the upholstery installed and the sails stored aboard. Saco da Ribeira Bay, State of Sao Paulo
   
http://picasaweb.google.com/geraldo.macedo/ARANDU?authkey=Gv1sRgCKrMw7zI9IbqBg&feat=directlink 
 
Trip to Ilha Grande Bay, State of Rio de Janeiro, during the beginning of September:
 
http://picasaweb.google.com/geraldo.macedo/VG20090831A0907?authkey=Gv1sRgCLmmh6LQ79ihbw&feat=directlink
 
Cheers to you all from B & G Yacht Design staff

Geraldo Macedo
Samoa 34 Arandu

***

The reason for so many builders, amateurs and professionals alike, being able to construct such good examples of boats of the class must reside in the simplicity and linearity of its building method. We discovered during our long career of designing boats for one-off construction that the path to success is directly related to the friendliness of the initial phases of the construction, which shouldn’t be too demanding not to let the work become irksome. There is not even one builder that feels ill at easy in laminating twelve pairs of cold moulded frames, and later laying strips over them to plank the hull. Once we specify making rings at each station, consisting of frames, superstructure beams and plywood transverse furniture walls, when the hull is sheathed and turned over, the rest of the construction is too linear to represent any real difficulty.
Our clients are unaware of this, and believe all boats designed to be built by amateurs or custom boatyards are equally simple to being built. However, statistically, the number of  Samoas 34 completed surpass by far the average number of amateur builders employing other methods who manage to finish their boats.

To award the efforts of our clients we at B & G Yacht Design like to report their stories  whenever they send us good photos of their construction. Since there are many being constructed presently, you may expect to find other articles about the class in the near future.

Boats built in strip-planking over cold moulded frames are immensely durable, and structurally speaking, veritable battleships. Our clients are so pleased with the result of their constructions that it hasn’t been uncommon that as soon their boats are launched they shift aboard to live with their families. These happy owners are our most important publicity.
The simplicity and linearity of the construction method generated an odd consequence: many of our builders construct their boats all by themselves, almost unassisted, sometimes with the help of their wives. Some of our clients are retired, some others are farmers living in remote regions, but all of them have a resolute determination to finish their boats, in many cases being this achievement the main goal in their lives. This profile of cruising people is so fascinating to us that we are listing below a few examples:

Rodrigo Ferher is a physicist from Sao Paulo, Brazil. His Samoa 34 Tanpopo was built by Flab Boatyards, at Campinas, State of São Paulo, www.flab.com.br, a highly recommended boat builder. His boat is already sailing since a few years and he exchanged his activity as a scientist for that of a charter skipper. If you are interested in being acquainted with the Samoa 34 design and would like to charter Tanpopo, his site is: http://tanpopo.com.br. Rodrigo speaks fluent English.
The region where he runs his charter business is one of the most beautiful cruising grounds in the world and is highly recommended being visited. The level of woodwork of his boat is one of the best in the class.

Arutana Corberio is a retired judge at the high court in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.  After retirement he substituted his highly intellectual activity for the handwork of building his dreamed sailboat.

This Samoa 34 is being built by the retired lawyer João Scuro, and his wife, Maria, all by themselves, at the city of Joinville, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil. They are applying two pairs of strips daily and intend to finish their boat sometime in 2010. The quality of their work is superb

Daniel Sequerra and his wife Diana always dreamed with having a wooden boat. Daniel’s father had owned a classic Sparkman Stephens yacht, the pride of the family, and when Daniel learned about the Samoa 34 design, he decided that the time had come to make his family dream come true. Now Zait is already sailing and is the family’s new pride. Zait, like Tanpopo, is a Flab Boatyard construction.

Mauricio and Marcia Iasi are young doctors who live a very demanding life as surgeons in a huge hospital at the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Building the Samoa 34 is their day-off therapy to counter-balance their stressing professional career. They intend to travel overseas with their Samoa 34 as soon as they finish building her

Libertad is a Samoa 34 built by Franzen Boatyard, www.estaleirofranzen.com.br  from Curitiba, the capital of the State of Parana, Brazil. This boat is already sailing since a long time and her owner is absolutely delighted with her performance and interior comfort. Zilmar Franzen is referred in the list of boatyards that work with our designs and is a good option for those that would like to have a Samoa 34 but don’t have the possibility to build it.

Luthier is a Samoa 34 entirely built by their owners, the electronic engineer Dorival Gimenes and his wife Catarina in their home garden at Campinas, a town in the State of São Paulo. We already published two stories about this amateur construction in our news: “Luthier, the wind calls the tune”, and more recently, still one of the top stories in our site front-page: “Samoa 34 Luthier wins offshore race”.  

Click here to know more about the Samoa 34

Multichine 41 SK now available as a pre-cut kit

For those who are interested in the Multichine 41 SK design, a blue water cruising yacht of superb performance and seaworthiness, the great news are that B & G Yacht Design ( Roberto Barros Yacht Design ) now offers a complete set of cutting files that will allow a builder to pre-cut nearly 100% of the aluminium parts.

The cutting files cover all areas of the metal work such as keel, keel bearing, rudder as well as all of the framing, internal structure, tanks, hull, deck, cabin and cockpit plating.

The first hull being built from the complete set of cutting files, Bepaluhê, from our friend and customer Paulo Ayrosa, is already well advanced as seen above in Ilha Sul Construções Náuticas boatyard, from Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The level of accuracy, quality and productivity that can be achieved with a pre-cut kit is hard to beat when compared with conventional construction methods.

All structure has been modelled in 3D

The cutting files are available for aluminium construction and include 391 parts of varied sizes, from a few millimetres to 3.5 metres.

Swing Keel structure

With the set of cutting files a boatyard can have the framing ready and aligned in less than a couple of weeks, ready for plating, and the complete hull can be completed in a record breaking time frame.

All frames have alignment holes, making it easy to assemble the structure and level it.

Typical detail of a frame showing the alignment hole to the left and a positive, no slip, positioning division between parts.

Now this design can be even more attractive to professional builders as well as to amateurs that enjoy tackling a good challenge.

This design is well suited to be the voyaging home for a couple and kids, with enough accommodation and load carrying capabilities for long periods at sea or in remote locations.

Paulo and Beth visit their future voyaging home

The cutting files for the Multichine 41 SK and also for the fixed keel version, Multichine 41, can be ordered in 3 separate parts, depending on need and construction phase. It is divided in:

Kit 1 - Frames, hull plating and internal structure, including tankage
Kit 2 – Deck, cabin and cockpit plating
Kit 3 – Swing Keel, keel bearing, rudder, skeg and propeller skeg.

Kit 1 costs AUD 1600 ( One Thousand Six Hundred Australian Dollars ), kit 2 AUD 1100 ( One Thousand OneHundred Australian Dollars ) and kit 3 AUD 850  ( Eight Hundred and Fifty Australian Dollars ).

For direct contact with our Engineer specialized in CNC cutting files the email is luisdesenhos@gmail.com. To email our office use info@yachtdesign.com.au.

Click here to know more about the Multichine 41 SK design.

Samoa 34 Luthier wins offshore race

We received an e-mail from Dorival Gimenes, an amateur who built the Samoa 34 Luthier in the backyard of his house in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, almost unassisted.  Just after the boat was completed and launched he changed his address for the boat and went to live aboard with his wife Catarina.  The couple and the boat are in their maiden cruising voyage up the Brazilian coast. They planned a trip to the northeast of Brazil with the intention of participating in the 2009 Recife to Fernando de Noronha (REFENO) Regatta.  The e-mail tells some details of this story:

Dear friends designers of the Samoa 34. Luthier is a really fast cruising sailboat and you can be proud of having designed her.

Since December 2008 when the boat was launched she has been giving us lots of happiness and good results.  We won the REFENO 2009 in our class, Open B, and we have been calling at many wonderful and worth visiting places in the Brazilian coast.  We have published our sailing experiences in our blog at the website www.veleiro.ner (blog.veleiro.net) administered by the captain of the yacht Yahgan, a Cape Horn 35, built more than 15 yeas ago, a boat which sails smoothly, looking as new as Luthier.  These two boats are proof that their building method, strip planking, is very strong and appropriate for amateur construction.  However, it is not only that; during our trip we met a large number of MCs made in steel, home built Samoas 29 , plywood/epoxy MCs28, series produced Aladins, etc. We encountered a very well built MC28, made by her owner, a deep water diving master from Vitória, state of Espirito Santo, Brazil.  We also met many yachts from your office built by professional boatyards.

Getting ready for the REFENO 2009 start flag.

At each place we go Luthier attracts attention. Whenever we say we built her, people look at the hull hardly believing it, and usually come the same questions: is she really wooden?  And then we go again, showing the boat, the pictures of the construction, and they look at everything with perplexity. Then they start asking about how long it took for the construction, costs, difficulties, and so on, and finally, if my wife agrees in having to live aboard.

Luthier  sailing close-hauled

For the duration of the construction, costs and difficulties, I have some answers, and I suggest them to look at your website and others as reference.  About my wife, I say that she helped in the construction and that she loves our baby, as she calls Luthier.

People say boats have soul, and I believe in that. Luthier is restless, doesn’t like to stay lashed to a pier, preferring moorings, or to be anchored, but what she likes most is to be sailing.   Cruising with Luthier is very comfortable.  Our average speed is about 6 knots, and depending on the sea state and  weather conditions, we can sail easily at seven knots without stressing the equipment.  With sails properly trimmed the rudder is so light that the autopilot requires very little energy to steer the boat.  Many of the cruising people we met said that it is a typical characteristic of yours designs.

Even being home for Dorival and Catarina,  Luthier is very fast for a 34 foot cruising boat.

To build a boat and go away cruising is a worthy experience. Even if only for short-lasting trips, or living aboard on weekends, it is very rewarding, but it requires dedication, planning, controlling anxiety, and to accept the fact that the yacht design office keeps its working schedule and is continuously introducing new designs and updates that will tempt us to change our minds for another design, as happened to me when you introduced the new version of the Cape Horn 35.

Sticking to the original plan paid off.  To finish the constructions is an indescribable experience of joy, and it is in that very moment that your options of leisure will be open to new achievements, having all the oceans to be conquered.

Besides the construction, it is necessary to study and learn many other things, like navigation, meteorology, safety procedures, first aid, etc.  Nevertheless, a good boat deserves a good captain.  We always have something to learn and will always have a new place to visit. You will find plenty of interesting people on the way.

Dorival.

Aboard of Luthier

To be the winner with a boat made by your own hands in the backyard of your house is priceless.  Catarina & Dorival receiving the trophy for the first place in the REFENO

Click here to know more about the Samoa 34

Multichine 28 Atairu - the offshore cruising sailboat

The Gaucho couple Ivana and Antonio Piqueres is learning in a very pleasant way aboard their brand new MC28 Atairu what cruising under sail is all about. Their first experiences are showing them that the MC28 is exactly what they were dreaming with: a cruising boat designed to go anywhere, in good or bad weather. 

For her broad smile we can bet Ivana is enjoying the new experience

The Piqueres are a perfect example of people who intend to do just that. In spite of being newcomers to the sailing scene, they dreamed in having a sailboat on which they could live aboard for extended stretches and accomplishing offshore passages.

As Atairu is a just launched boat, the latest trial of the couple is quite informative about the adequacy of the design for these purposes. They sent us an e-mail when they reported their first important experiece telling us how Atairu behaved during a fierce storm in the Guaiba, the lake linked to the ocean where they are sailing at the moment:

                     Atairu trying the new sails on her parking place at the pier

Today (9/27), Atairu endured twenty-five knots winds sailing close-hauled during a thunderstorm with torrential rain (more than 20mm in two hours), when the seas became very steep with short waves breaking sequentially, one after the other in consequence of the shallow draught of the Guaiba Lake (3m), with froth all over, the lake absolutely white and visibility zero. The GPS once in a while pointed boat speed zero in consequence of waves and wind on the nose. These hellish conditions lasted for more than two hours. We, novices in the sport, were the only boat out on that occasion.

No wonder people in the verandah were incredulous! The boat is strong, very strong! We trusted her and she didn’t disappoint us. We have no more doubts; we love this boat that took us back to the club in safety. We didn’t have the slightest chance to take photos on those conditions, but the harbourmaster in the club’s marina contacted us by VHF telling that it was awesome seeing the boat beating against the waves. I’m attaching some photos of previous sailings. We had two sailing lessons with Paulo Ribeiro, the Olympic coach of the Brasilian woomen’s sailing team (Fernanda Oliveira/ Isabel Swan, bronze medallists in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games)     

Good winds for you from B & G Yacht Design. The boat is excellent!!!

No doubt Piqueres has many reasons to be proud. From his e-mail it is clear that the point that impressed the couple more was to have survived unscathed their first challenge, learning that the boat transmits plenty of confidence considering its structural integrity. For two beginners, a test like this increases the self-assuredness and the confidence in the boat’s ability to cope with demanding conditions

Atairu is still missing installing the dodger and the solar panel

But they were already using the boat intensely as a sort beach resort and day sailer, and in this aspect the boat proved to be unbeatable, since it is small enough to be crewed shorthanded and big enough to live aboard with plenty of comfort. So, you that follow the MC28 Class reports in our news, should wait for the next ‘flights’ of the Piqueres couple as soon as they get their sea legs…

Piqueres and Ivana toasting their new life aboard Atairu

Perhaps we have a hidden love affair with this class, possibly for our long involvement with the MC 28 Fiu, which we built and lived aboard for more than two years, but every time we see a couple doing the same as Eileen and I did with so good remembrances, makes us wish them lots of good luck with their plans.

Roberto Barros 

The arrow shows the Geographic position of the club where Atairu is stationed, the Yacht Club Jangadeiros, Porto Alegre , Brazil.

Click here to know more about the Multichine 28

Pantanal 25 – Close to becoming an international class

Favourable winds are blowing in the direction of the Pantanal 25 class. Intaschi Nautical Perfrmance, together with Coopermarine, two companies from the state of São Paulo, Brazil, associated in the production and sales of this boat, just accomplished the third sale of a Pantanal 25, which will be produced using the moulds Jorge Intaschi, the chairman of Intaschi Nautical Performance, produced when constructing Dark Ice, the Pantanal 25 he built for his own use.

These moulds, sent to Coopermarine, a boatbuilding factory that woks as a cooperative, already produced two hulls of the class, which soon will be sailing. With the new sale already confirmed, it is missing one unit more to be possible to establish the Pantanal 25 as an official Brazilian class, not mentioning the addition of dozens of amateur builders who are in various phases of construction in different parts of this country.

Ronaldo Agondi, the Coopermarine director, took the chance of having these orders to complete the set of moulds of the interior arrangement, which were still lacking. These moulds are in their final stage of completion and are becoming very attractive, showing excellent level of craftsmanship and good design, with rounded walls and studied ergonomics.

With such nice work being obtained, the Pantanal 25 produced by Coopermarine has, for sure, a winning commercial career, either in the local market, or internationally. Since the class is spreading its number of builders in the most varied countries, we are confident that any factory with a line of production of the boat will have a good chance of success in obtaining local and overseas clients.    

The vanity basin counter wall built by Coopermarine has curved lines to enhance standing headroom area inside the heads.

We have been regularly reporting about the racing career of the Pantanal 25 Dark Ice.

This boat won most races she competed in her 2008/2009 debut in the Brazilian offshore racing scene. This July she was carefully prepared for the most important event in the South American racing calendar, the Ilha Bela International Sailing Week.

Demonstrating an awesome speed potential, Dark Ice reached the windward mark in the long distance race together with the ‘big wigs’ of the competition, and despite having the preference, had its bowsprit hit by a fifty-seven, U$2,800,000.00 brand new racing machine, and for everyone’s amazement, had no hull damage, except for a bent bowsprit.

The accident ruined the series for Dark Ice, but who cares after this surprising demonstration of structural integrity? We reckon that what saved the Pantanal 25 was its light displacement, and like a ping-pong ball when hit by a racket, it simply slipped sideways, causing no damage to the boat. This is undoubtedly the great advantage of sandwich composite construction.

The bowsprit bent with the impact of the collision without causing any harm to the topside

However what brought the Pantanal 25 back to the headlines was the article published by Revista Náutica, a local yachting magazine, in its September issue, comparing this design with another twenty-five foot cruiser-racer, also with a drop-keel system installed.

The comparison was somewhat inappropriate, since the Pantanal 25 is intended to be a camping boat, with emphasis in maximum trailerability, with its scant 2.44m (eight feet) beam, a strategic measurement in the United States and Canada, where this beam does not require special license to be trailed, as compared to the 20% larger beam of the other boat. Notwithstanding, in spite of the smaller beam, the Pantanal 25 visibly outstands the other boat in interior layout comfort, taking into account that it has two double berths, secluded heads with door and room for six persons to sleep when cruising. But the important remark is what the journalist reported in his text: “…But she is also a good performer in the racing course, thanks to her generous sail area and her light displacement, especially when sailing close-hauled or in any point of trim when the wind is light...

Zirrdeli, the first Pantanal 25 to be launched, is stationed in the Marmara Sea. 

We still worked in Rio de Janeiro when we completed the Pantanal 25 design. By chance, however, the first to acquire the plans was Robert Boyd, from New South Wales, Australia. Being our first client for this specific design, in a gesture of gratefulness, we presented him with a touristic book about the Pantanal echo-system, one of the most beautiful regions in the world, for the landscape of its swamps and its diversity of wild-life. Even though he is very enthusiastic about the plans, Robert had to postpone the beginning of his construction for personal reasons. On the other hand, the second ones to acquire the plans, the Turkish friends Orhan Sati & Bahatin Bedir, from Istanbul, to our surprise, less than one year later, sent us very nice photos of Zirrdeli, the Pantanal 25 they built together, stationed in a marina in the Marmara Sea. Their boat, as far as we know, is the first of the class to sail.

However this was just the beginning. Presently we have builders in different stages of construction in various countries in four continents, some of them having informed us about their intention to produce the model commercially. So we are quite confident that soon the Pantanal 25 will be recognized as an international class

Dark Ice, the first Pantanal 25 to sail in Brazil

The third Intaschi Nautical Performance/Coopermarine  sale, together with Dark  Ice, and the other boats under construction in Brazil, will allow the homologation as a one-design class. The same applies to other countries where three or more boats are being built. Those who have their constructions under way, wanting to send us good photos of their boats, we are interested in reporting about their progress in our news.

The Pantanal 25 above, Rotfarth,  together with Enigma II, both built by Coopermarine, soon will be sailing in different nautical centres, one in the Santos region, and the other in Brasilia, the country’s capital.

Click here to know more about the Pantanal 25 class

Samoa 28 Class new ‘brood’ coming into scene

The Samoa 28 Class is experiencing a fertile phases in its existence. Every so often we receive photos of class hull’s being turned over, of interiors almost completed, or boats getting close to being concluded. Of course we are delighted with these reports, knowing that the class is spreading its scope quickly.

One of these boats is Baleia, which is being built in Macaé, an important industrial town linked to the rich oil fields offshore the Brazilian coast about one hundred miles east of Rio de Janeiro, by Ubiracy Pereira Jardim.

Being a true amateur, he is enjoying immensely his trial, to the point of publishing a blog about his experiences, http://barcobaleia.blogspot.com, where he is relating step by step each phase of his work.

Baleia has its hull almost planked

Even though building Baleia, which he started this February, constitutes quite an achievement, Ubiracy still found spare time to construct another boat from our plans, the stitch-and-glue one-design dinghy Andorinha (means swallow in Portuguese). You can also follow this construction in the same blog.

Good for him! We are pretty sure he will enjoy every single moment of both constructions.

From Blumenau, industrial town of German colonization in the state of Santa Catarina, South Brazil, we received this September a set of photos of the turning over of another Samoa 28 hull, Everest, also an amateur construction made by her owner, Moacir Teobaldo Ribeiro.

Whenever we receive good photos of a turning over party sent by one of our amateur builders, we feel like writing a note and publishing it in our site, a tribute to that tremendous achievement obtained by that builder.

Even if you are an outsider considering amateur boat building, we are quite sure you understand how special this moment is in the life of that person. It is the fulfillment of a dream, and is obtained with the skills of his hands.

Perhaps because of the importance of the achievement, it is amazing how easy it is to gather friends and sympathizers volunteering to assist in the operation. On those occasions, calls the tradition that the owner offers a barbecue, served with plenty of beer, but on condition that be served only after the task had been completed. Not following this elementary rule can be quite risky, from simply the guest starting to disappear, to a serious mishap when turning the boat upside.

Everest ready for the turning over

We published the turning of a MC28 hull a few weeks ago in our news, and in that case the grid built around the hull was identical to this shown in the photo above. Perhaps the other story served as inspiration for a ‘quick to build cradle’ to assist in the operation. It is the case of one builder assisting another whom he never heard about, sometimes located at the other side of the planet. This is what we can call globalized assistance!

Waiting for the crane to arrive

The preparation of the turning jig represents more work than the turning over itself, but even though anyone can go under the hull and see how it looks like, everybody wants to see it in its upside position. It must be the feeling that from then on one is assured that he already has a boat.

Moacir was very wise in preparing the fairing of his hull to a high degree of smoothness. Even considering that from now on the challenges will be less demanding, working on the outside surface of the bottom of the hull will be much more difficult in the future, and he didn’t spare the opportunity to use the force of gravity in his favour. Another correct procedure was the saturation with epoxy resin of the internal surface of the strips along the planking process. Sealing the wood surface gives dimensional stability to the strip planking, preventing absorption of water vapor by the wooden natural porosity, this way avoiding undesirable stresses caused by expansion of the strips.

The hull just after being turned over, before the removal of the moulds.

However Moacir must take the care to sand the interior before applying the internal fibreglass sheathing; since epoxy resin is so glossy, a second coat of the same resin over the first one, in spite of the good bonding properties of this compound, it does not assure a good adherence between layers.

Another Samoa 28 builder, this one already seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, is Bernardo Sampaio. His Samoa 28 Sailor II is almost finished and soon will be launched. Bernardo is building his boat in Ubatuba, a touristic town in the north shore of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

He has been informing us about the progress of his construction since its first stages, and for the photos he sent us, his work is first class.

Ubatuba is an important nautical centre with large marinas and hundreds of cruising sailboats stationed there. The place is very beautiful, surrounded by rainforest, and affords a profusion of unspoiled cruising grounds to explore.

Wherever there are cruising enthusiasts, a new design always stirs curiosity among the other boat owners. As Sailor II will be the first Samoa 28 to sail in that region, we are quite excited about this inauguration, which for sure will be reported in our news.

Sailor II superstructure ready to receive the finish coat of polyurethane

There are other Samoas 28 being built nearby, and their builders are quite curious to see Sailor II in the water. To Bernardo, and to the other local builders, we wish they enjoy every moment of their construction. This note we hope is stamina for those who are coming next, and we know that the Samoa 28 class is just waking up. At any rate, there are not too many twenty eight foot sailboats with its comfortable interior layout and offshore capabilities.

Sailor II ready for the keel installation

Master and commander of the class is undoubtedly Daniel D’Angelo, the Argentinean geologist who built the Samoa 28 Sirius, www.velerosirius.com.ar  in his home-garden in Buenos Aires, Argentina. With no previous experience, he built such a good boat that the design became popular all over the River Plate, and even beyond. His boat was launched in October 2008, and since then Daniel made cruising trips to the neighbour country Uruguay and to the delta in the Argentinean side of the river. Now Daniel is planning for this summer a trip to the North, probably ending up at Angra dos Reis, a town distant twelve hundred miles  from Buenos Aires.

Sirius was the first Samoa 28 to be launched, and for the good reputation of the boat, there is no doubt that all the other builders in ten different countries have enough reasons to run with their work, so to be able to share with Sirius the pleasure of cruising under sail.

Click here to know more about the Samoa 28

Kiribati 36 Green Nomad nears interior fit out completion

Summer is slowly arriving in Porto Alegre, Brasil, and as if to follow the end of the season the work on Green Nomad is also changing somewhat.

The fitting of the internal furniture is nearing its completion. All basic structures are in place and now it is more a finishing job, fitting locker doors, ceiling and walls lining, floor non skid recovering and painting of the internal plywood in white.

For a duo that is fitting out an interior for the first time, we are in fact surprised by how far we have come.

The evolution of Green Nomad’s home office!

April 2009

End of August 2009

When we were selecting the pictures for this email it came to our minds that we really ought to be missing a couple of screws on our heads, or that our comfort/discomfort threshold must be ways far from the normal.

We have been living aboard during all the fitting out, which only started really in March this year, when we bought and Marli started to fit the insulation Styrofoam sheets. From December 2008 to March 2009 we lived with the same provisional layout that we fitted in the boatyard. Two civil construction plywood sheets and some beams provided a floor during daytime and the beds at night, and all was improvised.

But little by little we started to gain ground during the last 3 months, and now, looking around we can see that our new home is nearly finished!

All we did was planned as not to interfere with the basic needs too much. Our galley had to be operational and we had to have a clean bed at all times. Sometimes that required quite a bit of flexibility.

Two of the most versatile square metres in Porto Alegre

Everything had more than one role, even the toilet seat!

Washing requiredsome skill

Cooking inside an almost bare hull!

During these 3 months we processed roughly the following amounts of building materials:

• 10  10mm marine plywood sheets
• 8 15mm marine plywood sheets
• 50 2m lengths of Cedar wood in varied sections
• 100 sheets of 1000x500x50mm Styrofoam
• 4 sheets of 1000x500x20mm Styrofoam
• 1 Formica sheet
• 2 cans of contact cement
• 3 tubes of glue for wood
• 15 tubes of Sykaflex 221
• 1000 screws

For the ones interested in values we spent in the above around 5000 Brazilian Reals, or some 2500 USD.

First time we went out and grabbed one of the 15mm plywood sheets to cut I thought that I would not be able to move it. But at the end of the day the two of us managed to handle them all, and today we can still not believe that inside our 11m x 3.85m hull we fitted 18 sheets of plywood measuring 2.5 x 1.6 m each!

Working in the dock at Clube dos Jangadeiros, in Porto Alegre

Our great luck, being welcome as guests by the Clube dos Jangadeiros, in Porto Alegre , Brazil. Without this safe port all things would be more difficult.

Preparing the Port diesel tank bed prior to the bedroom fit out

First things first: Our bed initiates the internal fit out!

We started by the aft cabin and went on clockwise, doing the galley, port settee, forward bunk, starboard settee, nav station, heads, engine box and finally the galley sinks that are on top of the lifting-keel box. The last touch was to fit the nav station backrest chair, which will hold us in the rough seas. Already on the first boat we had such an arrangement, with a longitudinal nav table and outboard facing chair, but then it was fixed. Now we can rotate it and even raise it 20cm in order to have a very comfortable watch position.

We are also well on our way installing the plumbing, and in two more weeks shall start the electrics.

One of our friend’s kids explores the mad sailors cave. So much to see!

Today we can already receive gests for dinner with comfort and hope many of them will come here and in the places we plan to sail to in the near future.

At last a real galley!

A long way we have come since the meals sitting on the toilet

Madrugada’s ex nav table was given to us by Niels Rump, from Farol Nautica, who is currently doing the restauration job to bring the old racing champion back to its golden days

The dual sinks that drain into the keel well

Navigating the web for now, but hopefully the oceans soon.

We surface mounted the heads washbasin to save locker space underneath and to be able to bring it as far inboard as possible, attaining full headroom above it.

For exterior fit out the only news for now are the fitting of the hard dodger frame in aluminiun tubing. We had a full cockpit enclosure on the first Green Nomad, what was easy to achieve due to the centre cockpit design, but now we are getting the same effect by fitting a drop down transparent back cover, which will be fastened to the cockpit seats and floor at the back of the hard dodger, something similar to what we saw in some of the Vendee Globe IMOCA 60 class boats.

Green Nomad waiting to get on her way to meet new and old friends!

We hope to have Green Nomad apt to sail away by the end of the year. Even though we are loving our time here in Porto Alegre, for next winter we long to be on some tropical location, trading oilskins for T shirts and boots for  Havaianas sandals ( a brazilian sandal that spread around the world ).

Luis Manuel Pinho, luisdesenhos@gmail.com is a member of our yacht design staff and presently is building his new Green Nomad. This time he chose the Kiribati 36, the latest B & G stock plan, mostly designed by him. As soon as the boat, which is being built in Porto Alegre, South Brazil, is concluded, he intends, together with his wife, Marli Werner, to return to the South Pacific, this time feeling more prepared to face awkward situations thanks to the swing keel system adopted in the design of the new boat.

Click here to know more about the Kiribati 36

Pantanal 25 Being Built in Chile - Maik Biela

Hello,
My name is Maik Biela. I’m 37 years old, German, and presently live in Santiago de Chile.

I studied professional craftsmanship in carpentry some twenty years ago in my country, Germany. I left Germany almost ten years ago to search something new, and lived several years in the USA, where I also worked in my profession, as a contractor in the construction business.

During this time I started visiting Chile, and was thinking why not to go there and start something new, as I’m always looking and searching for, something really new, and here I am, also working as a contractor in construction with my professional skills and craftsmanship.

Like always, I was interested in boats, but this hobby is not really affordable in Germany, so I was searching for possibilities to start doing something in Chile, since there is a lot of ocean around this country, and this gives you a lot of options.

So I obtained my captain licence to start sailing in a small Boat-Club called Quintero.
I was lucky because just after I received my licence I had right away the possibility to sail in races sponsored by this same club, and we did very well, won a lot of races and this was when I wanted to have my own sailboat, to go around, and enjoy water and nature on my own.

So I started searching how I could get a good sailboat for a good budget, but buying new from the factory was not an option for me, so I was thinking why not building one??!!

After searching and searching, I finally found Roberto Barros Yacht Design, and I was much exited with the design of their boats. I ordered study plans from various providers of plans for amateur boat building, but finally chose a design from Roberto Barros Yacht Design, this because it was a modern design, and I wanted to start with a boat where I have space, neither too big, nor too small, and also for a reasonable budget.

I chose the Pantanal 25 and finally ordered its whole set of plans. Then I began studying the plans with mixed feelings, sometimes I was questioning my skills to build a boat like this, but started building anyway and thinking: this has to work out, whatever effort it costs because I want a sailboat!!!

I contacted Roberto Barros’s naval architect Luis Gouveia and tried to clear a few questions about the construction and that worked perfectly, getting quick responses to my questions, so I was looking forward to receive the plans and get started as soon as possible.

I started in March 2009 to search wood for the hull construction, and started building that same March. This was so quick, I couldn't believe it. I was fascinated how everything worked out with plans and the building process and my skills are more than enough to go further building in my spare time, and now it’s difficult to separate me from the process after long hours of building, it is fascinating!!!

I finished the hull in 4 months (only in my spare time). Then I called a couple of friends to help me out to turn the hull, and now I can get started to finish the interior...The hull turnover was very exiting for me, because I really did not know how it was going to work out, but the answer is in the pictures, everything worked great!!! I also have to say: I’m looking in my general work many of the details, almost ridiculous, and perhaps this is also the answer, that everything worked out till now.

My experience to build a boat in Chile is mixed, I’m sorry to say, but I must admit, it’s not a builder’s paradise, because it’s very complicate to find specific materials for this work, and a lot of companies here are only interested in selling products in large quantities, what make things more difficult, so I searched the internet, often for hours on end, called thousands of people until I had a solution for the materials I needed, and also contacted Luis Gouveia from Yacht Design very often to find solutions for materials.

Finally I got what I searched. I was a bit tired but satisfied, and could go further with the building.
A lot of people are paying attention if they realize that somebody builds a boat, and I had various talks about this. This is also a very interesting part of building your own boat. Till now I built my boat alone, since I want to enjoy everything during the building process all by myself. As I said, I’m much focused on details, and because of this I prefer to finish the boat alone, except the hull turnover and heavy moving, whatever is impossible to do alone.

I’m exited to go further with the whole building, and can’t wait to start sailing with the Pantanal.
I’m that bit crazy, I’m already thinking to build another boat from Roberto Barros Yacht Design, but I have to finish first the Pantanal, and then I’ll see which boat I will do next.

I will thank Roberto Barros Yacht Design, that they made it possible with their designs to build a perfect and modern boat for an affordable budget, and also to have fun in the building process. I also want to mention that they provide an incredible customer service, being interested in their builders!!!!

It’s fantastic to buy a brand new boat from the factory, but the experience that I get from building my own boat is indescribable!!!

Thank's very much to all, and Roberto Barros Yacht Design for publishing my pictures and publishing my experience. Thanks also to my friends who helped me out in the hull turnover!!!!!

Will keep you updated,

Best regards
Capt.Maik Biela
Boat builder

Click here to know more about the Pantanal 25 class

Pantanal 25 being built in Argentina - Daniel D’Angelo

After concluding the construction of the Samoa 28 Sirius, which I built in my home garden, I started using it intensively since its launching day. Not so long after, however, still remembering how pleasurable its construction had been, and how rewarding was sailing on her afterwards, I decided to build another boat from a different design, this time a Pantanal 25.

This design interested me for various reasons, being its capacity of draught control, low displacement and fast building technique the most important points in my decision. Since the building method did not differ significantly from the one adopted for the Sirius (foam sandwich for the Pantanal 25, against wooden strip-planking sandwich for the Sirius), I reckoned that the work would be considerably lesser than it took to build the former one (two years, eleven months)…and so far I didn’t find reasons to doubt about my prediction. The foam is extremely easy to be handled and sanding is a task for children! So, in April, 2009, I started the construction of “Vega”.

With my previous experience and the confidence of being able to construct a good boat, the work is progressing with celerity in spite of the chilly weather in Buenos Aires this time of the year.

Taking advantage of what was left from autumn; I managed to conclude the outside lamination of the hull in two weeks. (The same job when building Sirius took two months to be accomplished!) Coping simultaneously with different working fronts, I started to build the drop-keel trunk, rudder and fin-keel hydrofoil framing.

When I resumed the work in late July, the cold weather prevented me to deal with anything that required epoxy usage while working in the open where the hull was being assembled. So I took a radical decision: I would build the superstructure inside the barbecue shed in my garden, making it in two halves to be joined later. This way in two weeks I had the fore half concluded, which I brought to the outside, leaving it on the mown, while I opened room to build the other half.

This part was a bit more troublesome to build, since its moulds were more complex and the tightness of the room available made it difficult for me to move around the working area. Before having to interrupt the construction, since the time off from my job was finishing, I managed to apply the foam sandwich along the whole aft part of the superstructure and started sheathing it with fibreglass, the remaining left undone representing one more day of work at most!

Meanwhile I ordered the mast and boom from a renowned local spar maker as well as the special fittings from a specialized hardware workshop, while with another Argentinean builder of Pantanal 25, Tomas Orcoyen, we ordered together to a foundry the drop-keel bulb.

On my next time off, in September, I’ll start the installation of the structural bulkheads, partitions and furniture, a task that I reckon will take a fortnight to be accomplished. The sail inventory, at least to start with, I intend to use the ones from my bigger yacht, which surprisingly approximately fits in the smaller boat!

It is bliss to work with foam sandwich/epoxy. All going well, and Mother Nature giving me a hand, it is possible that I manage to finish the boat before scheduled, December 2009…an absolute record for me!!!

I am quite anxious to try her and be able to enjoy her huge cockpit already assembled at the aft half of the superstructure, a reason for compliments from our visitors! It will be quite rewarding to see how she performs in the tricky waters of River Plate. The expectation is that she will be a fast boat

The Argentinean geologist Daniel D’Angelo was the first person to complete the construction of a Samoa 28 (see his site: www.velerosirius.com.ar) and having enjoyed the hobby of boatbuilding, he is in the way of a second challenge, now the Pantanal 25 Vega.

Click here to know more about the Pantanal 25 class

Polar 65 Fraternidade first sea trial

Our largest polar yacht design, the Polar 65, has already its first unit in operation. Fraternidade, (means fraternity in Portuguese),the Polar 65 built by the Ukrainian/Brazilian engineer Aleixo Belov is beginning an ambitious long distance cruising plan. Aleixo intends to sail with his brand new expedition machine to the most remote places in the planet, taking with him a crew of scientists, journalists, film makers, divers and persons involved with the nautical world.
This intrepid aim has already began with a twelve hundred miles two way trip from Salvador, the city where the boat was built, to Fernando de Noronha, an ocean island located in the South Atlantic.

Fraternidade anchored in Fernando de Noronha. Photo Helio Viana

Aleixo is a very determined and efficient person. Being a well succeeded entrepreneur, he managed to organize his life so he could accomplish three round the world trips in solitary aboard a thirty-six foot fibreglass yacht built by him, managing to travel for the time required for such an extended voyage without having to discontinue his engineering firm. After his third circumnavigation, close to complete sixty years of age, he asked himself what he really wanted in life from then on: Have another son? He had already a large family; to invest in the expansion of his business? This was already happening, anyway. Build a highly technological yacht from a creative design, a boat that would be capable of sailing in any weather condition and to enter into the most difficult and inhospitable places? Why not? That was, no doubt, a challenge with enough appeal in his restless mind for him to dive head first in.

When returning from the third trip around the world he made a charter from Ushuaya to the Antarctic Peninsula aboard Kotik, a polar yacht built in Brazil by her owner, the Russian physicist and charter skipper Oleg Belly, a firm supporter of swing keel monohull yachts, the keel system adopted in his boat.
When returning from this charter, Aleixo was informed about the previous experiences our office had in designing polar yachts, the most well known being the Tillman Prize awarded Paratii, the first boat to circumnavigate the Antarctic Continent singlehanded, crewed by the Brazilian adventurer Amyr Klink

The Polar 65 has an interior layout adequate for charter business in high latitudes

Strongly influenced by Oleg’s ideas, Aleixo came to our office with a roll of sheets with sketches of the boat he was dreaming with. He wanted a multi-chine steel yacht, ketch-rigged, and obviously with a swing keel system. The boat being large enough, it was agreed that the keel trunk would extend from bottom to deck forming a central case around which the interior would be constructed. The keel should describe a 90° arc when retracted and in its ascending path would be installed an interesting innovation: a ratchet rail that allowed the keel to be blocked at any height, eliminating the risk of falling in case of failure in the lifting mechanism.

We took the task of designing this exciting boat as a unique opportunity for developing something really innovative. Our deal with Belov contemplated that the property of the design would be ours, since he had no interest in exclusivity. On the other hand we offered him a special support in designing the project, assisting him in customising some of his ideas which wouldn’t interest other potential clients, and this happened to be a very good deal. The stock plan was developed more according to the taste of the general yachtsman, while Fraternidade ended up resembling a typical service boat specified to operate under the toughest conditions.

The more sophisticated style we chose for the Polar 65 differs in some aspects from Fraternidade; however, the flexibility of customizing the plans for any preference is one of the great advantages of metallic construction. Rendered image: www.ideebr.com

Aleixo took about five years to build his boat and this he did in his own company plant, employing his staff to run the construction. His ingenuity was unlimited, and, since he invested a tremendous effort in obtaining the maximum of quality all over the building process, his boat became a hallmark in marine engineering. This joint venture was extremely helpful for us in having such a demanding client working together with our team.

Intending to spend from now on the most part of his life aboard, it is no wonder that the boat looks like a cozy, nicely decorated home. However Fraternidade is also a sophisticated service boat. A good example of this is her pilot-house. Besides possessing a ship’s size navigation table with space under to store paper charts from the whole world, this compartment still has a bunk for the off-watch officer and its instruments console rivals that of a ship

The list of navigation equipment at the piloting centre includes auto-pilot, radar, chart plotter, wind station, VHF, SSB, a compass coupled with three GPS for precise reading of the true course and AIS automatic traffic detector. Photo Helio Viana

Fraternidade was launched early this year; however her owner only considered the boat ready for a conclusive sea trial this July. The first test programmed was a trip to Fernando de Noronha, an ocean island six hundred miles northeast of Salvador, and back, a light challenge for such a powerful machine, however quite adequate for its first test.

As if she was an aircraft-carrier, Fraternidade never heeled beyond five degrees. Photo Helio Viana

Aleixo Belov gathered a group of friends and collaborators in the construction for this first trial, among them two friends of ours, the couple Mara Blumer and Helio Viana, both being old salts and involved with our design office, since they built and live  aboard the Samoa 29  Maracatu, with which they have already sailed dozens of thousand miles.

The first relevant observation they made was that with its impressive twelve tons, five metres deep fully lowered swing-keel, the boat hardly heeled at all, not even when hit by those frequent squalls that forms under cumulus clouds in the trade winds. Roller-reefing the foresails were much more a matter of protecting the canvas than an urge to relieve rig stress. The uncluttered flush decks were seldom washed in those conditions and the impression they felt was of being aboard a cruise ship.

Sailing on her nose, Fraternidade hardly felt the wind speed. The removable wooden floor in the central area of the deck shuts the slot of the keel trunk. Photo Helio Viana

The trip to Fernando de Noronha and back was quite eventless. The crew had the opportunity to enjoy themselves with sophisticated meals and plenty of leisure time. The boat proved to be so easy to handle that even a single person would be able to sail her. Helio found a few flaws yet, typical of a new boat, like the lack of hand holders inside the starboard heads, and the inexistence of a hook to hang the telephone type shower nozzle, nothing that couldn’t be easily improved for the next leg of the trip.

My friend got deeply impressed with the incredible spaciousness of the saloon. The huge U-shaped settee has enough room for about twenty persons to seat comfortably around two large tables. A complete galley to port faced by a communication centre at starboard make the entertaining area of the interior one of the most agreeable to be found in boats this size.

Polar 65 Fraternidade is already part of the scenery. From now on she will be seen in the most different places in any latitude. Photo Helio Viana

Aleixo is very pleased with his boat, notwithstanding the fifty items he added to his checklist to be improved before the next extended cruise.

Meanwhile a second Polar 65 has its construction in an advanced stage. This one is being built by Metallic Boats, www.metallicboats.com.br, at Triunfo, a town in Southern Brazil. So, soon we will have two boats of the class demonstrating the practicality of retractable keels for long range cruising yachts of large size. Since we have been consulted by many other yachtsmen interested in knowing how this new design performs, we are glad to have been informed that the boat passed with honours in her fist test.

Polar 65: A cruising yacht for deep water and shoal. Rendered image: www.ideebr.com 

Click here to know more about the Polar 65

Multichine 28 being built in the Pacific Northwest

The MC 28 class has one more hull concluded and turned upside. This time the news came from Washington State, U.S.

Our client, David Cross, made an excellent work and his hull is very well built. It is great to know that David surpassed the first phase of the construction without difficulties. From now on he will find still more pleasure in his work, since at end of each day he will see his boat looking more like she will be. 

The turning the hull upside party

Only those who build their own boats know the sensation it gives when reaching this stage. From now on you actually are building your floating home, and since the interior is made before the deck is installed, as soon as the settees are in place, you already have room to begin receiving your friends for a chat aboard, or, if you prefer, to toast the latest achievement in the construction.

So far, so good

The MC28 class is becoming renowned as a fantastic cruising boat for a small family. She is so easy to sail and requires so little effort on the tiller, besides being super-stiff that she is by far becoming our most frequently chosen model among middle-class couples of all ages who intend to go cruising, or staying aboard for long periods. The class even has owners living aboard permanently with little babies with them. (See in ALL NEWS the article published a few weeks ago: Multichine 28 Vagamundo. Baby on board)

With dozens of boats of the class being built or sailing in different places, it will be no surprise finding them meeting, or criss-crossing each other’s path in the most remote cruising grounds. Even though we have clients building different designs of ours in the Pacific Northwest, David is the first to build a MC 28 hull in this region.

The final stages of the turning upside operation

 Working in his spare time only, he reckons he will take another two years to finish his boat. We will be very glad to know that a MC28 is sailing on that cruising paradise, Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, and beyond.

David informed us that the cast iron fin-keel originally designed for the class is difficult to be ordered in his region, and asked if we had an alternative solution for such a critical component.

We discovered that it is not only on the West Coast that it is problematic to find a foundry willing to cast one keel only, a piece that neither is large enough to bring a good profit nor sufficiently small to be filled with leftovers .

The hull is safely brought back into the building shed

Our clients in Europe seem to have faced the same problem and also demanded an alternative solution. So we developed a keel made of steel plate where you pour lead inside. The cover of this box is a 5/8” thick plate where you open the threads to fix the keel bolts directly on it. This keel is as good as the original, or even better, with the same centre o gravity and weight, but causes less drag, since for the same centre of gravity position it doesn’t require the bottom bulb. Since this alternative had been already tested, we are pretty sure that this drawback is perfectly overcome.

David also asked us a special sail plan with one metre taller mast than the cruising rig of the standard design, since his area of sailing is renowned for light winds. He also will do some club racing, and for that purpose more canvas is quite desirable. Of course his boat will be no more cat. A according to the European Union stability index (STIX); however those who don’t want to cross the oceans along the roaring forties in midwinter, being cat. B is more than satisfactory.

As David progresses with his work and sends us new photos, we will be glad to report them in or news, as we use to do with other MC28 built according to the plans.

The men who made it happen

Click here to know more about the Multichine 28

Multichine 28 Class special promotion campaign

The MC 28 is the most popular design in our list of blue water sailboat stock plans. There is a permanent interest of potential cruising sailors for this model and the number of MC 28 builders around the world never stops increasing. In August 2009 we are getting close to two hundred units being built in nine different countries; Argentine, Brazil, Canada, Chile, England, Greece, Portugal, Spain and United States.

Those who chose to build a MC 28 might have different reasons to do so; however, according to the information our clients pass us, the most important decision factor is the MC 28 interior layout. Many of our clients nurture a long dreamed endeavour to live aboard and/or to go sailing on a long cruise bound for the most distant places.

And that very aspect is where the MC28 outstands. Concerning liveability and cosiness of its cabin arrangement, definitively in this respect the MC28 is “the boat”.

When people discover that you can walk with adequate headroom from the aft cabin private hall to the main saloon, contouring one of the largest galleys to be found in boats of this length, at that moment our potential clients begin a flirt with the model that uses to become a permanent love affair.

The MC 28 saloon is large enough to promote a small party

But there is another key issue for captivating supporters for the class. This design  fits category A of the European Union Stability Index (STIX), meaning that the boat is capable of standing a seven metres high wave pattern for prolonged periods, and enduring up to fourteen metres high eventual waves.

The confidence this compliance  transmit to would be owners has been one of the decision factors for choosing the MC 28 among many of our builders.

The MC28 possesses a superb steering control

Every so often, when our clients choose to build a MC28, that commitment usually becomes a point of no return in their lives. It is amazing how they make plans for the future being the boat the means to accomplish their dreams. It seems that all along the building process their adventure plans become each day more consistent and this anticipation of future enjoyment is the main spring in propelling them towards concluding the construction. This attached attitude might seem too obvious, but it is not.

A series produced boat which is delivered equipped with the list of accessories recommended by the dealer doesn’t compare to the pleasure of choosing, one by one, all the parts to be installed aboard the boat you are making yourself. It is very like receiving the visit of Father Christmas every month of the year. The same feeling of accomplishment applies for no matter which part of the construction is completed. As a matter of fact it uses to be reason for toasting at every end of a working day.

This sensation of endless pleasure is only known by those who build their own boats, and, coincidence or not, we seldom listen to any complaint among our amateur builders about the hardness of home building.
We from B & G Yacht Design have our share of contribution in the success of the enterprise. Our plans are very well detailed, and the building manual we wrote to assist inexperienced builders covers every phase of the construction, providing enough confidence to ensure confidence to the inexperienced. The fact that the construction method is so straightforward and friendly is also responsible for so many well succeeded boats of the class already sailing.

The MC28 is a good performer when sailing close-hauled

We elected the MC 28 our reference stock plan for amateur construction, establishing the same standards for every other project we develop. However, since this plan had been chosen to be our basic standard, we had no other choice than building one of them for ourselves, so we could be absolutely sure that all the information contained in the plans and in the building manual were correct.

Just to double-check, we didn’t build only one MC28, but took the opportunity to build a second together. That was how the MC28 Fiu and Makai were born. These boats sailed already dozens of thousand miles without ever having the slightest construction failure, and after almost ten years of usage, both of them are as good as new.

Our attitude generated a tremendous feeling of confidence in potential cruising sailors acquainted with us, who followed our construction wit great enthusiasm, many of them paying regular visits to our building shed. During that time it was amazing the number of other people who started building MC28

The Mc28 interior is bright and functional

Presently the good reputation of the class spreads internationally and for all that alteady happened with the class in increasing its reputation, we are pretty confident that in years to come many other new builders will discover why the MC28 class is becoming synonymous of a cruising floating-home.

The all around vision from inside the cabin is highly praised by MC28 owners

Rendered images: www.ideebr.com
Click here to know more about the Multichine 28   

Multichine 26C class is spreading its horizons

This news came from Istambul, Turkey. Ömer Kircal, a client of ours who is building a MC26C, sent us a slide show about the construction of his almost finished sailboat, Evrensel, (meaning universal in Turkish).

The slides are particularly appealing because they cover all phases of the construction, from the building of a makeshift shed to the attachment of a foam insulated ceiling liner under the trunk coach-roof.

We really appreciated watching the photos. We found them so didactic that we replayed them various times until we could remember by heart every single detail shown. The subtitles are written in Turkish, but, for those like us who don’t understand Turkish, why will anybody need reading subtitles for such self explanatory figures?

Ömer, with the assistance of his wife and friends, accomplished a wonderful job. For us from B & G yacht Design, Ömer’s achievement is quite rewarding. At first place because he found the plans comprehensive and well detailed enough not to need extra assistance from us. More important yet, is the high quality of the work accomplished throughout the construction. Last but not least, what a nice interior does Evrensel possess! Thanks to the Kircal’s family good taste, it is hard to believe it’s an amateur construction.

Click here to know more about the Multichine 26C class  

Kiribati 36 Green Nomad construction latest news.

Luis Manuel Pinho, our new collaborator, is an engineer, yacht designer and cruising sailor of great personal experience. He travelled for nearly ten years to the most distant islands in the South Pacific aboard Green Nomad, a thirty-six foot home-built steel sailboat, in company of his wife, Marli Werner. He sold his boat in Australia and flied to Brazil, the country where he found the most favourable costs/benefit conditions for building a one-off yacht, and now he is building there a new Green Nomad, this time in aluminium.

The new boat, a Kiribati 36, our latest stock plan mostly designed by himself, is being finished in a very fast pace. The couple is already living aboard, an experience that anticipates future adventures they so anxiously are dreaming with.

You, who are following the saga of the enterprising couple regularly in our site, will like to know how they are doing:

“We are amazed with the productivity you can achieve doing the interior joinery work when you have it modeled in 3D in a cad program.

It has been less than 2 months since we started the interior building, and you can see in the pictures how far we have come!

Launch day....                                             Less than 2 months of work

Ideally we would have used the files to have all plywood parts CNC cut but, as most amateur boat builders, we have a tight budget, so our CNC is a not cutting edge but it works.

Using the projected plywood parts’ shapes, we nest them manually in the area of a plywood sheet, and using our own CNC machine ( from Copy’n Cut) we hand copy them into A4 pages and walk out to draw them in the real plywood sheets, and using a hand jig-saw we cut the parts.

We pre-cut all parts like this. They come aboard with all the slots for fitting around the aluminum structure. Very little on the spot adjusting is needed. We got to mount 3 bulkheads in the same day!

Hand copying...

Transferring to the plywood sheet...

Bulkheads cut and ready to come aboard

We are doing all the work by ourselves and surprised with the ground we cover each day. Apart from the unstoppable sneezing due to dust, it is being an agreeable experience.

Each day the living a board gets a little more comfortable. Not long after a part is fixed in place it is summoned into service!

Settee being finished...

Settee in use!

One curious detail: A friend is doing the restauration work of one of Brazil’s most famous ocean racers, Madrugada, and he offered us the old nav table, and guess what..., it fits perfectly in the spot allocated for it on Green Nomad!

Madrugada’s nav table being fixed. It will sail again with Green Nomad!

An amazing feature is the dimensional precision achieved with CNC kit boat building.
The interior furniture modeled around the aluminum structure in the same cad program fits over it perfectly, with insignificant deviation from the computer model size.

From the structural joinery work we are only missing the nav station and the head. After that we will tackle the walls and ceiling linings, which will be done using recycled white plastic 2mm sheets.

And as not all is work, we are having some fun along the way, meeting old friends here in Porto Alegre. Today we received the visit from Anselmo and Tania, which came alongside in their steel MC37 37 Taihú, another boat of B & G Yacht design . We met them in the Caribbean in 1997.

A nice surprise with the visit from Anselmo and Tânia, from Taihú

Luis Manuel e Marli
Kiribati 36 Green Nomad
Luisdesenhos@gmail.com

Click here to know more about the Kiribati 36

Bora-Bora 28 Flor Dágua, a symbol of perfect happiness

Gunk-holing in a tropical sea shore, passing over shallow sandbanks or coral heads aboard an open-bridged cat without causing any harm to its bottom can be one of the most exhilarating sailing experiences one can try out with a cruising sailboat.

Different from central cabin cats, the Bora-Bora 28 has sleeping accommodations, galley, heads and dinette inside each hull, while lateral resistance and steering control are provided by pivoting centerboards and rudders. These features contribute for a light displacement boat with a very small draught, (scants 0.28m – 11”) when the appendices are lifted.

The decision to design a catamaran with such characteristics was taken when Astrid Barros, our PhD in computational fluid dynamics, was still graduating in naval architecture. She had the chance to take part in the Recife to Fernando de Noronha Island Regatta, a very popular three-hundred miles offshore race run annually in the South Atlantic, aboard a multihull with an all women crew, when her boat was the second to cross the line, loosing the first position in the last minutes of the race to a much larger multihull, the absolute favorite for the event.

That achievement resulted in a preference for multihull sailboats, which impelled her to decide for designing an innovative catamaran.

Astrid, wearing a white shirt, is the second from right assisting hoisting the mainsail of the trimaran Bahia during the 2002 Recife to Fernando de Noronha race. For the second place in the race, the girls were awarded a six burner stove, one burner for each crewmember.

At that time B & G Yacht Design office had no multihull in its collection of stock plans, so the developing of the design, having Astrid as project manager, happened in an atmosphere of great enthusiasm, including the intention of building one of these boats for her own use. She wished to sail along the tropical Brazilian coats, which stretches in a succession of coastal lagoons separated from the ocean by coral reefs accessible to shallow draught boats only.

The resulting design, specified for the plywood/epoxy building method, was totally turned towards amateur construction. With symmetric double-chine narrow hulls held together by two quite easy to make box-like wooden beams and a flat platform, it was the simplest solution she could envisage for an inexperienced amateur to build.

Other priorities deterred Astrid from building her own boat at the time; however this didn’t matter so much, since, as soon as the Bora-Bora 28 was introduced in our list of stock plans, it began stirring a great interest in the nautical community and sold various copies in a run.

Our most enthusiastic client came from Bahia, a state in the northeast region of Brazil, a very popular cruising destination for many Europeans, particularly French sailors.

Carlos Mario Pedregal, a businessman of Spanish origin, found in the touristic city of Salvador the best place in the world to live in. Being the first to acquire the plans, in spite of never having built a boat before, he constructed Flor D’água  in record time, making the whole work almost unassisted. He chose the Bora-Bora 28 intending to take part in local races, to cruise with his family, and above all, to beach his cat’s bows in the pristine white palm fringed sand beaches typical of that region, and he found out that the Bora-Bora was the best boat for those purposes.

In September 2005 Flor D’água took part in the Recife to Fernando de Noronha race, when she had the opportunity to show her speed potential, being among the firsts to cross the line, and following, won the Fernando de Noronha to Natal Regatta, the race created to take the participants back to the continent.. After sailing more than one thousand miles in the open sea, Flor D’água returned to Salvador, where Carlos Mario began his second phase of usage, profiting from the cruising potential of his boat. The exploits he managed to accomplish with his boat is capable of letting any cruising sailor with his mouth watering.

The best place to “park” your boat on a Sunday holiday

Happy children, happy sailing

The water might be warm, but the beer is ice-cold

There is room aboard the Bora-Bora 28 for any fantasy.

The capacity of reducing draught is becoming an important feature in many cruising areas.

The Bora-Bora 28 heads is quite roomy

The unobstructed bridge-deck has enough room to hold a party on it.

Click here to know more about the Samoa 34 class         

Samoa 34 Zait – Launching video

Flavio Rodrigues, owner of Flab Boatyards, www.flab.com.br, from Campinas, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, proudly announces the launching of the Samoa 34 Zait. We have just published the article – “Samoa 34 Zait, a touch of art in wood/epoxy construction”, reporting the conclusion of Zait’s construction, and now we are presenting Flavio’s son, Ivan Rodrigues, custom video for the event. Daniel Sequerra, Zait’s owner, is extremely pleased with his boat and in a few days more he will be doing the sea trial of his yacht, sailing from the launching place, Ubatuba, a town in the north shore of t5he state of Sao Paulo, to Rio de Janeiro, one hundred twenty miles away.

Sorry for the lyrics in the sound track being in a foreign language. It would be asking too much to the author, who composed the tune exclusively for the event, to translate the song into English. Note the incredible gloss of the topsides paint-work. Flavio sent us this communiqué:

To my friends
June 2, 2009 I had the pleasure of launching another sailboat from our boatyard.  Zait, belonging to our dear friend Daniel Sequerra, floated graciously as if she already knew that the sea was her dwelling, and her bows sliced the water effortlessly and with elegance under the command of her skipper.

That was just a short-lasting event; however brief, it served to show one more time how nice this design is. I would like to share with you the emotion this video provided on our spirits, the very moment Zait’s keel touched the water

Flavio Antônio Rodrigues
Tel: +55 019 97676161

Click here to know more about the Samoa 34 class

Atairu, the newest MC28 floating home

We have been showing photos of different Multichines 28 regularly in our site, all of them revealing cozy and inviting interior layouts. However, since there are a large number of these boats under construction or being finished, we keep receiving more photos of just concluded new ones, almost invariably with their owners in a state of grace, having the most different plans for their boats, ranging from simply living aboard to ambitious overseas cruises.

We wonder why so many choose this design as the boats of their lives. Better than expressing our impressions, we rather prefer to listen to what those owners have to say.

The most recent e-mail we received came from Porto Alegre, Brazil, a town situated one hundred miles away from the sea, separated from the Atlantic by an inland sea, large enough to allow that town to be an active sailing centre, and, by luck, a stronghold of sailboats from our office. Our clients this time are the couple from Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost Brazilian state, who completed their MC28 Atairu a few weeks ago; the engineer Antonio Piqueres and his wife Ivana. They wrote:

 “Dear friends from B & G Yacht Design.

How exciting it is to live aboard! The MC28 is what we can call a “complete boat”. We took these photos just yesterday. We prepared a rice dish, never missing the traditional local sausage, washed down by Rio Grande red wine (of course not before sipping the “mate” as appetizer.) Aboard Atairu everything is functioning perfectly, and we feel like being at home. (We have a fridge – Ivana suggests inverting the position of the sinks with the fridge or placing a step for an easier access to this deep compartment.) We also have cold and hot pressurized water, so we don’t miss anything. As a matter of fact Atairu is becoming a small home. (That is how our club mates are calling the boat.) We just received our new sails and as soon they are hoisted we send you our impressions about the boat’s performance, of course the opinion of beginners. Soon we have plans for one week sailing, our first cruise along the Guaiba River, promising you to send photos of this first adventure. It’s going to be quite a test, considering the many sandbanks we will find in the way, but wherever there will be depth enough for our keel to pass over, we will be there. Who knows if we don’t end up meeting you in Australia. A long journey begins with the first step, isn’t it so? (Sometimes we believe dear Atairu  is complaining being lashed to a pier…) Love for you all… and thanks for the excellent design

Ivana and Piqueres”

The MC28 galley is reason of envy from owners of much larger sailboats

Can you believe this is only a twenty-eight foot sailboat? Note the “mate” cup and its silver sucking pipe. “Mate” infusion bowl is an indispensable accessory for any authentic “Gaucho”.

The light coloured woods employed in the decoration of this MC28 enhance the sensation of spaciousness in the saloon.

Ivana and Piqueres toast their first class supper aboard with a Rio Grande wine of good harvest.

Atairu lashed to the pier at the Jangadeiros Yacht Club in Guaiba River, Porto Alegre, South Brazil.              

***

Another eloquent e-mail we received from a MC28 Class owner came  from Canadá.

Roberto Roque is a Brazilian born Canadian who lives in Calgary, Alberta. His boat, Stella del Fioravante is presently stationed at Florianopolis, a town in South Brazil, placed in a very beautiful island, called by many the Brazilian New Zealand:

“I’d been sailing in the West Coast (Wet Coast, as they call it here.) We were a group of acquaintances in five different boats. I was aboard a series produced thirty-four foot French sailboat with two other friends. The other boats were larger, between 43 and 46 feet. One day there was a club race and we managed to win in corrected time. I didn’t appreciate the boat at all, even though she was extremely comfortable. I simply execrated the mainsail mast furling system, which I would never install in a boat of mine. The gadget is prone to malfunctioning.

 The boat had a serious tendency to broach, and in fact we broached many times. The wind was blowing at 12 – 15 knots, but increased suddenly in vicious gusts, when we couldn’t manage to hold her on course. If we reefed, the boat slowed down terribly. When the wind surpassed twenty knots it was almost impossible to control it. Above twenty knots we had to reef both sails to half their sizes. I guess the rudder was sub dimensioned and the sail plan somehow displaced from its correct position. Even the larger boats of our fleet also broached when hit by harder gusts. The gossip I heard here is that the factory that built our boat produces better models than those intended for the North American charter or leisure market, when they are fabricated to be sold in Europe.

Not wanting to sound cocky, (even though my Canadian mates most probably thought I was), my dear MC28 stands twenty-five knots winds without any difficulty.

In my maiden voyage, going from Rio de Janeiro to Florianópolis, we were sailing full-canvassed with the auto-pilot steering the boat without complaints, and we never had to touch the tiller, except for changing course or to anchor, since expecting the auto-pilot to do this would be wanting too much. We knew we had to exchange the Genoa for the Yankee, since the boat was “flying”, but the seas were too rough to invite us going forward and we let her take care of herself. And she did just that in great style, sailing straight as an arrow towards our destination.

I simply can’t understand why some designers of production boats don’t manage to produce decent sailboats. If the boat I was in at least sailed well in light winds, it would be o.k. However, in light winds it hardly moved, and when the wind freshened, the boat disliked it. In short, it seems that the boat didn’t like sailing. It is only suited to cook aboard, for sun drenching in the foredeck or to drink beer or wine when docked in the marina.

I launched my local boat (a twenty-six foot, water-ballasted trailerable sailboat) this weekend, having my son as crew. She has about the same sins. She is easy to control up to twelve knots of wind, then she becomes difficult to be steered. You must reef her or have a quick action slacking the sheets in the puffs. How much I miss my Fiori!

I hope to travel to Brazil soon, craving to be back aboard that son of a gun. I intend to spend more time in that country from now on. I would love to sail up to Fernando de Noronha Island.

 I’m affraid my club mates think I am telling too much boloney about Fiori. What can I do? A boat that I steer with two fingers when sailing in fifteen knots…and with 25 knots winds, change tacks with jib only as if she was a laser… a boat that doesn’t overload the automatic pilot, since she is extremely well balanced…there is no chance not to be haughty…”

Click here to know more about the MC 28Class

Samoa 34 Zait, a touch of art in wood/epoxy construction

There must be something ludic about the Samoa 34 Class. For some almost exoteric reason, each new boat from this design stands out as a masterpiece in wood work, to the point to be chosen as cover stories in specialized magazines. A few weeks ago we reported the launching of Luthier, a home built Samoa 34 so beautiful that the most adequate name she deserved had to be that one. The photos shown in our article: Samoa 34 Luthier; the wind calls the tune (see article in all news, rolling the page), are good witness of our words.

Zait, the latest member of the class is another Samoa 34 to give evidence to this tradition. Built by Flab Boatyards, from Campinas, a town two hundred kilometers inland from the port of Santos, Brazil, this new Samoa 34 is reason for great pride, either from part of her builder, Flavio Rodrigues, or the owner, the yachtsman Daniel Sequerra.

Daniel is a lover of classic wooden boats. He solemnly despises clorox-box style fiberglass series produced yachts and when the time had come for him to choose a yacht to cruise with his family, he did not hesitate for one second in choosing the Samoa 34 among our list of plans. Not for the design being a classic one, what by all means it is not, but for being a wooden boat that could bring the reminiscences of his father’s yacht cabin bright-work.

When we first met Daniel, it was at our office, then established in Rio de Janeiro. At that time we didn’t know about his obsession for classic lines. When he was searching through our list of designs, the first he really liked was the Samoa 34. During his childhood he used to sail with his Dutch father aboard a Sparkman Stephens forty foot classic yacht, the pride of the family, and those pleasant remembrances made him look for something that most closely reminded those pleasant memories. 

He asked our advice about a custom boatyard which we could recommend, and we suggested him to visited Flab Boatyard, to see for himself the high standards of that builder. So he did, and soon after Zait was under construction. It was much later that, navigating through our web-site; Daniel discovered the Aventura 40 in our list of stock plans. Had he known about the existence of that design, the Aventura 40 would have been his inevitable choice. He didn’t know yet that we also had a sweet tooth for classic lines, and had designed that classic yacht, much in the same style of his father’s, just for fun. But then it was too late, now only remaining for him the possibility of a future upgrade.

But nothing could stop Daniel from expending a terrific effort in creating the most exquisite Samoa 34 ever built. And that is what we are glad to show first-hand to our readers. The fine detailing in Zait’s construction is an authentic work of art.

If there is a point of commonsense about the Samoa 34 design, is the fact that its length, sail area and displacement are close to the maximum for a couple to sail in a long distance cruise without being too tiresome for maneuvering. On the other hand its interior layout is that of a small apartment, with comfortable quarters from forepeak to transom. The headroom is excellent, you have accommodation for two couples, the heads is large enough to have a good shower installed and the galley is bliss for a cordon bleu who likes to sail. To crown it all the central area of the boat has a 360° vision to the outside, making the interior airy and well illuminated by natural light.

However, if the Samoa 34 wasn’t a really good sailboat regarding its performance compared to most series produced cruising boats of the same size; its fame wouldn’t be so widespread. Our clients who own one of these boats never stop praising their yachts for their speed, especially in fresher winds and the highlight of the model behavior is the excellent control and extreme lightness of its rudder in any sea conditions.

Click on images to enlarge them

Click here to know more about the Samoa 34 Class

Utopian Sailing in Central South America

Builders of MC28 open sea cruising sailboat meet in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, for a day-sail in Lake Paranoá.

An improbable encounter happened in May, 2, 2009 in Lake Paranoá, Brasilia’s artificial reservoir built some fifty years ago when the new capital was constructed, some one thousand metres above sea level, in a place then inhabited by primitive Indians.

The Air Force pilot Breno Lima is one of the pioneers in building a MC28 Class ocean cruising sailboat. His Utopya, the second MC28 to be launched, is stationed there since a couple of years ago, when he was transferred from the city of Salvador, in the Northeast of Brazil to the capital of the country.

He invited three other local amateur builders, two of them building other MC28 yachts, while the third one is in the final stages of construction of a MC36SK, the three of them from the neighbour state of Goiás. The MC28 Class community is quite a friendly group and these builders and Breno had become acquainted by means of our forum in internet.

Utopyia on its launching day

The meeting began with Breno telling his new friends about the first days of the MC28 Class, of which Utopya had an important role in its history, especially for her participation in the Recife to Fernando de Noronha Island race, a very popular three hundred mile open sea event, shortly after its launching. Then they chatted about amateur construction and how is the experience of living aboard a MC28, a test Breno was the first to try. Together with his wife, Marcia Seixas, they lived aboard for more than five years in a local yacht club at the city of Recife, where he was serving as an air force pilot.

As there was no wind during that morning, they left the club motoring, so the guests could enjoy a longer holiday in the lake, giving them a better opportunity to see how the boat behaved when motoring. The efficient sound barrier engine compartment insulation was especially praised, since the engine noise was hardly listened outside the cabin. A few miles and some beers later they returned to the club for lunch and to wait for the customary afternoon wind…

Chats did not resume to MC28 Class issues, but soon they were talking about the MC36SK cruising sailboat that Carlos Eduardo, one of Breno’s guests that day, is building in Goiania, a nearby city, the capital of the state of Goiás. Carlos Eduardo’s lessons during the construction of his steel yacht might be of great value for Breno, who was commemorating the upgrade of Utopya, having acquired the just finished plans of the aluminiun swing keel cruising sailboat Kiribati 36. That was a case of love at first sight, and once more he will be a pioneer in acquiring a new design from B & G Yacht Design.

After lunch, finally the wind started to blow and the group had the opportunity of trying a MC28 sailing under full canvass. First it was blowing at about twelve knots, fresh enough to allow the future MC28 sailors to have a feeling on how the model performed on these conditions. They could observe how stable and light helmed the boat is, and how easy she maneuvers. A few tacks later, the group was rewarded with a gorgeous sunset over the presidential palace and a happy return to the yacht club.

Breno then let them know that other day-outs aboard Utopya were welcome in the future, either to the three guests, or to other sailors interested in the MC28 Class. Breno’s contact e-mail is: brenolima@hotmail.com. People from overseas who happen to be visiting Brazil’s capital are welcome too.
Eduardo Perin, one of the guests of the day, who is building a MC28 by himself in Goiania, and is the author of the video attached, sent us an e-mail relating his impressions about  Utopya,  the cruising fin-keeler designed to cross oceans sailing amidst the South American central plateau savannah, one thousand kilometres away from the sea:  

“Dear folks from B & G Yacht Design

I would like to congratulate you for the excellent work you have accomplished when designing the MC28. I had no doubt the plans were really fantastic, however I didn’t have the chance to sail one of them yet.

When I discovered Utopya stationed so close to where I live, it is no surprise that I tried to find out who was the owner of that beautiful boat. I contacted him by means of your forum, very useful in this respect, and doing so, received this gentle invitation from Breno Lima, and this way had the chance to test a sister-ship of my future boat.

Utopia is a wonderful sailboat. After ten years of intensive usage she is as good as new, and this is consequence of the good care Breno takes with his creation. Utopia is second to no other MC28 in quality of construction and decorative charm. A competent skipper and good boat-keeper like him deserves owning such a nice boat.

We went out twice that Saturday; one under engine, and a second time after lunching at the Yacht Club Brasília. For our luck we were rewarded with a nice breeze in the afternoon
When we were motoring, I had the chance to observe how silent the boat is, even when at full revs, and the speed was very good. But the great moment was when we hoisted sails. During the last hours in the afternoon the breeze became really fresh, reaching nearly twenty knots in the puffs. In spite of having all sails up, we were more interested in chatting and learning to know how the boat performed than to care about the wind strength. The boat hardly heeled at all and the tiller was always as light as a feather, an authentic highbred cruising sailboat that sails really fast!

Only on Monday I could confirm the wind speed, and came to know that it reached twenty knots. That Saturday was being raced the classificatory series for the Star Class World Championship, and we were told there were a few broken spars and DNFs. However for Utopya, she was literarily sailing in a pond. More than ever I am convinced that I made the best choice for my definitive cruising boat. I thank you from the B & G team for such a nice design, the MC28.

Eduardo Perin, future owner of the MC28 Pyrus.”

Click on the photos to enlarge them

Click here to know more about the MC28.
Click here to know more about the Kiribati 36

***
More about the MC28 Class

If you are American, or perhaps from the U.K., let’s say, and is a lover of the cruising life, in case you are looking for a proper yacht for ocean cruising, no matter how eager you are to make your dreams come true, you might not be considering buying it right now. With such economic crisis, it is probable that it is not the right moment to borrow money to buy an expensive series-produced model which might not even be exactly the boat you want.

Ten years of continuous prosperity accustomed sailors to buy commercial models, many of them not necessarily suited for long distance passages, the few ones unequivocally intended for cruising being so expensive that acquiring one of them in a boat show became a matter for only a few.

We began our activities in Brazil, a country where the middle class hardly could afford buying a factory built yacht, never mentioning an imported model, for which custom duties were prohibitive.

We had returned from an idyllic two and a half years voyage to the South Pacific, having sailed some eight thousand miles in two oceans aboard a twenty-five foot engineless sailboat in the happiest adventure of our lives. (You may learn about this story reading the book “Rio to Polynesia” published in our site in English with link from our first page.) That experience gave us an important lesson, that happiness has nothing to do with boat’s lenght, and that you don’t need to be rich to live a happy life aboard.
But we also learned that a boat for travelling overseas had to be structurally very strong and its systems needed to be reliable and simple to upkeep. Another crucial matter, learnt the hard way in our case, was that it also needed to be comfortable enough, with adequate headroom and inboard shower facilities, a well planed galley and a cozy owner’s cabin, in order to provide a decent life for its crew. This seems to be very obvious, but in practice our experience showed that these predicaments were not the rule among the sailboats we met on our way.

Back to Brazil we decided to start a career of yacht designers having in mind providing to other cruising sailors the right type of boats for ocean passages. However, at that time it was difficult to convince boat builders that there was a good market for cruising yachts. Builders, at least in that country, believed that their products had to be cruiser-racers. They claimed that only “crazy people” would consider travelling overseas in a small sailboat.

There is nothing more frustrating than having to hear from others that you are crazy if you tell them that you intend to do what you always dreamed with.

We were so sure the tycoons of the industry were mistaken with their premises that we decided to challenge their opinions and started designing boats for amateur construction. We were so surprised with the interest for our first plan, The MC23, which sold like bananas, that soon we became recognized as specialists in this segment of yacht design. Eventually we were selling more sets of plans for the regional market than the whole local industry together was selling their boats.

It was the beginning of the nineties. With the experience acquired with the development of the MC23, we decided to design the MC28, the stock plan that highlighted our career as yacht designers for amateur construction. When the first boats of the class were launched, they promoted the design to a level that it became an icon among the cruising yachtsmen, as the ultimate boat for amateur construction, and the model became considered one of the few of that size that was suited to go for a round the world trip in safety and comfort.

In very short time the class began to spread internationally and now there are MC28 built or being constructed in various countries.
In May 2007, perhaps for the English blood that runs in the veins of half the B & G yacht Design team, we decided to move our office from Rio de Janeiro to Perth, Western Australia, where we are now established. However the seeds of the MC28 class  planted in the most different places never stopped to germinate, and now we begin to harvest the first accomplishments of MC28 owners.

We are showing below photos of two recent adventures accomplished by MC28 owners which we already published in our news.
Vagamundo is owned by Ricardo Campos. He is a professional diver who built his boat with his own hands at the city of Vitoria, Brazil, during his long holidays between deep sea dives. When he finished the construction, together with his wife Ivana and little João, their three months old baby, went for a test cruise to Ilha Grande, a tropical Island some four hundred miles south of his town, to let them get settled with the life aboard. They intend to leave for a long distance cruise as soon as João gets his sea legs, in a trip without any time schedule and with undefined destiny. Incidentally Vagamundo means globetrotter in Portuguese.

Vagamundo’s family	Vagamundo in Ilha Grande	It seems like little João is enjoying the new home
Vagamundo’s backyard, Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay	João and Ivana in the companionway hatch	João inspecting the instruments
Click on images to enlarge them.

Another outstanding story about the MC28 is that of Access, the MC28 Flavio Bezerra, a computer annalist, built practically alone in Rio de Janeiro. Short of cash, he left Rio single-handed to the West Indies before he saved enough money to buy an inboard engine and no means to supply energy to charge his batteries. Five days before arriving in Saint Martin, without any self-steering device, Access collided with a whale, damaging the rudder, which he jury-rigged. After the collision his boat was caught in a storm and he had to stay awake for days on end to manage to steer the boat with a makeshift rudder.

Presently, after sailing from Saint Martin to English Harbour, Flavio is working as project manager in the rebuilding of the Antigua Airport. When his kitty will be replenished with the savings from his job, he intends to buy an engine and sail to the Pacific Ocean.

Click on images to enlarge them

Kiribati 36 Green Nomad

Hull number one of the Kiribati 36 design is floating since December 16th 2008, and the boat name is Green Nomad.

This boat is going to take their owners in a repeat of their voyage that started in Brazil and went across the Pacific Ocean, which only confirmed that the place they want to be in is some remote South Pacific Island.

The first Green Nomad was a van de Stadt 36 built in steel. Here she is at anchor in the Florida group of the Solomon Islands.

After selling the first Green Nomad in Australia in 2006, at the end of a 10 year and 20000 nautical miles trip, Luis Manuel and Marli  went back to Brazil, not because their love of the cruising life had ended, but family matters required their presence.

An unexpected turn of events saw them ready to take the cruising life again, but now they needed a boat!.  Even before they had sold their first boat, they already knew what they wanted from a new boat should they ever build another, and basically what they required is what you can see in the pages describing the Kiribati 36 design.

With the long dated relationship they had with Roberto Barros and the B&G Yacht Design team, the natural choice was to build one of their designs ( In fact, during their trip they met 3 boats from their design performing very well and praised endlessly by their crews ). Luis is a Metallurgist engineer graduated by the same university that formed Luis Gouveia and Astrid Barros, and many times they used to meet during their student years.

Having an old passion for yacht design, to the point of starting the Westlawn School of Yacht Design program some 20 years ago, Luis knew enough about the design process to know he had to find a partner to develop his first design.
So he decided to buy B&G YD new Multichine 36 SK design, and based on it produce the boat of his dreams.

Supported by the design office team and starting from an excellent and proven hull form, it was time to let loose the imagination and use his skills for computer 3D modeling and knowledge of fabrication processes to create the Kiribati 36.

In some aspects it is the exact opposite of the first Green Nomad, being light and built of aluminum, open aft cockpit and modern hull forms against a traditional center cockpit design. In others is just an extension, with the same attention to detail in the systems and the best equipment where it matters to ensure a trouble free voyaging experience.

Today the new Green Nomad’s trip has already started ( new hull, same name and mission ). Luis and Marli are living on board since launch day, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, with an improvised interior.

Green Nomad in New Caledônia, 2003	Marli snorkeling in Huahine, French Polynesia

Life on board for now is not exactly as seen in the pictures above, but slowly they are working to get there. Luis used the last months to finish the technical drawings for the Kiribati 36 design, incorporating lessons learned during the building of the first hull, and every now and then a new board is added to the incipient interior furniture.

The first load of marine plywood for the definitive interior has just arrived, and we expect to see the Green Nomad slowly turning into a voyaging home. Marli is finishing the thermal insulation of the hull and deck, and Luis has finished the drawings for the Kiribati 36 stock plans, and for a time now they will be shipwrights and riggers and all other trades in order to follow the call of the islands.

Marli glueing wood bits to receive the walll lining....	…and fitting insulation sheets to the hull

When things start changing you will be able to follow up on this site. We hope to send more conventional boat interior pictures soon!

Click here to know more about the Kiribati 36
To contact Luis Manuel Pinho send an e-mail to luisdesenhos@gmail.com

Pantanal 25 is hard to be beaten in light wind conditions.

Jorge Instaschi, mercanteveiculos@terra.com.br, the Pantanal 25 class coordinator in Brazil, sent us the following e-mail reporting the class latest news:

“We have another Pantanal 25 hull already constructed. The latest one is Rotfahrt. She was extracted from the mould this week, and her superstructure is already laminated.
What a gloss!!!. This second unit from the same mould is going to incorporate all the improvements (sails, keel, deck layout, etc) we developed in these last seven months of racing with Dark Ice, our first Pantanal 25 to take part in the racing course.

The new boat is basically intended to participate in the same events as Dark Ice, the 2009 Santos Offshore Racing Championship. Dark Ice, however has a more ambitious plans fot this year and we have a schedule to send her to other important events in the Brazilian racing agenda.

For bad luck, (or would it be good luck?), the new boat most probably will over-sail our dear Dark Ice, since she will be lighter, thanks to a more accurate vacuum bagging technique applied in the second boat lamination. We are counting on hard times for Dark Ice from now on.

The lamination of Enigma II, the third Pantanal 25 to be built from the same mould already started, and she will also be completed straightaway. This new boat is being prepared to race under the “Brasilia Rule”, a measuring formula adopted by the capital of the country’s sailing fleet, in Paranoá Lake, the important water mirror in Brazil’s capital. Taking into account Mr Ademir Micareta’s, Enigma II’s owner, renowned sailing skills, this Pantanal 25 will most probably steal the show in the 2009/2010 racing seasons at Lake Paranoá.

It is exciting coming to learn how the Pantanal Class will spread to other sailing centres. We at Performance Pantanal 25 consider each new hull of the class as if it was a son. We are glad to follow the construction of each of them, doing our best towards producing a better boat at each lamination, and we are prepared to give all the necessary support to the new owners after launching, explaining to them all the tricks Dark Ice already taught us during these seven months of intensive sailing”.

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Photos: Pantanal 25 Rotfahrt construction at Cooper Marine under the supervision of Performance Pantanal 25. Santos, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil

***

Meanwhile the Pantanal 25 Dark Ice has been involved with the season’s first regattas at the Santos Racing Fleet. She took part in three races in a roll, all of them in light winds, the conditions when the Pantanal 25 had already shown that she is the boat to be beaten.
Jorge Intaschi repports:

“This year we are trying new adjustments for Dark Ice sailing trim which seem to be working beautifully. At the first regatta of the new season, even though with a renovated crew, we won the race. Jones, the helmsman making his debut at this function, was really impressed with the quick acceleration of the boat at the least breadth of wind, keeping its speed in almost no wind. Newton, another crew who came to give us a hand, was absolutely infatuated with the boat’s performance.

The second race we had Dimas, our last season’s helmsman, when we were the Santos Offshore Racing Championship winners, back to the tiller, conducting Dark Ice with great skill one more time, and he did not disappoint us. We opened an even more impressive leadership over the other competitors, as if our boat was employing another sort of propulsion.

Leonardo, one of our competitors, from the Ranger 26 “Rainha”, later sent an e-mail to the Santos Offshore Racing Association forum, telling his impressions about the races during this weekend:   
To my surprise the races during this weekend turned up to be very pleasant. Saturday we had to round Pascoal Mountain Island in a course where in the past  I seldom saw any puff of wind. This time, however, the wind was quite constant. Straight from the start, Dark Ice jumped ahead with such an astonishing speed that it looked like they were sailing with a private wind, such was the difference between them and the other boats. Notwithstanding, let’s face it, they were sailing much faster then us all. They rounded the island far ahead the second boat, and they only had to administrate the huge advantage from then on.

Sunday the wind was more typical of that area, just a lick of it! Again Dark Ice seemed to be the only boat capable of sailing in those conditions, and once more she jumped ahead of all other competitors. The race ended up being cancelled, but once again Dark Ice was far ahead of any boat…

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Photos of the Santos and Bertioga races.  Note the distance the other boats stayed behind.

Click here to know more about the Pantanal 25 class

Samoa 28, the right size boat

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You may want to own a boat that can take you in safety to any place you fancy visiting someday. Perhaps you can’t afford buying it, but you can build it as an amateur, provided you have a fixed monthly income. Besides, if the model is good enough, being really safe when sailing in bad weather and comfortable for a couple to live aboard for long periods, than it is worth considering constructing it yourself.

Having in mind this possibility is very appealing. If you like the hobby of boat building, the whole work involved in the construction becomes an amusement, and instead of  obtaining a loan which will generate a long term debt, you make a saving investing your time and your income in a durable good made with your own hands. If you still take into account that the enterprise is tax free and does not include somebody else profit, than you can be sure that deciding for a home construction of a boat of proven quality is an excellent investment.

We bet that the adequate boat for an investment like this is the Samoa 28. A boat of this size is quickly built and is relatively cheap to be equipped. On the other hand to live aboard for long periods you need more than anything else that the boat affords adequate headroom. Besides, you will require a comfortable saloon to be used as living room, and this saloon must be a cozy place for entertaining your guests.

A well equipped and ergonomic galley is also essential, and the heads with decent shower facilities is something you must have too. You also need an owner’s cabin large enough to be called bedroom. Adding to this a fore double berth for eventual guests, than you will have the right size boat for your requirements. If the boat is a nice-looking, modern design and is fast enough to provide daily runs above the one hundred fifty miles mark, then this is the best choice you can afford.

Click here to know more about the Samoa 28 class

Pantanal 25 Dark Ice wins her first championship

Good news from the Pantanal 25 class arrived this week.
On the February, 7th was scheduled the prize award party for the 2008 Santos (the most important Brazilian port) Ocean Racing Championship. Guess which boat was the most awarded that night?

If you bet it was the Pantanal 25 Dark Ice, the first boat of this promising class to be launched in Brazil, you hit the nail on the head.
Yes, it was exactly Dark Ice, that very boat making her debut in the racing scene and which performance was still to be seen, crewed by a team of novices who had yet to discover how this new design behaved, learning about her abilities along the racing course.

And it wasn’t little what was learned! They discovered that her speed was simply fantastic in light winds, capable of overtaking the whole local fleet, regardless of the size of the competitors.

When sailing in fresher winds, she still sailed fast, but in those conditions water line length prevailed and Dark Ice didn’t manage to beat the larger boats.

In short: even though she only began to participate in the series already in its fourth race, she managed to win the championship one race before the last one.

The 7th of February was a busy day for the owner and builder of Dark Ice, Jorge Intaschi. Early in the morning he had an appointment with a racing sailor from Brasilia who had come to Santos just to get to know the Pantanal 25.

Before taking his guest out to sail, Jorge went with him to Coopermarine, the manufacturing co-operative engaged in series producing the Pantanal 25. By sheer luck the factory was giving the finishing touches to a motor yacht which would be delivered to Brasilia, the visitor’s town, in the next few days, demonstrating to the potential client the high standard of the factory workmanship.
In another coincidence, the first Coopermarine client for a Pantanal 25, the yachtsman from Sao Paulo Marcelino Magalhães was also visiting the factory, bringing with him a very special red gel-coat he had chosen to apply on his hull. All that fuss around the co-operative’s new venture deeply impressed the Brasilia’s citizen, and he was counting the minutes to go to the marina and finally getting to know the boat he was so anxious to try.

A few days earlier the locally prestigious Brazilian magazine Revista Náutica had tested Dark Ice for one of its regular evaluation reports. That day the reporters suggested changing the appointment for another occasion, with a more reliable wind, believing that with the ghostly wind of the day the boat wouldn’t move. To their surprise, however, they discovered that Dark Ice jumped ahead with incredible acceleration at the lightest puff of wind, showing them that they needn’t be worried about accomplishing the test.
This Saturday the wind conditions were no different: light puffy winds from various directions.. Jorge Intaschi’s guest took the tiller and stayed there for the next six hours, marveled with the speed of the boat and her easiness to be controlled. It wasn’t surprising that he confirmed the order for a Pantanal 25 to race in Paranoá Lake, the sailing ground of the country’s capital.

When the test-drive finally satisfied Jorge’s guest, our host invited him to participate in the prize awarding party for the 2008 Santos Ocean Racing Championship. This was the high-light of the Pantanal 25 class prestige that day. That almost unknown model stole the show, and that evening she was the boat which won more prizes, stirring the most varied gossips about her performance among the participants in the event..

No wonder Jorge and his crew were very happy and the visitor deeply impressed with such interest in the new design. To crown it all a yachtsman from Niteroi, the Rio de Janeiro’s neighbour city, confirmed his order for another Pantanal 25 to be built by Coopermarine. Jorge, perhaps because of high adrenaline triggered by such sudden success, also announced his intention in building Wave Runner, his next Pantanal 25.

This was the hot news direct from Sao Paulo, the most important Brazilian state and nautical centre.
Meanwhile, our client Danial D’Angelo, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is begining the construction of a Pantanal 25, which should be ready in six months time. As he is an experienced amateur boat builder, for he was the first to finish the construction of a Samoa 28, of which there are dozens in construction in various countries, there is little doubt he will succeed in keeping his time-table. While all the others are still building their Samoas 28, Daniel is enjoying his lovely Sirius, cruising with his family around the River Plate, between Argentina and Uruguay.

With boats being built in a dozen different countries, from Sweden to Australia, and with the first ones already sailing, after Dark Ice’s demonstration of competence in the racing field, we have all reasons to believe that very soon the Pantanal 25 will become a popular international class.

Dark Ice crew commemorating being champions	Line Honours Award for Dark Ice first to finish position in the sixth race	Jorge Intaschi receiving the Santos Championship Trophy
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Click here to know more about the Pantanal 25 Class

Multichine 28 Vagamundo – Baby on board, part II

What a perfect playground!

The Multichine 28 is becoming each time more a really popular design among cruising people who want to live aboard. As the class never stops growing, we regularly receive reports from our clients about an experience aboard one of these boats.
This time it was from the amateur builder Ricardo Costa Campos, who told us about his trip from Vitória, Espirito Santo, to Ilha Grande, on the south coast of Rio de Janeiro, where he now works as instructor in a diving school, living aboard with his wife Ivana and his toddler João.

Ricardo wrote us:

“I am still in Ilha Grande with Vagamundo and each day I am more pleased with the boat.

From Vitória, Espirito Santo, to Angra do Reis, we had the company of a friend, Bernardo, who is building one of your designs, the MC 31. The trip began with a light wind from the northeast until reaching Cape São Tomé, when we were caught by a cold front having to beat from then on until Macaé, where we decided to make a stop over waiting for the weather to settle. The Macaé River bar entrance is quite difficult to negotiate, especially with low tide, but thanks to the MC28 shallow draught we had no problem in entering port and stayed there for a day and a half.  When the northeaster started to blow again we left bound for Ilha Grande in a non-stop trip. 

Baby on board

When reaching Anchor Island, near Buzios, the wind freshened reaching 30 knots.  During these hours it is very good having a new boat in which you can trust and the trip remained eventless until reaching Ponta Negra.  We were sailing at eight knots most of the time with jus a little rag as foresail.  From then on the wind subsided until vanishing at the outer edge of Rasa Island, in front of Rio de Janeiro.  So we made use of our ‘bilge wind’ and went motoring up to Barra da Tijuca, when there entered a southerly wind.

After rounding Marambaia Sandbar, sailing close-hauled, we reached Ilha Grande Bay under sail.
After leaving Bernardo at the little village of Abraão, we went to Jaconema Beach where I found a job as instructor in a diving school. We left on a Monday from Vitória and arrived on a Friday afternoon in Ilha Grande with a one anda half days stop over at Macaé.  It was a great maiden voyage!

Regards
Ricardo”

Vagamundo is a very well built Multichine 28 and the level of finishing Ricardo managed to obtain in the interior joinery is superb. The photos shown below give a good idea on how happy the Costa Campos family is with their new life. João must be feeling an authentic little dolphin by now.

Vagamundo’s family	Vagamundo in Ilha Grande	It seems like little João is enjoying the new home
Vagamundo’s backyard, Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay	João and Ivana in the companionway hatch	João inspecting the instruments
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To now more about the Multichine 28 class, click here

Samoa 28 Sirius second trip to Uruguay
Daniel D’Angelo

Sirius is a brand new Samoa 28 built by her owner, the Argentinean geologist Daniel D’Angelo. Since he was the first to finish the construction of one of these boats, we are following his early experiences with the new boat with great interest. We like to reproduce in our site the cruising stories our clients send us, especially if they describe a place that might interest other builders in the same region, or simply entertain our readers from different places. When the story reports very happy days spent aboard, after all the hard work to build the boat with his own hands, then the story acquires a new dimension, that of fulfilling the purpose of such challenge.

“We were planning to take some short vacations aboard Sirius, visiting Riachuelo, a very popular cruising destination for us Argentineans, at the other side of the River Plate, in our neighboring country, Uruguay.  As it was the first time we were going to be aboard for so long, we prepared the boat for her second adventure, planning with great care all we should take with us for a pleasant eventless trip.
We intended to depart on Tuesday, the 6 of January, before dawn, leaving our home port late in the evening. However, it took longer than we expected to store all the provisions, filling the water tanks, lashing the auxiliary dinghy (Siriusito ) on deck, besides tidying our personal belongings, such as chairs, sun shade umbrella, toys and bicycles, so we only managed to leave at eight o’clock in the morning. We had loaded the car with so much stuff that we were deeply concerned on how would we store all that gear aboard, but to our surprise, as if by a miracle, everything was stored neatly and we had to remember by heart where we kept our things. We didn’t use even one tenth of the storage space available.

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In spite of having plotted the waypoint of Riachuelo’s entrance mark in our GPS, we were a bit uneasy, since, even with the assistance of binoculars, we couldn’t see that  buoy.
The passage across the River Plate had been a very pleasant reach under full canvas until approaching Uruguay, when, as usual in those waters,  the wind weakened, obliging us to start the engine not to get delayed in entering port with daylight.
When at last we saw the entrance buoy, we sailed bow on, doused the sails and entered the dredged narrow access channel protected by two long stone breakwaters.

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As we entered, we noticed that the place was crowded, and we could count more than ninety other crafts, most of them sailboats.  We said hello to a couple of friends aboard another boat and went to the harbour office wooden pier, to clear our papers. Next we went for a stroll along the waterfront, getting acquainted with the town, where we had never been before. Going back on board, we looked for a safe place to anchor, closer to the Riachuelo mouth. (Riachulo means rivulet in Spanish). We lashed Sirius bow cleat to a tree ashore, throwing two anchors from the stern as kedges. After we finished the tying up procedure, I installed our awning while my wife Carina prepared lunch.

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Riachuelo is a place where you must have a dinghy.  As we have no inflatable, we took our solid dinghy Siriusito and a kayak paddle, which made even more picturesque our presence in the place. Our daughter Florence in the front seat, Carina at the stern, and me paddling in the middle thwart, plus beach chairs, sun umbrella, toys and bags, was a sight to be seen.  Paddling to the outside end of the breakwater and then returning along its other side to the coast, we disembarked on a white sanded beach crowded with people, in a place of rare beauty. There were many yachts anchored in front of where we were, and behind us lay a forest of pine trees inviting us to sit under their shades.

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When I was finishing packing our gear in the dinghy to go back on board, somebody approached me asking if the dinghy had been as difficult to build as the twenty-eight footer. He took me by surprise. He had learned from the Argentinean yachting magazine  “Bienvenidos a Bordo” which had just published an article about Sirius building saga. After a light conversation about amateur boat building with my new acquaintance, my mini-holidays actually began, playing with my daughter Flor on the sand and swimming in the river, where the water is much clearer than on our side of the stream.  The day was very hot and the water temperature agreeable, so we remained playing in the river for most of the time.
It is only possible to reach Riachuelo beaches by sea, so the place is absolutely safe.
You can leave all your belongings unassisted, since nobody will touch them. Nowadays this is a privilege and just to save the trouble of bringing back aboard all the gear we brought ashore, we left them there for the night, having them next day ready to be used again.

Riachuelo has public bathrooms and showers to be used with coins, but we had to go to  the opposite place where we were to reach the public showers, nothing really difficult if you have an outboard motor for the dinghy, but rowing for two kilometers with a paddle is not very inviting. As Sirius has a pressurized water system, I disconnected the end of the hose that goes to the heads shower compartment, and joined it to a garden hose, taking it to the cockpit. Our awning has curtains, so we managed to afford the necessary privacy for a refreshing shower aboard, without having to deal with the mess of filling the shower bilge with rinsed water. Carina and Flor even had warm baths using our sun-shower hoisted on the boom.  In thirty minutes we were all clean and nice smelling, ready for dinner, without having to wait in a long queue in front of the land showers!!!  During the first night we were hit by a fierce ‘Pampeiro’ ( as the cold fronts are called in our region) that left me very nervous, as our kedges started to drag, since I hadn’t counted with winds from that direction. Held by the bow only, Sirius started to hit the bottom and its topside was dangerously getting too close to shore for comfort. Not managing to sleep with the wind gusting in our stays, I decided to improve our situation, taking the kedges farther away from the boat and farther apart from each other.  Back to Sirius, I waited until the anchors had dug into the bottom mud, and began to take the boat out of the awkward situation.  Slowly we started to reach deeper water and we were no more touching the ground.  Now we could resume sleeping, however not before discovering the reason for the strange noise we heard, as if our hull was being scraped.  Apparently fishes were feeding on the algae that were beginning to grow in Sirius hull bottom, so we had to cope with this serenade for the whole night.

Next morning dawned as though nothing had happened during the night.  A blue sky with hot sun presaged a marvelous beach day.  But before the pleasure, we dedicated some time in improving Sirius situation, now crossing the kedges’ rodes to improve the angle between them. Since this job took up some time to be accomplished and the air temperature raised considerably, we decided to stay and have lunch aboard, leaving the afternoon for going ashore, finishing up with a walk to the pine forest, until reaching some dunes at the end of the beach where we spent the previous morning., planning to return the next day riding our bicycles. Back to Sirius, we had our bath ritual, followed by dinner and, satisfied, the three of us jumped into bed.

For the first time we slept until late, and, after breakfast, laziness prevailed, indulging us in staying aboard, and it was nearly noon when we started to take any action.  Not to make too ambitious plans for the afternoon, we decided to go to the eastside beach, which for us to reach was just jumping ashore and walking for about three hundred metres. Our prize for this choice was having a whole beach all to ourselves. There was absolutely no one there.  We still haven’t discovered why yachties didn’t use it.  It is a long stretch of beach, with compact sand, ideal for playing beach tennis.  We decided to walk along its extent and to swim on its end tip.  When becoming hungry we returned to the boat, not without trying to photograph a lizard of considerable size that I had already seen the morning before, but the brute ran away before I could take the photo.

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That afternoon we gave up the intended bicycle ride to the dunes and stayed on the beach with the rest of the cruising people.  After bathing, we decided to go till the mole to buy ice, as the cooler box ice had melted. So, the three of us went aboard the Siriusito, rowing for the two kilometers that separated us from the settlement, and to make things worse, with the wind on the nose. Luckily I had Flor singing on the bow seat, giving me strength to keep rowing.  When we finally arrived we left the ice block already paid and went walking until reaching a restaurant called “Arenas”, seventeen blocks away from our anchorage, where we ordered our plates ( via VHF). There handiwork could be bought also, and there was a museum of strange articles, such like pencils, key holders, aluminium tins, ash-trays , telephone cards, perfume flasks , etc. some of these collections deserving to belong to the Guinness book of records. We picked up our ice block on the way back to the anchorage, and again to the Siriusito, rowing to our floating home, this time with the wind in our favour.  This evening the meal was a fancy degustation of cheeses and sausages bought at the “Arenas”, served with an excellent Malbec.  We slept like the Gods!  

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Early next day I carried the two bicycles in our tender and crossed the beach to try to reach Colonia on a dirt track ( 12 km ). Once more the Siriusito behaved marvelously well as a ferry. We decided to peddle a little under an inclement sun, but now profiting from the shade of the pine trees. We went on for some 4 km when Carina’s bycicle had its sprocket chain broken.  As we had some rope at hand, I tried towing her with my bicycle until finding a gate shut with a padlock.

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Back to the beach and starving, I tried to reach the wooden pier with the bicycle through a path opened by cows, but I didn’t manage, since in some places the bush was so dense that it was impossible to proceed. 
That night we organized a game to be played by the kids from all the boats, “the pirates’ boarding”, which consisted in gathering the children dressed up as “pirates”, and using their tenders, to board the boats involved in the dispute, to try to find the “treasure”.  Flor with an eye patch like all “good” pirates must wear, went, together with more than thirty other children, hunting the many treasures hidden in the boats.  Sirius wasn’t spared and her treasure of candies (marked with an X) was looted with total success.  So there was nearly two hours between looting and the posterior division of the “earnings”, finally returning each kid to his boat to let the adrenaline settle down, while commenting about the “adventures”.

The last two days we left to visit Colonia and have good meals in a restaurant. Because of this, I began to maneuver to say good by to Riachuelo and to prepare to leave for Colonia.  Nearly five miles separates these two points, and, in lack of wind, we turned the Yanmar on, so as not to arrive after midday and to profit from a more pleasurable navigation, not having to endure the noon heat. When arriving at the port of Colonia, we noticed it was also crowded, with just a couple of places available. So, with the assistance of our dinghy, for our peace of mind, we preferred to lash the boat to a mooring buoy, not needing to perform complicated maneuvers to force our way to the pier.  We had lunch aboard and rested a little in the shade of our awning, going ashore in the afternoon with our bicycles to peddle a bit through the city until reaching Ferrando Beach, where we cooled ourselves with a invigorating swim.  Back to the beach we could contemplate a gorgeous sunset, next going to have dinner in a local restaurant to quench our craving to eat the things we didn’t have aboard.  Back to Sirius, eating ice creams for dessert, completely exhausted, we went to bed, sleeping soon after.

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I awoke early and went ashore to leave the clearance papers at the harbor office, taking the opportunity to buy something for our last breakfast aboard.  We decided to walk around the city, and, killing time until midday, we had lunch in Colonia, before leaving for La Plata, departing at three P.M.  We hoisted the mainsail while still tied to the buoy and motor-sailed to outside the harbour.  After rounding the Santa Rita light house, we hoisted the jib and went in the direction of La Plata.  The wind was coming from the south at 15-20 knots which, together with a flooding tide current, made us drift away from our course, obliging, after two miles of sailing to change tacks to get extra windward. After two miles in the new tack, we could already point towards our destination, as far as we sailed close hauled.
Our average speed was 5,5 knots with the wind increasing in strength steadily, with waves growing in size proportionally. Suddenly, out of the blue came steaming towards us the fast running ferry, “Buquebus”, on a collision course. Carina, scared to death, asked me to change course and get out of the way, but I was certain that by her speed, she would cross our bows at a sufficient distance not to put us in danger. So, the ‘roaring monster” overtook us one hundred metres ahead, a close enough shave to frighten us.
When we arrived at the entrance of the port  there were a lot of boats at anchor in our way, obliging us to negotiate our progress with short tacks to avoid a collision. Then the  river conditions deteriorated, with huge short-spaced waves coming from all directions, and the wind surpassing  twenty five knots.  Suddenly we saw an oil tanker moving in an erratic course. Worse still, we didn’t know if this giant had seen us, so we turned the motor on as an extra precaution. After this new fright, there was just one other boat to avoid, and finally we had free access to the canal. Still with a south wind, we were surfing huge waves coming from astern, reaching eight knots when riding their crests. As a farewell, and before entering the stone breakwater, a wave caught Sirius sideways, giving the three of us a bath from head to toe.  We reported our safe arrival to the Argentinean port authorities, as well as the Uruguayans, going safely to our mooring at  Martinoli boatyard, where we unloaded all the  things we had taken, and, after a kiss of gratitude for the days lived and our return home in safety, we left Sirius until the next outing.”

Click here to know more about the Samoa 28

Samoa 34 Luthier.  The wind calls the tune.

Yacht designing is sometimes a very rewarding activity. We are not meaning the material side of the business, which is like any other one, but a more subjective of its aspects, that of once in a while being presented with photos of just finished boats from our design, when we find in each of them an authentic work of art.

This was the case this January when we received the photos taken by Dorival Gimenes, after the completion of his home-built Samoa 34 Luthier,  an amateur construction accomplished in his home garden at the city of Campinas, state of São Paulo, Brazil.
Dorival wrote us the following e-mail:

Luthier was launched on the 12th of December, 2008. The construction took four and a half years of dedication and planning. Now my wife and I can live aboard and fulfil our long distance cruising dreams we have nurtured for so long.
Our first month aboard wasn’t sufficient to set in order all our stuffs (you can notice this in the photos), however we loved hearing the opinions of some of our visitors.
The most frequent praise was for the excellent headroom at the saloon and the heads, followed by the opinion of our guest’s wives, who loved Luthier’s galley. The aft cabin impressed favourably too, for its spaciousness and the king-sized dimensions of the double-berth.
We haven’t really tested the boat yet, but some interesting data has already been obtained when sailing  in light wind conditions: sailing in a beam reach with four knots winds, our speed was three knots. Then we started the engine, when the speed jumped to more than seven knots, in spite of the boat being loaded with all our belongings and with full tank capacity.
 I am in debt with you for a more conclusive report when we sail with more wind and things more adequately settled aboard, including a more precise tuning of the boat’s instruments.
It isstill  missing installing a bimini, an awning, curtains, etc…a boat never gets really finished, isn’t that so?
However, in spite of a simple joiner-work style, the construction seems to be extremely sound. I am very pleased with the boat. Congratulations for the design.
Dorival Gimenes

Undoubtedly Dorival accomplished an extraordinary feat for an amateur boat builder without previous experience. His boat is an authentic work of a luthier. The navigation table is only missing the keys and strings to become a grand piano. The galley requires a French chef to take full advantage of such clean ambience. Well, you better see the photos below and check for yourself.

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Click here to know more about the Samoa 34 Class

Return to the sea

Article published by Revista Náutica, Oct. 2008

Five years ago the Ukrainian by birth, citizen of Bahia at heart sailor and engineer Aleixo Belov was completing sixty years.
“And now what?” was his existential question.  Have another child?  It wasn’t the case – he already had five, from two weddings.  Build another company? This was also out of the question – his successful engineering business had already consolidated a solid reputation. Make another round the world trip (the fourth)?… Why not?  Belov had already completed three round the world trips, always with the same boat, the very Spartan thirty-six foot Três Marias, built in the backyard of his house, in Salvador, Bahia.  This time, however, the trip would be aboard a new boat.  At that moment was starting to be born Fraternidade (Fraternity in Portuguese), the seventy foot steel yacht with which he is now getting ready for his fourth circumnavigation.

In spite of being a firm addict of solo sailing (“it is much easier to give orders to yourself than to others”, he explains), this time, however, he will not be alone. His boat will be crewed, a possibility he never considered when sailing in Três Marias.  Nevertheless, not to loose the old habit, before leaving for the next long journey he would like to sail the new boat single-handed along the Brazilian coast.

“It is just to improve my intimacy with the new dwelling, he explains.  Next, he will adapt Fraternidade as a laboratory ship, inviting scientists of the most varied specialties as crewmembers.  Only after a rigorous selection he will take the decision of who is going with him, and this selection may take some time to be accomplished.

The new route hasn’t been decided yet, but he said he wants to return to the best places he visited in earlier trips.

Belov was only six years old when he disembarked in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, coming from the distant Ukrania.  So, he considers himself a legitimate child of the new country.  A charming character, he is always surrounded by his Brazilian friends – most probably citizens from Bahia.  Why then this preference for sailing alone?  When I spend more than ten days at sea, I begin to feel a king of transcendence, an immense internal peace invades my soul, and this sentiment is highest when I am by myself, he explains.  But, to finance his escapes to distant seas he needed to earn money.  He studied engineering and created a company, now with two hundred employees and a stable financial situation.  But the business is a means, not the purpose.  So, he prepared his family to take control of the business during his long absences when he was at sea.  This was so, for example, in 1980, when he left on his first adventure, and again in 1986, when he went around the world for the second time.  Only on the third trip (between September 2000 and March 2002 ) he allowed a rendezvous with his children and wife in a stop over at Tahiti, during the New Year’s Millenium Celebration.  The experience of nearly one hundred thousand miles navigated, also made Belov a writer.  His first trip was told in the book “Round the World in Solitary”. The second rendered a trilogy, “Looking for the Orient”, “Looking for Origins” and “On the Way Home”.  The third round the world voyage was narrated in his most recent work, with more than 400 pages.

This time, the new trip with crew aboard should become a biographic documentary about his achievements. The script is a task for his daughter, Lara Belov, who has a college degree in cinema. The film will be at least quite original, telling the story of a blue-eyed Baiano (as the citizens from Bahia are called).

The fourth trip is soon to be started!  This time, Belov wants to give the opportunity to others to get to know the world, and one of them can be you.

In his new expedition, Aleixo Belov, decided to share his sailing adventures with other people, in a kind of sailing school.  For this he will have a crew not only of sailors, but also biologists, anthropologists, photographers, divers and film directors – all preferably young, as the reason for this all is to “introduce” the world to them. The name of the sailing boat – Fraternity – reflects his state of mind. “It is a way of showing my desire to unite people who fight for a world more ecologically balanced”, he says. 
Do you want to embark also in this adventure? Then you are invited to visit the site:

.w.w.aleixobelov.com.br and be a candidate for a place aboard.  Before you apply for a position, a warning; Belov usually has the habit of saying to his visitors that aboard his boats, he is not only the captain, but also sailor, the priest, judge and president.  “Here, I decide everything”, he says; pure baiano mockery, of course. However, he admits, he doesn’t really know how he will react when dealing with other people aboard. “To sail with crew is like courting with other people watching you!” he reveals.  

A Floating Home Powered by Sails

During the last years Aleixo Belov spent more time ashore than at sea.  The reason for this radical change was his decision to build the new boat nearly twice the size of Três Marias.  The new sailboat, baptized Fraternidade is twenty-one metres long, with a 6,70m beam, two masts, 60 tons of pure steel ( carbon steel in the hull, with deck and keel case built in stainless steel.). Now the boat is ready to go anywhere, after five years since he ordered the plans, and built by himself in his shipyard in Salvador, where Belov lives when he is not sailing the wide world.  The launching took place just a few weeks ago and the boat is bringing a lot of attention from the local yachting community.

As a matter of fact, before being finished, Fraternidade design was already considered a turning point in the construction of cruising sailboats in Brazil, considering its unheard thirteen ton pivoting retractable keel. Thanks to a ratchet system developed for this keel, it can stay firmly fixed in any position and can be released just pressing a button. Thanks to this innovative system she can sail with the keel retracted or lowered. Thanks to this device, her draught can vary between 1,80 m ( with the keel up ) to 4,80 metres (totally lowered ). This versatility is also important because in yachts with movable ballast there are two items that need to work perfectly, so that the project will result in a successful craft:  the rudder and the keel.  To operate of a retractable keel system, it is necessary a smaller depth of the rudder when the boat is beached on purpose, or when sailing with the keel raised in shallow waters. On the other hand, the rudder control must be efficient even in the worst condition. In Fraternidade the solution found was quite logic.  Belov, together with the Studio B & G Yacht Design, having the renowned physicist and high latitude sailor Oleg Belly, himself an owner of a metallic yacht operating in the charter business, as a consultant, inspired the whole solution for this unique operation system.

Fraternidade ( Belov doesn´t hide from anybody that in the various times he visited his friend’s yacht in Ushuaia, he came back with scribbles that were kept for when he decided to build his new boat. It was then that he opted for two fixed shallow rudders instead of just one, retractable.

Thanks to the generous size of the boat and the big internal space, the keel trunk (which is located amidships) reaches as far as the deck level, even though it doesn’t get in the way of the crew circulation aboard – only creating two huge internal compartments, as though they were independent quarters.  In all, there are six cabins, with two bunks each, three to portside and three to starboard. There are bunks for twelve people, as one of Belov’s intentions is to have plenty of company during his intended round the world trip.

His cabin, in the fore compartment, is the only one that has a door and can be transformed into suite.  Apart from this, there are two more heads for the rest of the crew.  The galley, which stays to portside of the engine room, has plenty of lockers, ice-chest and freezer, a deep sink  integrated to a dish-draining rack, two two-burner stoves, one working with propane and the other electric.  The main saloon (so big that it accommodates the entire crew and eventual guests altogether, is placed in the stern – as we already mentioned, since the keel trunk occupies a good part of the central area of the boat.  To provide natural ventilation to this large interior, there is nothing less than 20 hatches.

 Fraternidade is a very large yacht and is extremely comfortable; a veritable mansion on the water.
The navigation station in the pilot-house, for example, looks as though it is a ship’s flybridge, with plenty of chart lockers, a bunk for the second crew on watch and much more.  At the cockpit there is no seat for the helmsman, so he has to stay awake.  All electronic instruments are duplicated, like radar, GPS plotter, automatic pilot and computer.  Even the auxiliary engine is duplicated: “Instead of taking a lot of spare parts I take a whole engine ready for use as back-up, resumes the good ‘baiano’.

Between the main saloon and the keel trunk, it is placed the engine room, with two 125 hp engines, a generator and a central heater. The water tank has the capacity for 8 000 litres and the fuel tank for not less than 9 000 litres!  Yes, nine thousand litres, there is need for a long range of operation when you have so ambitious plans of staying for years going round the world.  There are also six solar panels, and two wind generators, which are used to charge the battery banks. They are nineteen!  On deck, none of the nineteen winches are electric, which demands extra work for the crew, it is true.  Also, the steering wheel, connected by stainless steel wires, is a bit heavy, but very reliable for its simplicity.  Since there is a second steering wheel inside the pilot-house, and this is hydraulic, this second station is very light to steer. The boat is ketch rigged, (the foremast is 22m high) and two roller- reefing gears are installed for the fore sails. The utmost effort was made to reduce sail handling, having in mind making maneuvering easy, something very important for a yacht designed to sail in high latitudes and inaccessible regions”.

Fraternidade has all the ingredients to become a historic sailboat, not only for the details of her construction, but for her endeavors. It will represent well the spirit of the  country, where new ideas flourish with such vigor, commented Roberto Barros, from B & G Yacht Design.

In spite of still smelling brand new, Fraternity has already the profile of her owner.  Here and there you can see sculptures and oil paintings gathered by Belov during his three round the world trips – he is a born buyer of small objects of art and goes stocking them in his boat during the trips.  Also he was moved by new challenges. “What is the use of life if we don´t have the courage to risk it?” he likes to say. Not by chance, he is packing his belongings for his fourth round the world trip.  And, this time, with a boat as big as his experience.

Click here to know more about the Polar 65.

About the Multichine 31 Kuará

Last December was the MC31 Kuara’s turn to be launched. This time the artist who built her was not an amateur, but the renowned boat builder Zilmar Franzen, from Franzen Yachts, established in Curitiba, State of Parana, South Brazil. Her owner, the engineer Thadeu Eduardo Miranda Santos, had visited our Multichine 28 Fiu during the 2006 Rio de Janeiro Boat Show, when he became enchanted with the all windowed style of the MC28 cabin and her flush and clean fore deck, but found the twenty-eight foot yacht a bit tight for his requirements.

The tea pot was being served on Fiu’s table when Thadeu and his wife Sueli arrived aboard, and the proverbial cake Eileen used to offer our guests on those occasions was exhaling that nice smell typical of a just baked recipe. They were new acquaintances to us; however that evening was so agreeable that we kept chatting until late hours. Thadeu accepted our advice to upgrade the boat to our next design in length, the MC31. There was none of these boats in the marina then, so he couldn’t estimate how much larger the model suggested was compared to ours. That evening we agreed that our office would make the required alteration of substituting the MC31 original wedged cabin trunk for one much in the same style as the MC28, with windows all around its walls. The second important topic of our conversation that evening was who we recommended for the construction. We had been very impressed by the high standard of quality of the Franzen brothers, from Curitiba. They had built already a few other boats from our design, all of them superbly well finished. Since our clients were one hundred per cent pleased with their option, it wasn’t necessary much thinking to give this indication, more yet considering that our guest resided in the same state of the federation. With the plans and the alteration in hand, Thadeu went to Franzen boatyard, signing the deal for the construction.

We were regularly receiving news from this MC31 as the work progressed, especially because Thadeu created a site, www.veleirokuara.com.br , to report the building, step by step, during the length of the construction. The twenty-fourth of December we received this e-mail from Zilmar:

 It is with great plesure that we communicate the launching of The MC3’ Kuara. We are very pleased with the behavior of th eboat,  She is incredibly stable, very fast and her rudder is extremely responsive and very light. The windowed cabin is being praised by everyone who visits the boat.Kuará is stealing the show wherever she is sailing and is receiving compliments for her design and performance.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with lots of peace and happiness
Best regards
Zilmar Franzen and family..

Click on images to enlarge them

A poem for the cruising sailor

As Christmas approaches, poetic remembrances come to mind, especially those reminding us of unforgettable cruising experiences.

To come, after months at sea, at rosy dawn,
Into the placid blue of some great bay,
Treading the quiet waters like a fawn,
Ere yet the morning haze has blown away,
A rose flushed figure, putting by the grey
And anchoring there before the city smoke
Rose, or the church bells rang, or men awoke.

And then in the first light to see grow clear,
The long expected haven, filled with strangers-
Alive with men and women; see and hear
Its clattering market and its money changers,
And watch the crinkled ocean blue with calm
Drowsing beneath the Trade, beneath the palm.

John Masefield, from Dauber

We chose twelve photos of boats from our design received during 2008 to illustrate this note:

	JANUARY – Blue water kayak Brasileirinho Owner – Gerson Canton Gerson Canton is preparing his rowing boat for an Atlantic crossing single-handed, from Lisbon, Portugal, to Santos, Brazil, during next year. His boat was built By Flab Boatyard, www.flab.com.br, established in Campinas, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
	FEBRUARY –  MC45 cruising sailboat Brava Owner – Hugo S. Stoffel Hugo built his boat at Metallic Boats, Triunfo, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. www.metallicboats.com.br He is preparing Brava to sail to the Caribbean and Europe in the next future
	MARCH – Cape Horn 35 Utopia Owner – Marco Cianfflone Utopia is an amateur construction. Marco accomplished a successful round the world trip single-handed having survived the tsunami in Thailand and many other fantastic experiences. This photo shows Utopia in Vanuatu, South Pacific.
	APRIL – MC34/36 Arakaé Owner – Pedro Tremea Arakaé is an amateur construction. Presently she is sailing in the Itaipu Lake, between Brazil and Paraguay. Pedro intends to sail her to Buenos Aires down the Parana River, and from there, sailing to Paranagua, the same port from where Joshua Slocum began his trip to Massachussets, U.S.A. aboard the Liberdade canoe.
	MAY – Southern Voyager 28 Vida Nova Owner – Aristeu Cruz This trawler was the first of her class to be concluded. Aristeu, a luthier by trade, made a very good job as boat builder, and the graffiti painting on the topsides reveals with eloquence his state of mind in relation to his boat. Presently Vida Nova is stationed in Paranagua and is being used for short trips into the open sea, where she is proving to be a very seaworthy craft.
	JUNE – Samoa 34 Tanpopo Owner – Rodrigo Ferrer Tanpopo was built by Flab Boatyard, www.flab.com.br and presently is being used by her owner as a charter boat, sailing in the north coast of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Rodrigo intends to accomplish a long distance cruise with his boat, the initial plan being a visit to Japan.
	JULY – MC23 MK4 Sollazo Owner – Flavio Traiano Sollazo is the best example of a MC23 MK4 amateur construction. Built by her owner, a total novice in the art of boat building, during the weekends, this boat conquers the heart of all those who visit her. Presently she is sailing in offshore cruises between Rio de Janeiro and Ilha Grande Bay, a lush and green tropical paradise located between the two major Brazilian cities, Sao Paulo and Rio
	AUGUST – Diamond 20 Matisse Owner - Roberto Nonato Matisse is a  twenty foot high-speed runabout built in plywood sheathed with fiberglass. She was made by Flab Boatyards, www.flab.com.br, one of the best wooden boat builders in Brazil. His owner is using her for fishing and gunk-holing excursions around Ubatuba, a town in the north coast of Sao Paulo. However, since she is easily trailerable, she can be transported to anywhere
	SEPTEMBER – Pantanal 25 Zirrdeli Owners – Orhan Sati & Bahattin Bedir Zirrdeli was built by the two friends Orhan and Bahattin with extreme competence. The boat is stationed in a marina in Marmaris and her owners must be proud of their achievement, for having built such a beautiful boat.
	OCTOBER – MC28 Access Owner – Flavio Bezerra The class MC 28 is legendary as one of the most suited 28 foot sailboats for long distance cruising. Her owner sailed Access single-handed from Rio de Janeiro to the West Indies.  Flavio presently lives aboard his boat in Antigua, where he has a job as project manager in the construction of a local airport. Dozens of other MC28 builders follow with interest Access adventures, since most of them have similar plans for their boats.
	NOVEMBER – Green Flash ORC33 Bicho Grilo Owner – João de Deus Assis João de Deus Assis built his racing machine in Joinville, State of Santa Catarina, South Brazil. Built in PVC foam sandwich, we consider his boat the top of line in amateur boat building. Presently João de Deus is testing his boat in the racing course and is very pleased with the overall performance of his yacht.
	DECEMBER – Samoa 28 Sirius Owner – Daniel D’Angelo The Argentinean geologist Daniel D’Angelo built his boat completely unassisted in his home garden, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As soon as the boat was launched last October, Daniel began using her in short cruises along the River Plate, including a trip to the neighbor country Uruguay, at the other side of the river.

Merry Christmas and a and a happy new year is what B & G yacht design, from Perth, Western Australia, and RBYD, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil wish you all who sail our boats or use to visit our site.

Cape Horn 40 latest hull to be turned upside.

We received an e-mail from Sergio Danilas, a chemical engineer and amateur boat builder, resident in the State of Paraná, South Brazil, informing us that his hull is already turned upside. Sergio is one of our clients who impressed us most for his determination and competence. He built this forty foot hull with a degree of perfection comparable to the best professional standards, which confirms that amateur construction, when done with determination and enthusiasm, has no limits, either in size, or in degree of difficulty. He sent us the following e-mail:

Dear friends from B & G Yacht Design

Last Saturday, 11/29/2008 I turned upside my Cape Horn 40, after two years, ten months. The building progressed in a slow pace; it is true, but bringing lots of enjoyment. Most of the work was done by me, and only once in a while I call friends to assist me, as it was now the case with the turning over operation. Various yacht owners friends of mine, as well as the Franzen brothers, two renowned boat builders in my region, came up to give me a hand. Without their experience and good will, the whole operation would have been much more difficult and risky.
The next stage it will be to laminate internally and to attach the structural reinforcements, before beginning to build the house inside the canoe.
Best regards
Sergio Danilas

The Cape Horn 40 class is quite a rewarding design for us. The many units under construction, or the few already sailing, are superbly well built, and their owners are absolutely in a state of grace with their boats. Aya, the pioneer of the class, has already sailed some thirty thousand miles and participated in many long distance races, winning or being very well placed in all these occasions.

The Cape Horn 40 is one of our most comfortable boats for living aboard or to accomplish ambitious overseas cruising. Our typical client of these boats is someone who wants to leave his former activities behind and begin a new life aboard his yacht. It seems that the involvement with the construction is a turning point in one’s life, and that nothing is the same after the boat is concluded. For our talks with Sergio, he is no exception, and we know he has great plans for the future with his boat.
Sergio is building his hull in PVC foam sandwich. The sequence of photos of the turning upside show how well planned the operation was.

Click on images to enlarge them.

Click here to know more about the Cape Horn 40 Class 

Southern Voyager 28, the trawler with a different style.

We are surprised with the increasing number of builders who are managing to finish the construction of SV28 hulls. About every fortnight we are receiving photos of a hull of this class ready to be turned upside, or in the last stages of the planking process. It seems that each builder gets much exited when he completes the fabrication of the moulded frames, and from then on he can hardly hold his anxiety to see his hull planked. We do not know if this is because the hull shape is so friendly with the strips, or if it is because the hull lines are so charming.

We are accustomed to seeing trawler hulls resembling old motor yachts with V-bottoms that can not plane and design styles capable of pleasing the Great Gatsby and people of his generation. Round bilge displacement hulls with waterlines more commonly seen in sailing yachts, like our SV28, are practically non-existent. Perhaps that is why our builders fall in love with their creations. However, we have no doubt that this is just the beginning of a steady enthusiasm. Building the interior is also exciting and when the trawler begins to resemble a small long range expedition craft, from then on, the builder finds difficulty in interrupting his work late in the evenings to go to sleep.

Well, let us show some photos of two of these constructions:

					Southern Voyager 28 built by Karl Michael Stegman
	Southern Voyager 28 built in Santos, Brazil, by Luis Ernesto Domingues.
Click on images to enlarge them.

Click here to know more about the Southern 28 plans

***

About the Southern Voyager 28

The Southern Voyager 28 is a compact trawler with many unique features that distinguish her from other motor yachts of her size. Being a beamy round bilge hull of displacement type with plenty of reserve buoyancy on her extremities, and possessing a large tank capacity for her length, the SV28 is characterized for her seaworthiness and a smooth passage through the water, besides possessing an uncommon long range of operation. This means she is a craft superbly suited for open sea navigation. On the other hand, the volume of her interior affords a living space comparable to much larger yachts.

Designed for amateur or professional construction, but having especially in mind the do-it yourself builder, she is a sturdy mid-displacement hull, and, if built according to the specifications stated in the plans and following the recommendations contained in the building manual, she will become a long lasting, low maintenance boat, capable of providing a full life of enjoyable experiences.
The construction of the SV28 is simple and straightforward. It begins with the fabrication of cold moulded frames, beams and a stem post on a lamination table, something quite easy to be made, even by the most inexperienced builder. Frames and beams coincide with stations, allowing assembling them in rings, bulkhead type, which will constitute her transverse structure, and will be a major part of the transverse interior layout.

This transverse structure, together with a laminated stem and a pre-fabricated transom, are assembled on a building grid, over them being laid the wooden strips that constitute the hull’s planking. When the hull is completed, it is turned upside and her interior is built, using primarily marine plywood for its construction. The superstructure is made with plywood attached to the laminated beams of each station, and then sheathed with a fibreglass lamination.

For those who like doing jobs with their own hands, especially those who appreciate working with wood, nothing compares with the enjoyment of building a boat specified for wood-epoxy construction. The work is neither heavy nor particularly difficult, and the satisfaction obtained from the conclusion of each step of the construction is priceless.

Click on images to enlarge them

Pantanal 25 Dark Ice wins her first races

The Pantanal 25 design was developed to be a trailerable cruiser/racer with a good a speed potential. When Dark Ice, the first Pantanal 25 to be launched, began to participate on the 2008 Santos, (the largest Brazilian port and the most important yachting centre in the whole country), racing season, we knew the moment of truth had arrived.

After six months of hard work trying to produce a design that would please people of both sexes from the most different places, and knowing that we could not disappoint them with just an indifferent performance in the racing course, imagine how anxious we were trying to guess how fast the boat would go after the starting gun had fired.

We should have been more relaxed, however. Soon we were to receive the first news confirming that the boat was up to our expectations.
The Pantanal 25 design had already caused bursts of enthusiasm among many competition minded sailors. On the other hand, nobody wanted to bet in the speed potential of a twenty-five footer provided with galley, enclosed heads, two comfortable double berths and a nice dinette with place for six persons to sit around a comfortable drop leaf table, before a conclusive test on the racing course had been accomplished.

Jorge Intaschi, the builder of Dark Ice, has done a first class job when constructing the boat. He followed faithfully the project specifications, building the boat in foam sandwich, exactly as recommended in the design’s scantlings. This was of utmost importance, since the true potential of the boat would be jeopardized if its weight surpassed the theoretical displacement.

Dark Ice, in spite of being hardly sailed yet and having to compete for line honours, since she didn’t measure in any existing local rule, was thrown into the arena with the difficult mission of proving her merits against boats much larger than she is.

The first race was epic. Dark Ice crossed the starting line behind the whole fleet. The wind was very light and she drifted among the other yachts with the elegance of a dolphin. The course was windward-leeward, and when beating to the windward mark, she passed all boats except a thirty-four foot racing machine, crossing the line in second place overall.

Click on images to enlarge them.

The second race Dark Ice participated was more exhilarating still. As it already happened before, the crew still was adjusting the sail trim when they heard the starting gun. The wind was light, so the loss for a bad start was immaterial. Pointing harder and sailing faster than any other boat in the race, they lead the race at the windward mark and from there on never lost their leadership, arriving half a leg before the second boat, a thirty-four footer. When overtaking the other boats,  Jorge threw them ice-cold water bottles, just as a friendly, or was it a teasing, gesture.

When the race was over the other crews admitted that in light winds Dark Ice was “the boat”, sailing faster and pointing harder than anyone else.
The third and fourth races, one week after, the wind was stronger then, and at that time, in spite of sailing very well and still pointing harder than other yachts, water line length prevailed and the best Black Ice managed to do was a second to arrive position. In short, Jorge Intaschi is absolutely pleased with the performance of his boat and we thank him for showing us that he made a good job as an amateur builder, as well as an ocean racing skipper.

The Pantanal 25 class is already spread. The first to get into the club was a client from New South Whales. Then came new builders from the U.S., Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Brazil, Canada, Turkey, Chile, Spain, Greece and other countries. Now that there are some of them already sailing, and as the Pantanal 25s is continually expanding in numbers, we hope soon it becomes an international one design class. If you are building a Pantanal 25, or finished the construction of one of them, wanting to inform us about your experience, we are willing to transmit to other members of the group.

Zirrdeli. A Pantanal 25 amateur construction in Turkey
Click on images to enlarge them

Click here to know more about the Pantanal 25 Class

MC28 and MC34/36 sailing in heavy wind.

These two photos show Vagamundo, a Multichine 28, and Arakaé, a Multichine 34/36, sailing in heavy wind conditions. The first boat is sailing in the South Atlantic, while Arakaé crosses the fresh waters of Itaipu lake, the larger artificial reservoir in the world, placed in the Parana River, between Brazil and Paraguay.

These two boats, besides the fact that both are very well built, they also arise a special curiosity on us for their owners intended cruising plans, Vagamundo with an ambitious cruising schedule to sail abroad, and Arakaé’s skipper intended voyage down the Parana River until reaching the River Plate, and then sailing back to Brazil till the port of Paranagua.

Arakaé is the first boat that large designed by us to be sailing in that fresh water dam as large as an inland sea.

Click on images to enlarge them.

Multichine 28 Vagamundo – Baby on board

The MC28 class is steadily increasing its fame of being an excellent cruising sailboat. Possessing an interior arrangement resembling a small apartment, and being simple and easy to build, it is not by chance that this design became so popular among the cruising enthusiasts. As the boats of the class are being concluded, their owners, as soon as they feel confident, leave for dauntless cruising adventure, in some cases taking the whole family aboard.

After so much hard work and the many concealed dreams nurtured along the duration of the building process, it is not surprising that sooner than anyone could expect, there goes a just launched Multichine 28 for its first serious cruising experience.
This happened dozens of times, and when we receive reports about such trials, we are interested in knowing details, and if the experience is exciting enough to influence our   readers, we are interested in publishing the story in our news. We never forget that we also passed through the same process with our MC28 Fiu, when at first chance we went out for a week’s cruise with our family, our two months old granddaughter Juliana included.

The office at that time (2001) hadn’t moved to Perth, Western Australia, yet, and still operated from Rio de Janeiro, having the whole family working together during the week. However, on important occasions, like the first cruise with our brand new MC28, it was commonsense that the whole family had to participate in this unforgettable event together.

Ilha Grande is an island with steep forested hills just sixty miles west of Rio. With plenty of wild life, natural water falls, secluded beaches and gorgeous sceneries, this is such a privileged place for being visited by sea that it is not difficult to guess that we chose it as destination for Fiu’s first cruise.

Now we discovered that we were not the only ones with this same dream. The recently launched MC28 Vagamundo, having as crew her builder Ricardo Campos, his wife Ivana and their three months old baby João, went in their inauguration cruise bound for nowhere else but the paradisiacal Ilha Grande.

Vagamundo is an amateur construction. His builder, Ricardo, is a deep water diver engaged in the offshore oil drilling industry, which is presently booming in the east coast of Brazil. He built his boat in Vitória, a town placed 280 nautical miles north of Rio de Janeiro.

is job required that he spent a long time in service, and then spending another long stretch for decompressing, and then an equal long time off, for recuperating. This allowed him to build his boat with the necessary concentration to produce a first class work. But of course it was not only the spare time available the reason for the high standard of his construction. A natural inherited skill and a strong determination for high standard workmanship are the best explanation for the good finishing level of his construction.

Vagamundo is fitted with the best equipment available, including a servo-pendulum wind steering gear from a traditional manufacturer, so, in spite of Ricardo’s short-time experience, he felt confident enough to take with him his three months old son. The round trip from Vitória to Ilha Grande and back surpasses the seven hundred miles, so, it required a well prepared boat for a maiden trip that long. But this is exactly the strong point of the MC28. She inspires, with her high stability, smooth passage through the seas, and a sensation of cosiness in the interior of her cabin, such a confidence that owners count on the boat’s ability to accomplish their intended challenges as granted.

Fortunately up to now this has been the case with the MC28 fleet adventures, Vagamundo’s trip to Ilha Grande being no exception. It is true that the route had a large port to stop over on the way, Rio de Janeiro, which Ricardo did not despise.

Look with care at the photos of the trip and see how beautifully finished Vagamundo is and how happily the Campos family seem to have enjoyed their cruise.

Vagamundo’s family	Vagamundo in Ilha Grande	It seems like little João is enjoying the new home
Vagamundo’s backyard, Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay	João and Ivana in the companion hatch	João inspecting the instruments
Click on images to enlarge them.

To now more about the Multichine 28 class, click here.

Samoa 28, a new trend in amateur construction.

We have plenty of reasons to be glad to have produced the Samoa 28 plans for amateur construction. We have done this work before this horrible economical crisis had shown its true dimension, but by then, in spite of only a few sailors caring about the lack of sustainability of the prevailing voracious consumption mentality, we already were foreseeing that those production series boats intended to be discarded after being used for just a couple of seasons of light usage, and then to be sold in the second hand market for peanuts, wouldn’t fit the interest of many prospective cruising sailors.

Our principle of designing long lasting, very strong and easy to be maintained boats, intended for amateur construction, collides frontally with the prevailing mentality of the tycoons of the boat industry. Unquestionably a minority of the production boats are of very high quality, however their prices are astronomical, while most of them vary from indifferent standards of quality to rubbish.
Most models available are intended for being goods to be consumed by impulse during visits to the latest boat shows. Some of these marvels reach the absurd of putting a sofa-berth in one of the sides of the saloon and a large-sized slim-lined TV monitor separating two seats at the other side, despising completely the inevitable fall on top of the TV screen when the boat will be sailing heeled to that side. Obviously a boat like this is the one that suits best those busy weekend sailors who have to earn the money to buy the next marvel exposed in next year’s boat show. However, as the saying goes, money does not grow on trees, and to sell the series produced consumption symbols it is required plenty of easy credit. This unbalanced upside-down pyramid sooner or later would have to collapse and, perhaps, what we are observing now is jus the upper tip of the iceberg.

Our work is focused in the design of boats where creature comforts desired by all of us are present in every aspect, but not at the cost of gadgetry being the master while functionality of interior layout and sailing aptitudes, especially in offshore passages, are neglected to a second level of priority. We are also concerned in specifying materials that will ensure great strength and durability to our boats.

Our other priority is designing boats easy to be built and which construction is within the reach of the inexperienced amateur. We provide full size patterns for the transverse moulds which give shape to the hull, either printed on paper or in electronic file for CNC cutting, so there is no risk of mistakes during the initial phase of the construction. Besides, the plans are provided with a building manual, explaining, step by step, the various phases of the construction till the final operations.  

We feel we were lucky in our pursuit. The Samoa 28 is a good example of this. Introduced just a few years ago, this class is beginning a very promising career. We have units being built in fourteen different countries and it is becoming evident now that all those who want to go ahead, are managing to build their boats without difficulty. Now that the first hull of the class is already sailing, it is also being confirmed that the model is up to our expectations as an all around excellent performer with an outstanding seaworthiness, especially when sailing close hauled in heavy weather.

Last October, Sirius, the first Samoa 28 to be launched went for the first trials in the River Plate, a sailing region renowned for its short, steep seas and heavy winds. This boat, built by the geologist Daniel D’Angelo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, had its construction  followed closely by our site news section, from its first steps in the construction to a video of the launching party. (See also the site: http://ar.geocities.com/velerosirius/)

Frequently we receive news of other Samoa 28 constructions in various phases of the building process. Recently we were particularly pleased when receiving a series of pictures of another hull in the last stages of planking. What impressed us most was the short time between the plans’ acquisition and the near conclusion of the hull planking. This is quite rewarding for us. It is the clearest demonstration that having the moulds full size patterns and the building manual in hand, amateurs are able to reach the point where they feel they already have a boat. From there on it is just a matter of persistence, and we know from experience that having the hull finished, the amateur is assured that he can make the rest.

A client of ours, Bernardo Sampaio,  sent two photos of the interior of his Samoa 28  in the last stages of construction. It is hard to believe it is just a twenty-eight footer.  

Click on images to enlarge them.

Click here to know more about the Samoa 28

Multichine 28 despised, Fast-car overrated and skipper pinpointed.

Our friend Roberto Roque, owner of MC28 Stella del Fioravante, sent us this charge made by a cartoonist friend of his. Roberto, who lives in Calgary, Alberta, equally praised among his friends his new nautical acquisition and his favourite car, so it was no surprise the theme of the charge. We believe, however, that when reaching deeper water, the roles will be reversed, and Stella del Fioravante will use the car under the keel to enhance her stability and take the trio in safety to the intended haven.

The skipper is a good helmsman and we trust he will be able to deal with any gale in his way and wish his boat takes a good care of him.

Makay, the flying MC28

During the late nineties, when B & G Yacht Design still operated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we developed the Multichine 28 project having in mind building one of these boats for ourselves. Being our office a family business, we wanted a safe and comfortable boat for any sort of cruising, so we could go sailing with the whole family, including the grandchildren, or to go out single-handed, if the mood was for that type of cruise.Racing was more or less out of the question, since a very comfortable and spacious twenty-eight foot sailboat, short canvassed as she was, with four hundred twenty litres fresh water tank capacity, besides possessing an incomparable intrinsic robustness, wasn’t exactly the ideal boat for competition against racing machines.

Roberto Barros, the founder of the office, and a friend of his, Roberto Ceppas, decided to build two boats of this class together, in a shed not far from the largest football stadium in the world, the Maracanã Stadium. Since both had their formal activities, the building had to be accomplished during the weekends, often a few blocks away from large crowds of supporters of teams playing on those very Sundays, with all the noise and fire-crackers associated with football national championship great events.

Sometimes when a very important task in the construction was concluded and the proud builders were appreciating their master piece, a huge roar of acclamation made the soil tremble as if hit by an earthquake, not exactly intending to praise the work done, but actually to commemorate a goal which happened in the stadium. On other occasions the blimp airship filming the match would point its zoom camera to the boats, instead of showing the one hundred thousand supporters watching the twenty-two grown up athletes pursuing a tiny wee ball in the soccer field.

In spite of being amateurs in boat construction and making most of the construction with their own hands, the final quality of the two boats became legendary among the local sailing community, and was reason of great pride for both builders.

In the year 2000, the B & G owned Fiu was concluded, while Makay, Roberto Ceppas boat, was launched a little earlier. Soon the fame of the MC28 class, pushed by the success of the two boats and some other very well built ones, which were already sailing, spread internationally, and now there are almost two hundred of these boats being built or sailing in eleven different countries.

Fiu sailed about six thousand miles during her first years, sometimes with the Barros and Gouveia family together, other times single-handed by Roberto Barros. For twice she went from Rio de Janeiro to the northeast of Brazil, when she took part in the Recife to Fernando de Noronha race, an exceptional concession to the unequivocal cruising profile of the boat, since, more important than the race itself was the call at that tropical paradise under the sponsorship of the race organization.

On that occasion, the great surprise was the performance of Fiu. She crossed the line one boat behind the first of the class above the one which she was competing, and eight hours before the second boat of her class to arrive, completing the three hundred miles race in a little more than forty-five hours with the average speed of 6.6 knots.

Meanwhile Roberto Ceppas and his wife Brita, can you believe, began a charter business aboard their twenty-eight foot Makay, with such a high standard service, that  clients, local and foreigners, considered their experiences unforgettable.
Then the winds that were blowing so favourably to these two boats changed directions. Roberto Ceppas received an invitation to run the largest charter company in Brazil as its general manager, while B & G Yacht Design was changing address from Rio de Janeiro to Perth, Australia.

In the new job, for absolute lack of time to use his boat, Ceppas decided to sell Makay, while Roberto Barros and his wife Eileen decided to use Fiu as a means of transportation to take them to Perth. This would be a leisure cruise of reminiscences of an earlier adventure, when they sailed to Polynesia in a twenty-five foot boat with no inboard engine. (You can read this story, Rio to Polynesia, downloading from this site, front page left column.) When the boat was ready to start the trip, Eileen was advised by her dermatologist to give up sailing. The over-exposition to U.V. rays along her long cruising life left her skin very sensitive to sun exposure, and once she couldn’t go, Roberto Barros didn’t want to leave his companion behind, also deciding to sell his boat.
Fiu was sold to the Brazilian/Canadian engineer Roberto Roque, who lives in Calgary, Canada. However, at least for the time being, he preferred to leave his boat, now called Stella del Fioravante, in Brazil, to use her as a summer holidays resort. Even though being an inexperienced sailor, soon after the acquisition he went sailing in a five hundred miles trip, from Rio de Janeiro to Florianópolis, a city in South Brazil, where he intends to stay, when in this country.

Makay was sold to Renato and Luciana, two newcomers to the sport of sailing. Their first great adventure was to join the East Coast Cruising Rally, which happens every two years, beginning in Rio, and ending up at the start of the Recife to Fernando de Noronha Race, one of the most popular sailing events in the South Atlantic.

During one stop-over at the city of Vitória, two hundred sixty miles north of Rio, they joined a local race, the Soamar Regatta, which they won. Against a large fleet, under very bad weather, they were one of the two boats in their class that managed to finish the race, all others abandoning.

The really important event, however, would be the Recife to Fernando de Noronha. Again, in spite of being novices in the sport of racing, they also won that race in their class. During the awarding party Makay was being called the Flying MC28, for the astonishment of the entirely inexperienced crew. They joined the returning race to the continent, the so called Fernando de Noronha to Natal Race, which they also won, in spite of once more having to endure very bad weather.

We from B & G Yacht Design are especially pleased with these results. Our ultimate cruising sailboat winning races is quite unexpected, but we reckon that the secret relies in her easy to handle characteristics, assisted by smooth sailing lines.
For a boat intended for amateur construction and to be employed in long distance cruising, knowing she also sails fast is a bonus for the large community of MC28 owners.

Click on images to enlarge them.

Click here to know more about the Multichine 28 class

Samoa 28 Sirius. A new star is born

The October, 5, 2008 at five o’clock p.m. was launched Sirius, the first Samoa 28 to be concluded. Her owner Daniel D’Angelo, the happiest of the amateur builders, invited his friends and admirers who followed his three years construction saga to participate of the launching party.

The invitation was extended to us, since a firm friendship between Daniel and us was established during the time of the construction. However the 1200 nautical miles that separates me, and the other 5500 between Perth, where my partner Luis is living now, from Buenos Aires, prevented us from turning up.

In spite of not being there, at five o’clock precisely I sent him an e-mail with a message of congratulations for the great day and wishing him good luck with the new boat. Of course I didn’t expect any answer that night, since Daniel would probably be in the booze by then and too tired to turn on his computer. Imagine my surprise when I discovered an e-mail in my mail box with wonderful photos of Sirius, as well as of the whole party. Our friend and salesman in Argentina, Adrián Callejón, did not forget us and sent this message:

I’m glad to tell you this evening was the launching of Sirius. The boat is simply fantaaastic! A work of art! I’m sending a few photos of the event and a video showing the moment when the Champagne bottle was broken. The truth is that I was touched at the occasion. Congratulations, you have the first Samoa 28 on the water!

Monday I received the expected e-mail from Daniel, promising that soon he would be sending a gallery of photos of the event. For his amazement I informed him that my intelligence service had anticipated his move and had already sent us excellent photos of the Sirius launching party.

Well, this is just the first part of the story. The other chapters will follow soon. Roberto Barros.

Click on images to enlarge them.

Click here to know more about the Samoa 28

Southern Voyager 28, a compact live-aboard 28 foot trawler

People from the most different places are beginning to discover this unique trawler that we designed entirely in accordance with our own way of thinking, solemnly ignoring the opinion of many motorboat experts. Our idea about trawlers always was designing miniature ships with hull lines resembling the traditional whalers, for seaworthiness, and capable of performing long distances cruises, with water and fuel supplies seldom found in boats of same size.  When we decided to design a displacement type 28 foot trawler, we intended to provide her with enough creature comfort for a couple to live aboard, with the possibility of receiving up to four guests for short intervals. This boat should be capable of professional usage, like small diving school business, or free-lance charter. Of course, if an activity which can be performed on line via web was the choice, enough space in its interior layout should be provided for that purpose.
We designed this boat.  There is already at least one of these boats in operation and many others being constructed in the most varied places. This is the surprising Southern Voyager 28. The interior layout we show below say a lot about the comfort of her accommodations.

Interior layout of the Southern Voyager 28

The Southern 28 is a boat of the type living room, sleeping quarters, bathroom and a compact galley, not forgetting the verandah on the aft deck, the best place to relax after a stressing day spent at any office illuminated by fluorescent lights. Besides, her range is unmatched by practically all other trawlers of her size. With a 420l diesel tank she is capable of cruising for one thousand miles without requiring refueling. The only point that may not please some boaters is the fact that her top speed is more compatible with sailing crafts. Those who prefer high speed performance must definitivelly choose another hull shape.

The first client to launch a SV28 was Aristeu Cruz, a Brazilian resident at Curitiba, the capital of Parana State, a luttier by trade, (imagine how well finished his boat became), however, as a boat builder he was a totally inexperienced amateur.
He built his Vida Nova (new life in Portuguese) practically unassisted in his house garden. When he launched Vida Dura in the port town of Paranagua, he wrote us this eloquent e-mail:

Hi, folks
It is with great pleasure that I inform you about the successful launching of my SV28 Vida Nova. I have no words to express the emotion I felt when seeing her floating in her own element, watching her impressive hull shape, not mentioning her excellent stability and a surprisingly higher speed than what I have been expecting. All this, I assure you, is absolutely priceless.
I am thankful to the B & G Yacht Design team for proportioning this wonderful design, the Southern Voyager 28. Congratulation, and I wish lots of success for you all.
Aristeu Cruz.  

We have already many other clients in the most varied places and of the most different trades who chose the SV28 as their boats. One of them is Heitor Frossard, a biologist who is building his boat in a town in the interior of the sate of São Paulo, Brazil. He intends to live aboard and perform surveys in his field of knowledge, travelling along the Brazilian coast, using his boat as means of transportation. Another client is the retired merchant navy officer Joaquim Vasconcelos Ferreira. He is from Brasilia, the capital of the country, and instead of constructing himself, he preferred to order his SV28 to Flab boatyard, from Campinas, state of São Paulo. He intends to use his boat as an apartment when he will be on vacations, keeping her in a marine at Rio de Janeiro, and when using her, he expects to bring back some of his good memoirs from the time he was the captain of a 250,000 tons ship. There are so many other stories to tell…and how many others will come, like probably will happen with our most recent client, a yachtsman from Turkey.

Joaquim Vasconcelos Ferreira and his two sons watch with great emotion the turning upside of their SV28 hull, being built at Flab boatyard.

Click here to know more about the Southern Voyager 28

Green Flash ORC 33 launched!

The new ORC33 rule was idealized on the box rule concept where maximum and/or minimum values are set for some principal characteristics but enough design freedom is given for the designers to draw the best boat according their own studies and owner’s specifications. The result is that the yachts designed to this rule are fast, sound and seaworthy, retaining thereby good value beyond their competitive life as grand prix racers.

Bicho Grilo was designed by our office and built by her owner, João de Deus Assis, and has been attracting worldwide interest, as we can see in these two recent articles published on the ORC website (http://www.orc.org) that we reproduce below.

New ORC GP 33 boat launched (20/08/2008)

New ORC GP 33 class boat has been launched in Brazil. Joao de Deus Assis Filho built her himself together with his son and workers at JS Fiber Boat Yard. It is a Roberto Barros (B & G Yacht Design) project with his office now in Perth, Australia. The boat is located in Joinville - Santa Catarina State in south Brazil.

To know more about the Green Flash ORC33, click here!

Multichine 28 Access is becoming popular in English Habour, Antigua

Our poor friend, the MC28 Class champion in complicated adventures, Flavio Bezerra, just sent us an e-mail relating his latest accomplishments, which made us very sorry for him. At any rate, what a hell of a hard life must be staying on that distant Caribbean island, having to participate in hot parties crowded with beautiful women every evening, besides being compelled to dive every morning in pristine waters, and sailing to the best swell spots in the West Indies, never mentioning having to endure happy hours with so many other cruising mates from the four corners of the world.

I can’t guess why there are so many other MC28 builders and owners wanting to get acquainted with his latest news and being in a hurry to follow his path and take their boats bound for that very place.

***

I hope this e-mail will help you from B & G Yacht Design to make some business. This is my effort to compensate for the at least ten potential clients that I had to put to run when they arrived alongside my boat telling me that they could build the same boat faster and cheaper.

Life here hasn´t changed much since my last e-mail. I am working as a production engineer for Andrade Gutierrez Engineering, which is restoring the Antigua airport. I was quite lucky to obtain this job, thanks to my MSC degree, since there was no other candidate with my credentials as project manager. Only for that matter they allowed me to work, obtaining this job, something otherwise denied to any foreigner. And here a single tomato costs three dollars.

Every weekend I go sailing, or surfing, with friends. It is amazing how many hidden surfing spots can only be reached by boat. I left an Australian friend of mine dribbling, just telling him we went surfing in Sand Island, one of the most “classic” swells in the West Indies.

My anchoring procedure is always the same: sailing downwind, watching the ground for coral heads, then I run to the mast step, open the halyard stoppers, letting the sails fall down. Then I drop the anchor letting the boat go until the hook holds. Next she chooses one tack and finally points into the wind. Then I dive and attach a second anchor to the first one with twenty metres of chain joining them.

Altogether, I use thirty-five metres of chain and two anchors in line, one of them a 10kg CQR, which I borrowed from my fiend Ricardo, from the yacht Pirata III, and my primary one, a 10kg Bruce. This technique held in any circumstances up to now, and I hope it will always do.

I favour to anchor in less than five metres. I watch carefully the wind, the reefs around, and if I don’t feel confident, I don’t risk. The other day I was caught in a thunderstorm with fifty knots winds. Another boat alongside us was hit by lightning. What a loss! One of these days I’ll make a proper grounding on my boat, but my kitty isn’t allowing any extra expenditure yet.

I haven´t saved enough money to buy an engine yet, therefore I haven’t enough energy stored aboard to employ the auto-pilot. However the makeshift self-steering system I improvised, lashing fore sheets to the tiller, is working fine, even when running. By the way, this boat is so good that she follows a straight course even without rudder, as it was the case when I collided with a whale in the Fortaleza to Saint Martin leg, and had to sail for five days with no rudder.

I am very pleased with the boat and everyone compliments me for the design. It is evident, however, that a touch of woman care is missing aboard…but perhaps I need a larger boat for that purpose, or else I’ll have to find a small woman, of proper size to fit the MC28, with above all other virtues, to be provided with very, very good humour.

My dinghy (the Caravela 1.7) was thoroughly restored. I made a complete face-lift on it, with repairs in its pierced bottom and on the fiberglass sheathing. Now I need to fit the dinghy with its sail rig, so I can participate in the dinghy competition, during the Antigua Sailing Week. The last time I raced aboard Aschanti, a one hundred-twenty foot mega-yacht. What a crew!!! Here in English Harbour there are many beautiful women who love sailing, but you must be in good shape, if you want to keep up with their pace.

I can’t deny I am home-sick of my dear Rio de Janeiro. Better place you will not find. How many friends I made during the time I was building Access, when I participated of interminable chats in those building sheds in the Club Saint Cristobal, the heart of amateur construction in Rio.

At that time I couldn’t reckon they were such good friends,if it wasn´t for the so many difficulties an amateur builder has to endure, especially if he is having to live in the workshop, building his dream in a day by day schedule.

I miss Ipanema Beach, the competitions with my rowing mates in the Polynesian canoe, the sail rallies with the other boaters from Marina da Glória. I badly miss surfing in Prainha and Macumba Beach!!!

I will be returning, for sure! Soon I’ll be returning! I only don’t know when and by which route. So I’ll have to hide my melancholy. It’s much like having a penalty to be kicked by the Brazilian team in a world cup final. I want to win the championship, finding the best surfing points the world over, gunkholing in the most secluded places, and above all, making many, many friends, indeed, since after all, it is friendships what remain forever.

I send you and your family, now living in Perth, a bib hug for you all, and my thanks for all the patience and good will you had with me.
Flavio Bezerra
Antigua, West Indies.
E-mail: flavioab@hotmail.com

Click on images to enlarge them

Click here to know more about the Multichine 28 class

Kiribati 36, our next stock plan

Soon we will be introducing a very exciting new design, the Kiribati 36, an aluminium sail boat with a series of innovative ideas, which we are expecting to excite the imagination of many blue-water cruising sailors.

This new design has all the ingredients to make a successful career. The story of the Kiribati 36 began when our friend, now our collaborator, Luis Manuel Pinho, a long time cruising sailor, accepted our invitation to produce this design in a joint venture.

Luis Manuel was born in Mozambique. When that country obtained its independence, his family immigrated to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Luis Manuel obtained a degree in engineering. Soon after his graduation he built a steel boat with which, together with his just married wife Marli, sailed to the South Pacific, where they stayed for many years.

They established their base in Cairns, Queensland, and from there they visited many remote islands in the South Pacific. After four years of residence, Luis Manuel and his wife obtained the Australian citizenship, something important for us, since we also transferred our office to Perth, Western Australia.

Luis Manuel sold his boat in Australia and came back to Brazil to build his new yacht, since this was the country where he was acquainted with building facilities, based in his previous experience. Luis Manuel and his wife intend to sail back to Australia with the new boat, where they will resume to their former cruising life-stile, and he intends to remain as our collaborator in future projects.

The deal we made with him was beneficial for both sides. We used the Multichine 36SK as a base plan for the new design and he introduced the modifications he intended to accomplish, which we believe are shared by many other cruising sailors. The result of all his work is the Kiribati 36, which we are proud to advertise.

If you are interested in the Kiribati 36 and want to know more about this design, please send us an e-mail to info@yachtdesign.com.auor to Luis Manuel at the e-mail luisdesenhos@gmail.com.

Kiribati 36 Aluminium Swing Keel Yacht

Length Overall – 11.03m
Beam – 3.84m
Draft Keel Up – 0.72m
Draft Keel Down – 2.26m
Displacement Light – 7250 Kg (includes rig, winches, interior, deck hardware)
Displacement Loaded – 8750 kg (Full tanks, provisions, spares, dinghy, outboard etc)
Ballast – Fixed 1000 Kg
Swing Keel 1300 Kg
Water Capacity – 600 l
Fuel Capacity – 420 l

The main goals that the Kiribati 36 has to meet are:

• - To be a safe world passage maker with emphasis on tropical sailing. A shallow draught is desired to amplify the cruising ground possibilities and enhance the safety of anchoring in otherwise inaccessible shelters.
• - To be a permanent home for a couple with good view to the outside.
• - To be cost effective to be built by amateurs or by professional yards.
• - To have simple and reliable systems in order to minimize the possibilities of gear failure at sea and to keep the running and maintenance costs to a minimum.
• - To be a reasonable performer in light airs and be capable of motoring comfortably at 5 to 6 knots, with a 1000 Nautical Miles range under power.
• - To see how these goals are met with the minimum possible compromise by the Kiribati 36, we begin by its size.

11 m or 36ft LOA gives you enough carrying capability and can take its share of rough weather and the inertia for the proposed displacement still gives you gentle enough accelerations while this size still belongs to the small boat club in comparison to the current cruising fleet.

While 32 ft or 10 m can still be enough, the savings in cost will be not all that great, as a simply conceived 11m can be cheaper than an overbuilt, over-equipped 10 m long boat, and the trade off can be disadvantageous when you consider the smaller payload. You can benefit of cheaper places if you can carry more stocks and fuel.

Next we come to the building method, which is based on a pre-cut kit of all aluminium parts, numbered and identified in easy to read perspective drawings.

With this kit and drawings, and with the building manual supplied, an amateur with access to a shed and an aluminium welder (we recommend that an experienced welding professional be hired) can confidently put the boat together.

The hull plates are designed to be nearly 100% developable in a plane, so no great forces are required to bend them to shape and a minimum of stress and deformation is introduced in the material. This is assured by using dedicated software ( Prosurf 3, Rhinoceros ) that calculates and shows graphically the amount of curvature on the surface.

This hull is intrinsically very strong with the added advantage of the inherent dryness of properly built metal hulls. The 5086/5083 aluminium employed should ensure decades of trouble free cruising, as far as the hull is concerned.

The choice of twin rudders behind skegs with tiller steering is logical since you want to keep systems simple and still have low draught and good steering control. The twin rudders are 10cm deeper than the lowest part of the hull with the swing keel up, providing a stable 3 point base when sitting on the ground.

The option for a swing keel is dictated by the shallow draught requirement. With the keel up the Kiribati 36 draws scant 79 centimetres (2 ‘ 7” ) fully loaded. The ballast is divided between internal ballast and the ballasted swing keel. There is a very simple and low cost system to raise the keel, using an ordinary winch and a 4 to 1 reduction, pulling two 12mm spectra ropes.

The rig is a single spreader cutter in order to keep it simple and provide for enough sail area combinations for safe offshore passages. A mast height of 13 m and a sail area of 57 m³ to give a Sail area/Displacement ratio of 14.3 should power the Kiribati 36 well enough in the prevailing conditions of the trade wind belt. Slab reefing and mainsail handling by the mast is preferred to minimize line runs and keep chafe and costs low. A well protected working area around the mast is provided by back-rests on each side.

The outboard profile is dictated by the requirements of a good view to the outside and an easy transition from cockpit to cabin. A raised floor area just below from the main companionway hatch will provide a good view from the galley and navigation station area. Six 32x24cm  and  two 50x50cm hatches are installed around this cabin area, enabling integration to the exterior surroundings  and plenty of ventilation, while being safe and strong.

The Interior

A raised floor central section accommodates the navigation station, where a seated navigator can look out through the hatches, and the cook has full view of the outside, providing for a comfortable and ventilated working environment.

Forward and one step below there is a dinette with ample sitting room for six persons and a forward double berth.

The heads is located to starboard, aft of the navigation station, and behind it is the technical area, concentrating all through-hulls, except the main raw water intake, which is located on the keel trunk wall, being this the only underwater connection on the boat. A convenient space for electric equipment, pumps and all diesel fuel management is also located here.

About the Multichine 31

The Multichine 31 is a design that should deserve a special recognition among our line of stock plans. Intended for amateur construction, this cruising sailboat is unique in elegance of her lines and comfort of her interior layout.

This recognition took a little longer to happen than we expected, probably because the first boats of the class which constructions were concluded, their owners were in no hurry to complete their work, preferring to dedicate their time in improving the standard of quality of the many details of their workmanship. But now that some of these boats are already sailing in different nautical centres, the merits of the project are becoming evident.

Our builders, whose special cares are mentioned above, are very proud of their accomplishments and some of them are willing to share their experiences with other amateurs. Two of them published home pages with links to our web-site. The latest addition is: www.veleirotaga.blogspot.com. The Multichine 31 referred in this site is being built by the retired navy officer Álvaro Pereira Guimarães. He is constructing his yacht in an amateur building centre located at the city of Rio de Janeiro, practically unassisted. His work, for a layman in joinery work is worth a high commend for its level of finishing. Taga, as his boat will be called, will become a reference in craftsmanship among amateurs, we believe. The captions shown below are witness of this perfectionism.

Click on images to enlarge them

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Another very well built Multichine 31 is Santa Clara. Tom Murray, her owner, a first time amateur builder, launched her a few months ago. Santa Clara is producing a very favorable impression among sailors in the marina where she stays, and the unanimous opinion is that Tom accomplished a first class job. He built his boat in his home garden located on the beautiful hills close to the city of Rio de Janeiro, surrounded by the Atlantic Rain Forest. With such gorgeous landscape, and that wonderful swimming pool a step aside the building grid, we wonder how he got the necessary willing force to work so well.

The MC31 class has many boats under construction in different countries and the latest acquisition of the plans was from a couple in Sweden who intend to start its construction straightaway. We are willing to promote the MC31 to the level it deserves, and we will keep informing about the latest news of the class regularly.

Aloha, the other boat shown on the photos below is a MC31 built by another amateur at Porto Alegre, a city located one hundred fifty miles away from the sea in the Brazilian Pampas. On these photos she is sailing in the estuary of Guaiba River, which flows to a three hundred kilometers long fresh water lake connected to the sea.

Click on images to enlarge them

Click on images to enlarge them

Click here if you want to know more about the Multichine 31 class

***

After reading this article, our friend Tom Murray sent us a gratefulness e-mail with a nice photo of Santa Clara under sail outside the Rio de Janeiro Bay. His boat looks so large that it is difficult to realize she is thirty-one foot L.O.A. only:

Dear friends.
I was very pleased reading your report citing my MC31 Santa Clara, and also a bit embarrassed for not communicating about her launching. I am absolutely happy with her performance, the boat is simply marvelous. She sails beautifully, is extremely well balanced, you may leave the tiller and she keeps sailing in the same course. She is a joy to sail and easy to handle in any wind condition. She is also very fast, besides the fact of transmitting a feeling of comfort and confidence. In short, she has all the virtues you advertised about the plans. I have only to thank you for designing other people’s dreams and to give after sales assistance whenever required.
Best regards
Tom Murray

Polar 65, our small expedition sailing ship

The Polar 65 is an amazing cruising sailboat. This powerful “go anywhere cruising machine” soon will be giving reasons for many comments among the sailing community. After all there are not many other forty-five ton displacement boats capable of grounding on a beach, just requiring the next tide to be floating again. Her impressive swing keel, when extended downside, dwarfs a man standing at its side (see photo below), but this swing-keel with its sophisticated hydrodynamic shape is the secret for having sufficient lift to allow her to beat to windward, even when sailing in gale conditions.

Being provided with two engines and two rudders, the Polar 65 is able to manoeuvre in tight anchorages with great facility dispensing a complicate bow thruster installation. On the other hand her high degree of positive stability makes her comfortable even when sailing in very rough conditions. These characteristics together with an extremely spacious interior arrangement are what make her the superb expedition boat she is.

The Ukrainian civil engineer Aleixo Belov was our first client to build a Polar 65. Being an outstanding sailor, just a few years after his graduation, he built a thirty-six foot fibreglass sailboat with which he accomplished a round the world trip, single-handed. Back home he wrote a book called “In search of the Orient” , where he relates his adventures, including an acquaintance with famous female navigator Tania Aebi, and a visit to his home-country, Ukrainia, then part of USSR. With that very boat he went sailing around the world two times more, always in solitary, resulting from these experiences two other bestsellers. Now he does not want to sail alone anymore, and decided to dedicate his Polar 65 in the mission of taking young people as crew, using his boat as a sailing school for less favoured youth.

His boat is practically ready to be launched, and will be sailing before the end of this year.

Owning a shipyard at the city of Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil, he found no difficulty in building his Fraternidade (Fraternity in Portuguese) with his own team of welders. We visited his plant a few months ago and took the photos shown below:

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Meanwhile another Polar 65 hull is under construction at Metallic Boats, a boatyard established in Triunfo, R.S., Brazil. The second vessel of this class, Mar de Cristal, soon will have the hull turned into its upside position. José Antonio Moeller, the boatyard owner, is very enthusiastic about the potential of this design as the perfect charter boat to operate in high latitudes, and having in mind to be prepared to produce these boats in series, he provided his installations for CNC cut assemblage, which will represent an important saving in time of construction.

Moeller, a long time client of ours, already produced a collection of boats from our design, and for the quality of his work, we are foreseeing a very successful career for his latest investment.

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Click here to know more about the Polar 65 class

Multichine 28 class latest news

Our most audacious Multichine 28 owner-builder, Flavio Bezerra, who sailed from Rio de Janeiro to the West Indies single-handed without auxiliary engine and with no means to recharge his batteries ( rolling the page, see the article: “Multichine 28 Access reaches the Caribbean”), sent us this July, 2008, an e-mail reporting that at the moment he is at English Harbour, Antigua, and that all is fine with him:

Presently I’m living in Antigua, where I found a Job in Andrade Gutierrez, an engineering company which is reconstructing the local airport. As you know, my friends, I’m a workaddict and love to be doing things.
My dear little sailboat Access is anchored in English Harbour Bay. The area around the rudder, where I had to perform a local repair, is still requiring to be painted, but I’m still saving money to invest in the boat. Antifouling, a seven thousand bucks new diesel engine, and other investments are all in my check-list, and I haven’t the slightest idea how can I save that much. I reckon I’ll have to rely on my sails for a while yet. The question is if I am able to sail to the Pacific without an auxiliary engine. Perhaps I can manage, who knows? Returning home is out of the question, at least until next summer, so, I suppose I’m staying here for the time being.
The waters of the bay where I’m living are very clean and I dive every early morning before going to work. I use to swim across the bay and after running along a local beach, I return swimming one more time. It is how I fight against my incipient belly.
Soon I’ll send a video reporting my hard life here.
Regards to you all.
Flavio

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Another client of ours who built a Multichine 28 unassisted, the restaurateur Giovani Dalgrande, is very pleased with the conclusion of his work. He built his boat at the city of Florianopolis, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, and a few days ago sent us an e-mail with some beautiful photos of his Kyriri-ete attached:
It is a great pleasure to inform you that I concluded the construction of my Multichine 28 Kyriri-ete which I started to build a “few days ago”. The meaning of the boat’s name in the Indian language Tupi-Guarani is tranquility, something all of us are badly in need.
I would like to thank you for the nice plans that you produced, which allowed me to accomplishing my dreams through this enterprise. It was very rewarding all the time I had been involved with this affair

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Kiribati 36 – A new design for construction with CNC cut aluminium plates.

It is well advanced the hull of the first Kiribati 36, a design adapted from our Multichine 36 SK and first of our line to be nearly 100% pre-cut by CNC. The hull is being built by Metallic Boats yard, in Triunfo, RS, Brazil

Main diferences from the Multichine 36 SK, which can also be built in aluminium in addition to steel, are changes to the deck and cabin, to allow a better panoramic view from inside the cabin, item that our clients, Luis Manuel and Marli, consider a priority for a long range voyaging yacht, and modifications to the systems in the direction of simplicity, low maintenance and low cost, as tiller steering instead of wheel, and new position of the rudders, now placed behind the transom. The anchor locker was brought aft and enlarged and an extra watertight bulkhead inserted at the aft end, creating a huge lazzarette isolated from the accommodation area.

The couple chose this design to replace their "Green Nomad", a Van de Stadt 36 built in steel by them, in which they cruised for 10 years, from Rio de Janeiro to the Pacific Ocean, passing through Panama and staying several years between Australia and the South West Pacific island groups. Between these, they were enchanted by Kiribati , reason why they chose to name their version of the design Kiribati 36.

Being a swing keel design, the Kiribati 36 will allow them to return and explore the Pacific Ocean with more freedom of choice and options than before, when they had to play the tides in order to get into cyclone holes and other anchorages.

The hull is in 5083 aluminium alloy, being 10mm thick in the bottom and 8mm on the sides. The hull panels were cut by plasma, while the remaining of the structure, deck, keel and rudders were cut by water jet. All was pre-cut, ensuring a fast and very precise assemblage. The modifications and the development of the pre-cut kit were done by Luis Manuel Pinho in close collaboration with our office, which shall launch an official version of the design soon.

If you would like to know more about the Kiribati 36, please send an e-mail to info@yachtdesign.com.au or to luisdesenhos@gmail.com.

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Southern Voyager 28 built by Flab boatyard

We have reported the conclusion of construction and turning over parties promoted by Flab Boatyard in various occasions since this excellent custom yard began its activities.
Now the boat in question is a Southern Voyager 28 trawler, which hull was turned upside last June 28. As usual, the quality of the construction is striking, and the retired Merchant Navy officer Joaquim Vasconcelos Ferreira, the happy owner, sported a smile from ear to ear for the duration of the party.
The sequence of photos sent us by Flab Boatyard owner, Flavio Rodrigues are eloquent witnesses of the beauty of the hull, and those who love wooden construction will understand the reason for Joaquim’s pride and happiness.

Flavio sent us an e-mail where he expressed his feelings about the event:

To build custom boats is a very rewarding activity, and building boats designed by B & G Yacht Design is an honour, and yet, obtaining such a group of friends among my clients, suppliers and supporters of my boatyard is a privilege that few can boast to have acquired in a professional career.
Joaquim’s boat turning over party was another occasion not to be forgotten. We all missed your presence but other opportunities to have you with us for sure will come.
Our love to you, especially to Eileen, the mother of all B & G Yacht Design boats.
Flavio

The SV28 is a wooden power boat of displacement type. Her plans are intended for amateur or custom construction. The building method employed in the construction of the SV28 is strip planking laid over cold moulded laminated frames for the hull, and marine plywood sheathed with fibreglass for the superstructure. The interior is made with plywood. All parts of the construction are bonded with epoxy glue, resulting in a monoblock structure of great strength and durability.

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Click here to know more about the SV28 Class

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More about the Southern Voyager 28

Voyaging through the web we found a site, www.craftacraft.com with an interesting comments about our SV28 trawler:

‘A designer that is currently moving from Rio de Janeiro to Perth, Australia, Roberto Barros has some interesting designs to examine, mostly sail craft, but a few power boats.
Designs are available in “ply-glass, steel or aluminium”. Most of the power yachts have a sailboat hull look to them (fairly beamy). Mr. Barros has some interesting interior designs, again seeming to borrow from some of the sailing designs.
Getting berths for six in a 28’ boat sounds tight, but by stacking them “bunk” style with the uppers designed to fold to become seat backs it seems that he had managed it…’

The person who wrote the text above is a good observer. He is precise in stating that some of our trawler designs have a sailboat hull look.  The reason for that is quite simple: our trawlers are of displacement type hulls and their smooth waterlines do not differ much from sailboat waterlines. The semi-planing concept of trawler hulls is neither fish nor fowl. Trawlers advertised as semi-planing, for obvious reasons, are never shown travelling at full throttle in their advertisements. The Southern Voyager 28, with its large tank capacity, is capable of travelling for long distances without needing to refuel, and this is the design intention.
About possessing comfortable sleeping accommodations for up to six adults, this is due to the fact that the SV28 is a really large trawler for her l.o.a. Watching the photos of guests entering Joaquim’s just turned upside hull, dissipates any doubt about this capability.

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B & G Yacht Design – our office in Australia

Since last year, when I moved to Australia, I am involved in the task of integrating our yacht design office with this new market. The chosen city to establish our office was Perth, the capital of booming Western Australia. The nautical activity is very intense here, be it sailing, motor-boating, fishing or canoeing, either in the sheltered waters of the Swan River, or in the Indian Ocean. 

Best known by the sailing community is nearby Fremantle. Distant 15 minutes from Perth downtown but still in its metropolitan area, in the year of 1983 Fremantle hosted the first America’s Cup regatta raced outside the United States.  The town had been completely remodeled on that occasion and the complex of marinas built for the event is now being used by thousands of boaters and is also an entertainment site, with lots of restaurants and different tourist attractions. A nice place to visit there is The Western Australia Maritime Museum, where it is exposed one of the most famous Australian boats, Australia II, the first yacht to beat the Americans in more than 130 years of the America’s Cup competition.

Australia II and the Western Australia Maritime Museum
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The place I chose to settle the office was Bicton, a suburb of Perth located in the south margin of the Swan River, a stone throw from Fremantle.  Roberto Barros, my partner, who remained in Rio de Janeiro, and I, took some time in adapting to work so far apart from each other.  We communicate daily by e-mail and skype and during this time we learned to take advantage of the 11 hours time difference.  Now it is as if our office is running 24 hours nonstop, since while one of us is ending his daily routine, the other one is just beginning his day.

Luis near the Swan River

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I spent the first months in the new country trying to learn more about the local market.  I visited some boat shows, especially on the west coast, talked to boaters in the marinas and clubs and sailed in new acquaintances’ boats.  The interest in strong, safe, seaworthy, stable, reliable, easy to build, attractive and low maintenance yachts is the general rule, and in these aspects Australians don’t differ from people elsewhere. I soon learned that we are quite at ease regarding these requirements, since we also pursuit these characteristics and they belong to our design philosophy.

Luis, Astrid, Christian e Juliana in Cape Leeuwin

Cape Leeuwin lighthouse– where two oceans meet
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Since May, 2008 we have a company officially registered in Australia.  It is B & G Yacht Design and in the coming days the new name and logo will be displayed in our website.  We are quite motivated with this new challenge. More than just a new beginning, we feel that the B & G Yacht Design is an extension and a step ahead on all the hard work we had done in more than 20 years dedicated to designing yachts.

Explorer 39 being built in Uruguay.

The Uruguayan computer analyst Julio Gonzales is building an Explorer 39 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He obtained permission to use the installations of a local technical school and is profiting from the skill and enthusiasm of its young students.

The hull strip-planked core is already completed and was extremely well finished. At the present time the fibreglass external lamination has been already applied and the hull is ready to be turned upside. Julio prepared an interesting site, www.explorer39.com,   to relate his experiences as a yacht builder.

We extracted from his site the following information and we intend to report periodically the progresses of his construction. The Explorer 39 is a swing-keel shallow draught cruising yacht, the ideal type of boat to operate in the River Plate, where an accelerated process of sedimentation is turning the estuary waters shallower at each season. In the long run Julio intends to use his boat in long distance cruising, and he counts on the versatility of his boat to provide him with a scope of usage unmatched by any other fixed keel yacht of the same size.

Being built at the Escuela Tecnica Marítima del Uruguay

This home page is a tribute to all amateur boat builders and cruising sailors.

The construction is taking place at the Maritime school of Uruguay (UTU), a public institution ( a small part of each one of us, Uruguayans, where various technical courses are offered.
There is a boat building department at this school where fishing boats and leisure crafts are built, but the Explorer 39 with her twelve meters L.O.A. and 3.70m beam is up to now the school’s larger challenge. The plans were acquired from B & G Yacht Design, www.yachtdesign.com.au, former Roberto Barros Yacht Design, www.yachtdesign.com.br, a well known yacht design group, which was first established in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but presently is operating from Perth, Western Australia.

Why the Explorer 39 ?

The idea of building the Explorer 39 is a long time dream nurtured during the years when I owned a Plenamar 22, a weekend sailer too small for more ambitious dreams, and from this standing point I began looking for something more adequate for my future plans. First I searched the yacht market for an adequate model which suited my needs, but the prohibitive prices of first hand yachts deterred me from acquiring a production boat.
Then I began to consider building myself the boat I was looking for as an amateur and, somehow, trying to prove that yachts are not necessarily that expensive. (I’m far from claiming that amateur construction is inexpensive. Only that prices currently practiced by the yachting industry are abusive). Here in Uruguay it is possible to accomplish quite interesting achievements regarding amateur boat building.

The core strip-planking already finished, ready to be covered by the external fiberglass lamination

Click here for other information about the Explorer 39 Class.

Vagamundo is a very good looking Multichine 28

We received an e-mail from the professional deep-water diver
Ricardo Campos, from Vitoria, southeast Brazil, informing us that the boat he built practically unassisted finally went sailing. Looking at the photos he sent us, it is easy to evaluate the extraordinary feat to have built a 28 foot ocean bound cruising sail boat practically alone. Those who tried the construction of a sailing craft of any sort as an amateur will know so well to give the right credit to his achievement. Ricardo was born an adventurer, and we have no doubts that the next pages of his life will be sailing his Vagamundo to far horizons, taking his new family along with him. His e-mail shows how touched he was in what probably was the happiest day in his life:

Yesterday, the June 19, 2008 I went sailing with my brand-new Vagamundo for the first time. It is necessary to pass trough this experience to understand how I’m feeling; not exactly like the kid who received a new toy, but more precisely, the one who went to play for the first time with the toy he built himself. Those who lived an experience like this in their childhoods will know quite well what does this mean.

Eight long years had passed since the day I acquired the plans at your office. I made practically all the construction by myself, only calling a hand to assist me when sheathing the hull with fiberglass and when applying the final coat of poliurethane finishing paint. So it is not surprising that I chose to sail single-handed for this first trial. It was quite a short-lasting sail; just about four hours, the wind blowing first, when leaving the pier, at four knots, (no engine required; at any rate, isn’t she a sail boat? J) and then sailing in fifteen knots breeze. I was absolutely amazed with the boat’s ability to sail by herself, even when running. I left the tiller to go inside the cabin to prepare a snack and to check if everything was fine down below,  and the boat remained in its course as if I had already a self-steering gear installed. When staying in the cabin, I was marveled to be able to watch what was going on outside, around 360°, across her glass windows, portholes and hatches, a dream come true for all single-handed sailors. The wind fell once more when returning to the pier, and again I let the iron sail stay quiet is its bed and entered under main alone until we were lashed to our finger. Not for the sailor’s expertise, which is very small yet, but because the boat is a joy to maneuver.

The first part of my dreams is concluded. Next step is to begin living aboard and then go sailing to the most distant places. I hope this will happen soon, even though I have to build a cradle in the fore cabin, since my first son, João, is only fifteen days old. I intend to wait until he is six months old, and then we take a decision.

Vagamundo is not entirely fit for ocean passages yet. She still requires a bimini, a dodger, the tender, and many other items, as is the case with most recently launched yachts. Unfortunately the company I dived for lost its contract with Petrobras, the Brazilian oil company which they worked for, and for that matter I am unemployed at the moment.
I’m attaching a few photos of this glorious day-sail and hope one day to have the pleasure to receive  aboard the Barros family as my guests.
Ricardo Costa Campos

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Click here to know more about the Multichine 28 Class  

Pantanal 25 made in Turkey

Last June, 4, 2008 we received this laconic e-mail with three excellent pictures of the first Pantanal 25 made in Turkey:

Dear Roberto
We think this is the first one.
Thank you very much for your very nice plans. (Pantanal 25)
We built together. Please see her in the water.
Orhan Sati & Bahattin Bedir

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Observing Zirrdeli’s photos was a very nice surprise for us. At first place because the boat is superbly well built, with a degree of sophistication, like for instance, teak covered cockpit seats, seldom found in boats of amateur construction. It also impressed us the fact that the two friends surpassed all obstacles totally unassisted by us, since they did not require any further information besides the ones provided with the plans. So our surprise came in a double dose, and receiving these photos gave us an incommensurable satisfaction.
However, another surprise was expecting us; a client of ours, Birol Ozer, who acquired the plans far later, probably influenced by Zirrdeli’s superb finishing details, sent us an e-mail informing that he also had completed the construction of his Pantanal 25 hull.
He wrote:

Hi Luis,
I hope you and your family are fine.
I am sending you a photo of my Pantanal 25
This weekend I’m intending to turn her upside.
I’m afraid of this action.
Kind regards.
Birol Ozer

Birol Ozer Pantanal 25

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The Pantanal 25 class is just getting outside its egg-shell. When we decided to design a trailerable cruising sail boat with more creature comforts than most other similar boats, we couldn’t dream with the immediate approval of our ideas by so many sailors in the most varied places. Since its introduction, the class never stopped increasing in aficionados and there are dozens of builders in various countries working hard to complete their boats.

The first chance we had to watch a video of a Pantanal 25 sailing took place last April when Dark Ice, the boat built in Campinas, Brazil, by Jorge Intaschi went for her first sea trial. This video is becoming very popular, with more than 3.000 visits in two months. Soon Jorge intends to produce a second one, when he will try a larger asymmetric spinnaker on his boat.

We are praying for Aeolus to present him with a nice and fresh breeze for us to appreciate Dark Ice’s wake.
Jorge Intaschi is installing a plant to produce the Pantanal 25 commercially and we hope soon he will be starting his line of production.

Samoa 28 Sirius first “flight”

Daniel D’Angelo, the Argentinean geologist who built a Samoa 28 totally unassisted, in his home garden in Buenos Aires, Argentina, already removed the boat from his lawn, employing a crane for the purpose. Next the boat will be conducted to a professional boatyard to have the fin-keel and rudder installed, and the final coat of polyurethane paint applied. Daniel published in his site, http://ar.geocities.com/velerosirius/ this thrilling operation in a You Tube video.

Daniel wrote this note about the experience:

The great day of removing my beloved Sirius from my garden finally has come. As it has been routine these last days, Murphy was there, bringing with him all his implacable laws. The freighter, who has been hired to transport the boat to the boatyard, didn’t come at the appointed time, and as the crane didn’t fail to come, we had to improvise, leaving the boat on the public sidewalk for a while.

For good chance I could count on the assistance of my neighbor “Chavo” and his sons, who already gave me a hand when the hull had been turned upside. Since that day they hadn’t visited the workshop, so they where quite pleased to participate in this important achievement.

The operation was successfully accomplished, with no mishaps, what is good omen for Sirius first steps in the outside world. Finally we left for the time being the hull resting on two bearers laid on the sidewalk.

Praying not to be disturbed by the municipal authorities, we covered the whole boat with a tarpaulin, and my neighbor Alejandro and I went to sleep aboard, being rewarded with a 2° negative Celsius for that first night.

Record crop of boats from our designs getting ready to be launched

This season we have good reasons to commemorate. To toast our first anniversary of operation in Perth, Western Australia, it seems that our builders wanted to reward us with a record number of boats from our designs being finished practically at the same time.
One of them, Dark Ice, the first Pantanal 25 to go to the water, was the premature baby of this list. Last month she went sailing and this June she will be competing in the most important event of the Brazilian racing calendar, the Ilha Bela Sailing Week.
Jorge Intaschi, her builder, obtained a sponsorship to finance the expenses to participate in this series, and at the moment is training a qualified crew, doing his best to show the boat’s potential. Dark Ice had already been tested, when she demonstrated being capable of impressive bursts of speed, even when sailing in light air. (See our report - Pantanal 25 Dark Ice first trial. The You Tube video shown in this article, reached 2,890 views in May, 24.).

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The other boat just launched, still needing to be rigged, is also the first of her design to go to the water. She is the Green Flash ORC33 Class prototype built in Joinville, State of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil, by João de Deus Assis. This boat is one of the firsts of this class to be concluded world wide. In Brazil she probably will compete in the ORC Internationa class, once there are no other sister-ships to race for line honours.

Sirius is a good example of amateur construction. Competing with dozens of other builders in various countries, some of them professionals, it is him who will tell us the first news about a Samoa 28 sailing. We intend to publish a cover story in our site as soon as he informs us about this impressive achievement.

Samoa 28 Sirius

Last but not least, it is nearly concluded the construction of our first boat built in Korea. She is a Multichine 45 built in steel by Mr T. J. Park. He is at the moment giving the last coats of finishing to his handsome yacht. He didn’t tell us yet how he will call her, but for the time being, for us she will be "The Korean MC45 Star"

The Korean MC45 Star

Multichine 28 Atairu, a masterpiece in wood-epoxy construction.

Flab Boatyard from Campinas, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, delivered another MC28 Class sail boat, the most popular cruising design from our office.
Considering the level of finishing and the general woodwork quality of all boats built by this boat yard, Flab is becoming one of the most respected custom builders in Brazil. The yard is run by Flávio Rodrigues, a specialist in wooden boat building. The standard of his joiner work is one of the bests in this country.
Even though our office is presently established in Perth, Western Australia, the twenty continuous years we operated in Brazil established permanent roots with the cream of the cream of the Brazilian custom boat builders, something we really prize. Most of these builders are linked with our site. (See links in our front page.)
We have reported in our news practically every launching of the boats built by Flab. It is our intention to promote his wonderful level of construction to the North American, Australian and European market, where labor and the cost of wood are so expensive. We reckon that in those countries, unless a boat is built by her owner, it is almost unaffordable for a middle class person to order a custom wood/epoxy sail or motor boat.
We haven’t been successful in convincing potential overseas clients with a commitment with Flab yet, since up to now all his clients are local ones. Flavio really doesn’t need a hand from us, since he has enough orders from the local market to keep him busy, but considering his potential in pleasing the most demanding of his clients, we would love to see him opening his scope for the international market.

Atairu’s galley details

The MC28 is a design intended for amateur construction. There are almost two hundreds of boats from this design being built or sailing in ten different countries, in four continents. Many of their builders intend to accomplish long distance cruising, some of them having a round the world trip as their goals. The couple Ivana and Antonio Piqueres, the Atairu owners, are no exception. They intend to sail the Brazilian coast from south to north and then their plans are unlimited. Since Atairu was built by a professional boat yard of such an excellence of quality, this MC28 tends to become an important ambassador for the class. It happens, however, that there are many other well built and fancily finished MC28’s. So, it is expected that the class will expand in numbers and geographic scope. We are grateful with the empathy of our builders with the design and we will keep informing our readers about the progress of the class.

Click here to know more about the Multichine 28 class

Multichine 23 - Sollazzo

We reported a few months ago the launching of the beautiful MC 23MK IV Sollazzo. Now, her builder Flavio Traiano sent us an e-mail relating the first cruise aboard his home-built cruising sail boat.

We were particularly pleased in receiving this e-mail, considering we developed these plans having in mind young families like his.

The fact that he and his family had a great time during the holidays is a reward for our work, since our intention was to provide to the amateur the plans of a cheap and easy to build twenty-three foot sail boat capable of taking a small family in a coastal cruise in comfort and safety. His report about the trip say a lot about how pleased he was with the new experience. His words sound like music and are very gratifying for us.

Finally we completed our first cruise with Sollazzo, our home-built MC 23 MK IV.

A few months passed after Sollazzo’s launching, but that was the time required to complete the boat, when important details of the interior construction were performed. During this preparation phase we only used the boat in day-sailing, just to test her in the open sea, when we eventually experienced tough weather, giving us the necessary confidence to go further out.

We left Rio in the beginning of April 2008. The trip was eventless and we managed to keep five knots speed average along the way, pushed by a light southeast, sometimes with the assistance of our auxiliary.

We spent, my two and a half years old daughter, my wife and I, five marvelous days gunkholing between Ilha Grande and Angra. We slept and cooked aboard during all these days, and this included two delicious barbecues grilled in our marine kettle.

I was delighted about my crew's enthusiasm with this life-style during these hollidays. Our pocket cruiser accommodated us comfortably during the whole trip. We managed to store neatly our food supply, cooking utensils, diving and fishing equipment, tool kit, sailing hardware, etc, besides an incredible amount of personal gear. It wasn’t even necessary to refill the water and fuel tanks during the cruise, in spite of daily fresh water bathes and plenty of motor-sailing. We used the engine for about one hour daily, enough to ensure full-charged bateries, even though there was no worry about energy saving. We used regularly our stereo and watched films in our notebook, never experiencing lack of power aboard.
The photos attached give a good idea on how wonderful our cruise was. The first trial couldn’t be more pleasant. Sollazzo proved to be an excellent boat for her size. There are still other small things to be done, however, from now on I consider to have concluded the construction, and that the boat is ready to go anywhere.

Flavio Traiano

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Pantanal 25 Dark Ice first trial.
This article is simultaneously published in www.yachtdesign.com.br and in www.amateurboatbuilding.com

Last Easter Friday was a happy day for the Pantanal 25 class. Dark Ice, the Pantanal 25 we showed pictures of her being transported by trailer in an earlier report, went for her first trial last Easter in Santos, the important Brazilian port and the most developed nautical centre in this country.

There are many boats of this class under construction in a dozen different countries, and at least another one is already sailing. However it was Dark Ice the first one to send us a thorough report and a complete set of photos of her first tacks on the water. We received by e-mail a beautiful photo of another Pantanal 25 built in Turkey by an amateur, and many others are not far from completion, but this was the first actual chance to know how does the Pantanal 25 behave.

Dark Ice was built in Campinas, a city two hundred km away from the sea, by Jorge Intaschi, an amateur who saw in the Pantanal 25 design the perfect boat for his requirements. Jorge, a computer analyst, is a dealer in the car sales business. As it is so often the case nowadays, he has a very limited spare time for his preferred hobby, the sport of competitive sailing. Living so far from the sea and with such a demanding business, he needed a boat that could be stored at his home garage during the long stretches when he couldn’t afford having a holyday, and, on the other hand, when going to the sea, he wished a boat comfortable enough for his family to spend the weekend aboard, preferably with the amenities required for a pleasant stay, like enclosed heads, private cabin and a handy galley. When he discovered the Pantanal 25, he knew straightaway that this was exactly the boat for him.

He was one of the firsts to acquire the plans, which had been published just a few weeks before. He was so enthusiastic about the Pantanal 25 potential that he decided to begin a boat-building business to produce this model in series. He opened a company in partnership with his brother Wagner, and a few weeks later he was already starting the construction of the plugs required for the fabrication of the production moulds.

Even though the two brothers were experienced entrepreneurs, this field of activity was a total novelty for them. Despite their lack of technical knowledge, they decided to produce first class tooling and top quality infusion lamination. In January 2007, they installed their workshop, and the first decision they made was to acquire a boot at the Sao Paulo Boat Show, scheduled for October 2007.

You can imagine they had to work like bats out of hell not to loose the show, and for very bad luck, or perhaps because of the hurry, Jorge fell from the plug’s deck, rupturing all ligaments of one of his knees. He went to the boat show in a wheel-chair since he didn’t accept to be operated on before the event was finished. He had no reasons to blame that detached decision, since his boat was one of stars of the event and he managed to accomplish fifteen firm orders along the duration of the show, with a permanent queue of hundreds of persons waiting to climb aboard. Now he is recovering from the surgery, and the great day has come for the sea trials of Dark Ice, the very boat produced for the boat show.

Assuming they hadn’t enough experience to run the whole enterprise without a skilled assistance, they hired Eduardo Arena, a highly prized technician in the yacht building industry and a renowned model stylist in the confection of plugs. His participation was a real blessing, since he is also a keen racing sailor, and above all, he is a great supporter of the model.

That Friday wasn’t very inviting. The sky was cast with heavy clouds and the wind was light and variable. A cold front was expected the next day, so an improvement in the weather pattern was out of the question.

With his knee still requiring attention, Jorge Intaschi decided to watch and take the first pictures of his new toy crossing her first waves from the comfort of a speed boat’s fly-bridge. Eduardo Arena was going to be the test driver, assisted by a rigger and a professional sailor.

The crew couldn’t be more qualified for the occasion, and undoubtedly all those involved with the enterprise were visibly excited with what was going to happen in the next few hours. In the rush of preparation all halyard and sheet tails were yet to be trimmed to their proper lengths, while the brand new sails were for the first time out of their bags.

The launching down the slipway was uneventful, and in an instant Dark Ice was under tow. At that moment many of the myriad of doubts that populate the hearts of all boat builders were dissipated. The boat floated correctly on her waterline with a perfect trim, in spite of the three stocky crewmembers staying on the cockpit.

When the motor yacht surpassed Dark Ice’s hull speed, Eduardo felt the rudder too heavy to steer, giving him the impression that it required balancing. This, as soon as the boat started to sail, was proved to be unnecessary, and in the circumstances of being under tow, all that would be required was to lift the blade a bit, which in the case of the Pantanal 25, has infinite adjustment.

Jorge, despite a slight increase in heartbeats, was seeing for the first time his creation sailing close-hauled. And how nicely she performed; in five knots of wind the boat was sailing at practically the same speed. The initial stability was excellent and the boat seemed to be crossing the small seas effortlessly, leaving behind a very clean wake.

Demonstrating very good pointing ability, the boat came about showing impressive acceleration in the new tack. Jorge exulted from the fly-bridge, blaming his damned knee for not being able to be at the tiller at that moment.

The wind increased in strength to about twelve knots, and then the boat, which up to then was quite stiff, quickly lost some stability, heeling to a bit more than 15°. Being a narrow boat with her beam on the water line almost the same as her maximum beam, this was foreknowable, but the good news was that she was perfectly balanced, accelerating without the rudder loosing its grip.

The return trip was useful in testing the boat in a broad reach. The wind was light and the asymmetrical spinnaker wasn’t capable of showing all its potential, but that was just the first trial, and many others will follow soon. The photos Jorge took from the motor boat are not spectacular, since the sky was overcast and the atmosphere misty. But that was only Dark Ice baptisms and we still are expecting a lot of good news about this design.

Click on images to enlarge them.

Click here to know more about the Pantanal 25 Class

Multichine 26C 2008.

Made in Australia

Our office is operating from Perth, Western Australia, since May 2007. In 2006, when we still worked in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we developed the plans for amateur construction of the Multichine 26C, the smallest cruising sail boat from our line of stock plans that we consider being capable of performing any kind of long distance cruise, even a round the world trip, if wished. This project when introduced stirred great enthusiasm among cruising yachtsmen, and presently there are dozens of MC26C being built in many different countries.

We reckon that the great interest for the plans was due to the unique spaciousness of her interior. In these times of short money and skyrocketing prices of production boats, it is not difficult to understand the appeal of home construction, especially if the boat in question arises a high degree of confidence and is suitable for living aboard for long stretches, besides being intended for blue-water sailing.

All compartments are equally comfortable

As a rule of thumb the amateur builder obtains great pleasure from the construction of his dream boat. In the early stages of the construction he is already dreaming with the pleasures his future yacht will offer him, and this probably is why most boats built by do-it-yourself enthusiasts are in average superior in general quality and durability to the series produced equivalents, and the Multichine 26C is no exception. The best home-built boats seldom are for sale. For their owners, just the thought of selling them is a sacrilege, like intending to sell a member of the family.

Now that the first units of the class are getting close to being completed, we decided to introduce a revised version of the 26C plans, this time our work coming from Australia. The changes from the original plans are few but they nevertheless will turn the MC26C still more functional. We changed the angle of the heads door wall, which at first wasn’t parallel to the centre line. Doing so, we made the shower box a much more comfortable area, improving the maximum headroom from 1.82m to 1.85m and increasing the stepping area of the grated shower sump floor.

The best way to provide running hot water at the MC 26C shower is to install a water heater under the navigation table the closest possible to the heads wall, using the engine’s  fresh water cooling system to heat the bath water. To have aboard hot shower facility working as nicely as the one we have in our home bathrooms is a fancy really appreciated by the whole crew, especially children during those chilly winter days. The hot water can easily be extended to the heads vanity basin and to the galley sink, but even though the MC26C has large fresh water tank capacity, we always recommend moderation in water consumption aboard. For those who consider water heater installation too expensive for the boat’s budget, we suggest a simple solution to substitute this expensive gear: the installation of a two-tails 12.5mm flanged fitting on the heads coach-roof. An inexpensive sun-shower attached to the boom is linked to the upper tail piece, and the shower hose with an in-line ball valve is attached to the ceiling side of the flanged fitting. This costs peanuts and when the weather is cast, it is just enough to heat water on the stove and fill the sun-shower. Of course in a twenty-six foot sail boat hot bath inside the heads is not practical when underway, but then there is the transom platform, and besides, the sun-shower hangs on any place, like the backstay for instance. 

This change required an enlargement on the navigation table wall, extending it from the navigation table front face to the heads door wall in its new position. This small corner thus created is the right place to install a cabin heater, something so prized in colder climates, and for which no provision had been made in the former version of the design.

Multichine 26C interior, model 2008

A description of the MC 26C layout should begin with the after cabin. The amazing volume of this compartment with its residential-sized double berth and the exclusive sofa at the cabin’s hall is hard to be matched by other twenty-six footers. We already pointed out how spacious the heads became after the change in its layout, but it’s worth mentioning that abaft the toilet compartment there is a huge stowing space with easy access from the boat interior. The L-shaped galley with sink, fridge or ice- box and two burners stove with oven is quite handy for those intending to live aboard. The saloon, navigation table and second double berth crown the interior arrangement, balancing all compartments with the same level of functionality. For that matter we are confident that this is why the MC26C design fascinated so many sailors at the first hour. Now with the new improvements we expect a new flow of enthusiasm among potential amateur builders and cruising sailors.

The MC26C is a lucky design indeed. The approval of our builders about their boats’ interior layout and other aspects of the plans surprised us. One of them is preparing his boat for a round the world trip around the Austral Ocean by way of the three capes, which demonstrates his confidence in the project. We are ready to give him our most eloquent support, since we developed the plans having in mind people like him, who can’t afford purchasing the expensive models intended for ultimate adventures available in the market.

The MC26C cozy interior with its cabin heater

The reason for the MC26C being easy to build and, when completed, being of such high quality, resides in the method of construction specified for the plans. Contrary to most other multi-chine stock plans available for plywood construction, instead of stitching the hull’s outside panels and then installing partitions and furniture, we specify building the transverse bulkheads which will provide the hull shape and structure at the work-bench. We consider a good solution the stitch and glue boat building method for smaller crafts, but above a certain size like the MC26C, adopting the so-called ply-glass building method brings innumerous advantages.

To start the construction, no matter if you are a layman or an expert in wood work, it is always advisable to employ the workshop bench, where it is much easier to obtain a smooth finish than when doing the same job in a much more awkward position in the interior of the boat. During this stage, either the amateur or the professional have the chance to train their skills and bring the part being built to the highest level of finishing.  However the most striking advantage of building the transverse structure first, and only then planking the hull, is the huge saving in cost of epoxy resin. Wood cleats are incomparably cheaper than epoxy resin and the amount of epoxy necessary to fillet the whole structure to the interior and to join the panels at chines is absolutely disgusting.
In the case of the MC 26C, twelve bulkheads or semi-bulkheads are prefabricated in the work-bench, as well as a cold moulded stem piece, built on top of a lamination table. As those parts, one by one, are being concluded, the builder feels a gratifying sensation of accomplishment and pride, and from then on this feeling will be ever increasing.

The assembled structure over the building grid

Those pre-fabricated structural components are not difficult to make. The process consists basically in bonding cleats to plywood panels, employing in most cases butt joints. Full size patterns for the construction of these bulkheads are provided with the plans. Once those pre-fabricated components are concluded, they are assembled over a building base, which in the technical jargon is called strongback, or building grid. Then the sheer and chine clamps, as well as longitudinal stringers are fixed in their notches, already opened when the bulkheads were fabricated, removing the slightest chance of misalignment during this operation. The next steps in the construction are sheathing the structure with plywood and then encapsulating the whole hull with a thick layer of fibreglass.  At this point of the construction it is already evident that the whole complex is extremely sturdy, and it is this sense of robustness that arises the immense feeling of confidence in the builder’s mind.

When the hull is turned upside, the remaining of the work is intuitive, since all the transverse walls and furniture components are already in place, because they were already made at the work-bench. Then the work proceeds linearly until the interior is completed and the superstructure is attached to the structural members. Once more the whole outside surface is encapsulated with fiberglass, this time overlapping in about 50mm the hull’s fiberglass sheathing, this way generating an incredibly strong monoblock structure.

Plywood panels attached to the deck beams.

At this point of the construction the builder is assured that his work has been successful, and from then on all else in the construction will be a lesser challenge.

Once the sanding and fairing is concluded and a finishing coat of paint is applied all over the boat’s external surface, fittings, keel and rudder are installed and the launching party may be scheduled.

The MC 26C is fitted with a transom-hung rudder and tiller steering. This is the most reliable and cost saving solution. It was in our plans to provide an affordable and easy to build cruising sail boat, and providing the boat with tiller steering were in our original plans. Other appealing characteristics of the project are its long and unobstructed cockpit, good internal natural ventilation, a leak-proof mast-step on coach-roof  and an ample anchor rode compartment.
With moderate draught, high vanishing angle of positive stability and good all around performance,  the MC 26C is the boat we designed to bring new people to the fascinating world of amateur boat building followed by ambitious cruising plans.

The Multichine 26C

Rendered images: www.IDEEbr.com

Click here for more information about the Multichine 26C class

Curruira 42 trawler hull n° 1 turning over party

Early this January I had the opportunity to take part in a barbecue to toast the turning upside of the first Curruira 42 built by Flab Boatyard, from Campinas, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was necessary on that occasion to complete a round the world trip just to be there to participate in the event. In May 2007 I had traveled to Perth, Western Australia, where our office is presently established. My route was by way of Santiago, Auckland and Sidney. This time I flew to Dubay and São Paulo, and now I have warranted the right to stick an X in my cockpit, despite the discomfort of the tiresome twenty-one hours trip and the eleven hours jet-lag. But in the end it was worth all the effort.

Clients and friends – Fernando (Curruíra 46 “Rainha Janota”); Roberta e Nico (Curruíra 42 “Argenores”); Luis Gouveia; Joaquim (Southern Voyager 28); Rubens (Multichine 23 “Vida Dura”); Diana e Daniel (Samoa 34 “Zait”); Flávio; Roberto (Diamond 6.0 “Matisse”)

Arriving in the boatyard was a very rewarding sensation. Instead of entering in a dusty and noisy plant in an industrial suburb of any large city, I was in a rural area nearby Campinas, with many trees and pastures with cows and horses. The sheds where the boats are built are open-walled and surrounded by tall trees, by no means disturbing the landscape. I was also quite impressed with the neatness of the place, a condition seldom found in other custom building workshops. Presently Flab Boatyards have five boats of different lengths, all of them from Roberto Barros Yacht Design office under construction, and soon they will start to build a 46 foot trawler also designed by our studio.

I arrived a few days before the date scheduled for the event and took the opportunity for promoting technical meetings with Flavio Rodrigues, the director of the company, about many details in the construction of the Curruira 42, and closer to the day of the party, I had the chance to do the same with the various other clients who were invited for the party. What impressed me most when I first glanced at the upside-down hull of the Curruira 42 was her huge size.(It’s amazing how misleading it is to watch a drawing in the monitor and seeing the actual boat in  three dimensions.) Considering her generous beam, it is unquestionable that she is a huge trawler for her length, the very dream of many potential owners. In spite of being in an upside-down position yet, and its empty interior, the structural bulkheads already installed gave a good idea of how she is going to be when completed: the fore compartment with the sleeping accommodations, the central bilge area where the engine room and fuel tanks will be installed, and the after quarters with its steering gear installation.

The standard of finishing of the outside of the hull is worth the warmest compliment. The Ply-glass construction method (marine plywood sheathed with a thick layer of fiberglass) is a building technique that makes the most durable boats a boatyard is able to construct, but the fairing and smoothing of the fibreglass external surface requires a skilled job not to show hollows or bumps on the outside. In the case of the Curruira 42 the finishing was perfect and the chines did not show the slightest inflection.
The evening before the turning-over party all guests were invited for dinner, an opportunity for testing the heart conditions of some of the participants, especially Flavio’s and Nico Araujo’s, the builder and the happy owner.

Early in the next day the whole preparation was performed: tables and chairs were laid in place, the barbecue grill heated and the background music equipment tested, while the unquestionable star of the show, the Curruira 42, remained static in its building grid. But the time had come for the grand finale.

Effusive congratulations, acknowledgments, ironic speeches, all of these were loudly heard in the next few moments. Suddenly an out of the script ‘happy birthday to you’ was rendered, since in spite of nobody having been warned, it was Flavio’s anniversary.
Next every member of the boatyard team, under the command of their Maestro, took their positions in the carefully planned turning over operation scheme. As a chicken on a skewer, the trawler had two sticks fixed, one ahead of her stem and the other on the transom, both aligned with the fore and aft centre of gravity axis. If it wasn’t for friction, the weight of a butterfly landing on one of the topsides would suffice to turn the heavy trawler upside, so the whole operation didn’t take a long time to be accomplished. An absolute silence reigned when the boat started to turn, and a murmur could be heard when the deck reached the vertical. Then very quickly the Curruira 42 was already standing in its upside position. At this time people started to clap hands, but they halted, since the operation wasn’t over yet. The boat still needed to be lowered in her cradle. This was done in slow motion and only then the whole public began to cheer the achievement.

Surrounded by the other guests who congratulated him, Nico let a few tears roll down  his face and soon a ladder was installed for him to climb aboard, followed by Flavio and all the others. Then the party was established inside the hull and for the second time that day a ‘happy birthday to you’ was rendered.

Nico was already dreaming with his boat completed, cruising the tropical waters of Bahia, one of the most beautiful cruising grounds the world over. But this is another story that we want to report the soonest possible.
People were called back to the shed’s floor where two cakes with lighted candles awaited guests and the boatyard staff: One for Nico’s Curruira and the other for Flavio’s birthday.

The Curruira ready to the turning over	The party in the boatyard	The turning over begins	45 degrees	80 degrees.	90 degrees, deck
90 degrees, hull	Almost there...	The turning over is finished	Gong down to the cradle.	End of the Show	Nico Araújo celebrating the completion of the hull construction
Deck	Flávio, Nico and Luis inside the Curruíra	End of the party, the boat is ready for the next step of the construction	Future dreams

Multichine 28 Access reaches the Caribbean

The most exciting story about the MC28 Class comes from the Saint Martin. We have reported a fortnight ago about the desperate passage of Access from Rio de Janeiro t