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Dudley Dix generally seems to design his boats to sail fast and perform well in the area around the Cape of Good Hope. From what I hear, the average conditions there make San Francisco on a honking day seem like a millpond. We had friends on a 54' schooner who waited off the East coast of South Africa for four days while a storm went through. The harbor was closed because 800-foot tankers in mid-channel would get picked up by a single wave and dropped on top of the breakwaters on either side if they tried coming in. Wasn't it off Capetown that some of the RTW racers doing one of their "short" races ended up breaking booms or other equipment? Dix seems to have thought out his approach practically, and in a simple, seamanlike manner. Woodenboat did an article on him building a 38'er in his backyard some years ago as well; issue 154, page 84 : /Dix, Dudley, author and designer:/"Building the Didi 38," 154:84 Looks like fun to build AND to sail.
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