PLAN STUDY: Didi Sport 15 (DS15) By Dudley Dix


Te Didi Sport 15 was commissioned by an Australian living near to me in Vir- ginia. It started as a bigger sister to my Paper Jet, a very light 13'5" high-perfor- mance skiff, weighing 95 pounds with- out the rig. It has an efficient hard-chine plywood planing hull, with wings and trapeze. I have sailed mine at more than 20 knots, single-handed on trapeze. He loved the concept but wanted something 16-feet-long, with twin trapezes for two adults. It was to be named the Paper Fal- con for the F16 Fighting Falcon aircraſt. It didn’t progress far before he told


me that he would also use it as a picnic boat, carrying two couples and cooler boxes to his favorite isolated beach. Tat came as a shock because he had not mentioned that he intended anything other than mixed fleet racing. Te Paper Jet concept really had no chance to do that; a more robust and stable boat was needed. He also liked my Mini-Transat designs and asked if I could develop what he wanted from the latest version of that little trans-ocean racer. The hull was developed from the


Didi Mini Mk3, with stability to work as a picnic boat. A ballast bulb on the daggerboard adds capsize security and increases sail-carrying power for stron- ger winds. In this mode she is really a sportboat with a modern and powerful rig that can be reduced to be as docile as needed for the situation or conditions. With full rig of squaretop mainsail, self-tacking jib and asymmetrical on retractable bowsprit and launched from a chute, she is a spirited sailer. She has a covered foredeck above a


full-length self-draining wet deck. Tat creates a small cuddy for a dry storage area, a good option for raid-type racing that requires carrying stores and equip- ment long distances. A tarp or mainsail over the boom turns her into a camp cruiser, with cockpit long and wide enough for two airbeds, for a comfort- able night anchored or nudged up onto the beach in a sheltered private cove. But this boat is schizophrenic;it has a


very different alternative personality for those who want to have some high-per- formance fun. Remove the ballast bulb from the daggerboard and she morphs to what I originally intended. She be- comes a high-performance skiff with one


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A ballast bulb on the daggerboard adds capsize security and


increases sail-carrying power for stronger


winds. In this mode she is really a sportboat with a modern and


powerful rig that can be reduced to be as docile as needed for the situa- tion or conditions.


or two trapezes for adults. An owner in Port Elizabeth, South


Africa, has proven his boat in strong winds. He has sailed her in 35 knots with the ballast bulb and with crew on trapeze. In winds under 20 knots he is happy with trapezing crew and no bulb. He has been caught out on the bay by 40-plus knots, which they managed but described as “survival conditions.” Hull shape is radius chine with a


partial hard chine in the topsides. Te radius chine runs from the transom through to the forefoot and produces a shape close to round bilge, with a shallow v-bottom. Te hard chine runs from the transom through to the mast, where it fairs out into the topsides. Te resulting shape is fine in the bow, with a broad, clean and powerful stern. Low drag and fine bow for wave penetration


SMALL CRAFT ADVISOR


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