MYSTIC SAIL
MYSTIC is a 34 foot wooden plywood and epoxy boat, "Home-built" in Chile and first launched in 2006.
The design "Didi 34" by Dudley Dix a South African boat designer who mastered the simple construction with round chines moulded with sheet plywood, using the West epoxy system. First I bought the sample plans by internet for evaluation of the building techniques. Then came the full scale digital plans also by Zip code on internet. Dix's first advice on building a boat yourself was to read as many books a possible about other people have built boats. I found a few books. On the opening page of one book was written-"Don’t start to build your own boat, 80% never get finished", on the second page was written, "Hey stupid I told you not to build your own boat, it takes too long, it costs too much and it is not worth it". On the third page was written, "You really are stupid twice I told you not to build your own boat, but if you REALLY want to do it then read on I will tell you how to do it".
The hull was built under a ramp in a carpark basement which created an unusable parking space, it was ideal, 5 minutes from my home, under my office for visits before and after work. The big question was how big a boat could be built in this space ad later on removed — my estimations resulted in 34feet/10.5 meters and as later proved it 1inch/5cm too big for the opening!!! For building of the hull I had the help of a carpenter Jorge Matta, who also had never built a boat — this made two of us — we both learnt as we went along. We were guided by the construction manual and lots of photos.
After 24 months, the hull turned over, finished and then moved 2 klm to the maintenance area of the PWCC golf club (covered in wraps so it was not visible), this was a 5 minute walk form my house. Here I worked on weekends to finish the deck, interior, install electrics, pumps, lights, navigation instrument, stainless steel fittings, paint, keel, etc.
After another 24 months, the boat was moved by trailer to Lake Rapel (2 hours drive SW of Santiago), where it was launched at the local Rapel Yacht Club and anchored in front of our lake side house. Here I built the mast, erected and started sailing.
"I Did It"..... it took 6 years to build my dream, my way, with 70% of work with my own hands, a lot of thinking how to do the next stage, a lot of cleaver tactics to locate the materials in Chile, and a lot of time.
MYSTIC was sailing in Lake Rapel 2006 to 2009. This was a great time to learn about sailing this creation. It was light about 4 tons, fast with a tall rig, she sailed well. We took many people for a sail and had a great time, but I wanted to test MYSTIC in the sea.
In 2009 she was taken to Quintero Yacht Club on the coast of Chile, north of Valparaiso. There was a lot occurred in the time at Quintero – we participated in the Bicentennial Tall Ships Regatta in Valparaiso, sailed various times north to the bay of Zapallar, Papudo and Pichidangui. She was afloat for the big 2010 tsunami and one big storm when she nearly broke the mooring lines, and mostly out of the water for the winter months. In this time there were modifications — the first set of sails (second hand) were replaced with a new set made by LEE sailmakers in Hong Kong, a 20hp NANNI sail drive motor was installed, dodger, upgrade of instruments, a new rudder (after hitting a shark), fortunately MYSTIC never leaked (she has a good strong hull). We sailed in the club races and enjoyed the camaraderie of the other skippers.
In 2017, MYSTIC was returned to Lake Rapel, where she is now floating moored again in front of our house. With more trips to Australia and the purchase of ANAKENA , there was less reason to keep MYSTIC on the coast with the continuous cleaning, galvanic corrosion affecting the SS keel casing and harsh climate conditions (either no wind or strong winds and big waves plus the Navy often closed the port. Now we sail MYSTIC on the lake, not as nice as on the ocean but still very enjoyable sailing the boat I built.