Diddy-Da - Sailing near Walton-on-Naze
Diddy-Da is my home-built sailing boat. It was constructed at home over a 18 month period (1995/96) from plans provided by Selway Fisher. I had no previous boat-building experience, but taught myself as I went along. As it is only 14 feet long, I am often asked the question, “Why did I build a 14′ boat”? The answer is that my garage is only 15′ long.
Diddy-Da started life on a skate-board and was wheeled in and out of my garage as the need arose for various construction tasks. The plans provided the basis of the boat design, but as I became more confident with my boat-building skills, I modified the layout to suit my needs. At every stage I ‘over-engineered’ the construction methods. No expense was spared and in total the cost of building came to a lot more than that of a much larger boat.
Easy sailing off Essex
Another question often asked is why did I name my boat, ‘Diddy-Da’. During the building process my son, Christopher was learning to talk and found difficulty in pronouncing his own name. Asked, what was his name, he would say, “My name is Diddy-Da”. As my boat is a little on the small side it seamed like an inspired choice. To this day Chris (now 17) is embarrassed by this fact.
Sailing Solo