We started building Oryx in the summer of 2010 at Millbrook, in Cornwall, and launched her after two years of very full time work. She is a 33 foot plywood/epoxy catamaran based on a Berndt Kohler KD860, but much modified. Oryx is rigged with two junk sails set on unstayed wooden masts, side by side in each hull. The rig works well with all the virtues of easy handling for short handed sailing.
We’ve set off on a passage towards Cape Town after spending 6 delightful months in southern Brazil. Highlights of the cruise have been to sail 200 miles up the freshwater Lagoa dos Patos to the city of Porto Alegre, visiting the Azorean immigrant fishing villages in Santa Cataina and sailing along the coast with the tree covered Serra do Mar mountain range undulating gently inland. The Brazilian people are very friendly and with a great sense of joie de vivre...
60 miles west of Rio lies Ilha Grande, which is probably Brazil’s best cruising area, marred only by a lack of wind. Much of the island is a nature reserve with footpaths leading from village to village and no cars allowed. A multitude of bays with palm fringed beaches give shelter from any direction, some are deserted and others have a few houses with a beach bar serving ice cold cerveja and strong caipirihnas.
Pete & Carly Hill
www.junkoryx.blogspot.com
