demon yachts kite

WOLSTENHOLME YACHT DESIGN

‘Kite’

Kite is my own boat, co-owned with Colin Henwood who built her. She is a 21ft trailer sailer constructed from 9mm marine plywood sheathed in glass cloth and epoxy. With an all up weight of 750kgs she can be comfortably trailed behind a 2litre family car. Draft with centreplate and rudder raised is just 10inches (250mm), and she sets 212sq.ft (19.7sq.m) on her carbon spar gaff sloop rig.

Since launching in 2010 she has been sailed on the Solent, in Cornwall, Devon, the River Shannon, and on the Norfolk Broads, and attracts complimentary comments wherever she goes. A second plywood boat, ‘Mary Hay’, has been built by Dick Phillips of Willow Bay Boats, and  Demon Yachts  now have GRP versions available. The Demon Yachts Kite has received sparkling reviews in Classic Boat, Classic Sailor, and Water Craft magazines – test reports can be downloaded below. In August 2013 ‘Kite’ and ‘Mary Hay’ participated in the Old Gaffers Association 50th anniversary festival at Cowes and sailed in the big race which was held a testing F5-6 with wind over tide in the western Solent. Both boats had good results and ‘Kite’ was declared the overall winner on handicap – an impressive result in a fleet of around 90 boats.

DEMON YACHTS’ GRP KITE

If you are interested in a Kite please contact me or Demon Yachts for further details. At this time it is still not my intention to make plans available for home builders.

Test report in Classic Boat:

Kite test Classic Boat Oct 2015

Test report in Classic Sailor:

Kite test Classic Sailor Nov 2015

Articles about Kite published in Water Craft magazine:

“Kite Just Flies” (pdf)     “Hooked On Raiding” (pdf)      “Kite on the Shannon” (pdf)

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Demon Yachts Kite for sale in Near Ipswich United Kingdom

Near Ipswich United Kingdom

Make & Model

Demon Yachts Kite

DESCRIPTION

What is there not like about this modern classic. A superb British built weekender & daysailer built in modern composite materials but in a classic style. The epoxy foam core construction with lifting centerboard and rudder make this boat relatively light & easy to handle for slipway launch and recovery of a trailer. The light weight carbon gaff rig can be stepped by one person.

What is there not like about this modern classic. A superb British built weekender & daysailer built in modern composite materials but in a classic style. The epoxy foam core construction with lifting centerboard and rudder make this boat relatively light & easy to handle for slipway launch and recovery of a trailer. The light weight carbon gaff rig can be stepped by one person. A huge cockpit and truly impressive sailing performance really demonstrate what modern small boat sailing should be all about. And to boot you can sleep on board over night!!

If you want classic looks, pride of ownership, safe easy handling, superb performance and a Swallows and Amazons experience, then you really need to look no further than this Kite built by Demon Yachts on the East Coast. We have superb boat reviews available on request.

Yacht Information

• Boat Name:  KATIE
• Builder:  Demon Yachts
• Designer:  Andrew Wolstenholme
• Engine:  Torqeedo 1003S electric motor
• Built to Cat C + Inland Waterways Boat Safety Scheme
• Location:  Near Ipswich
• LOA:  23 ft 7 in / 7.2m
• LWL:  21 ft 0 in / 6.4m
• Beam:  6 ft 9 in / 2.05m
• Draft:  10 in / 254mm - 3 ft 10 in / 1/17m
• Dry Weight:  750kg
• Torqeedo 1003S
• 3hp electric outboard

Deck Equipment

• Barton deck gear + bespoke stainless steel tabernacle
• 3 x mooring cleats, 2 x fairleads forward
• Main, throat, peak and jib halyards lead back to cleats on the coachroof
• Sheets and furling lines lead back to cleats in the cockpit
• 7kg anchor with chain and warp
• 3 x mooring warps and 3 x fenders
• Spars & Rigging
• Lightweight white painted carbon fibre tubes with stainless steel fittings
• Stainless steel standing rigging
• Spruce varnished bowsprit with a bobstay
• Varnished ash gaff jaws
• Mast, gaff + boom are easy to raise and lower, easy to stow for trailing
• Cleats for overhaul and reefing lines positioned on the boom
• Hooks on gooseneck for easy reefing
• All running rigging in braid on braid polyester
• McNamara sails in cream Dacron
• 2 x reef points in the mainsail + three leach battens
• Furling jib
• 2 x custom sailbags
• NACA sectioned balanced lifting rudder
• Internally lead ballasted lifting centreboard
• Centreboard lifted via differential winch easily operated from the cockpit
• Coppercoat on centreboard as standard
• Rudder and centreboard constructed with epoxy resin and glassfibre multi axial cloth
• Centreboard incorporates an integral stainless steel wear strip around the tip
• Ash and mahogany tiller with tiller extension
• Plywood rudder stock with custom pintles and gudgeons

Domestic Inventory

• 2 x single berths with bunk cushions
• Satin white finish with teak trim
• 2 x opening front portlights
• Removable sink bowl and rack for plate and cutlery stowage under bridge deck
• Ample storage space
• Single burner gas cartridge type stove
• Dometic 972 portable toilet
• Bucket and brush

Additional Information

• Trailer suitable for slipway launching and recovery

Service & Construction

Hull and Deck:  

Standard Flaxen colour gelcoat finish with vacuum infused vinyl ester resin, multi axial glass fibre with closed cell foam core.  Marine grade BS1088 gaboon plywood used in the fit out. Very lightweight for towing, launching and recovery with excellent osmosis protection.

Lightweight white painted carbon fibre tubes with stainless steel fittings.  Spruce varnished bowsprit with a bob stay.  Varnished ash gaff jaws.

Mahogany varnished combings around the cockpit offer protection and make a large, spacious cockpit.  The four large cockpit lockers, including dedicated outboard stowage that complies with boat safety scheme regulations.  The raised cockpit seats have the deck scuppers behind them to drain any water away from the seats.  Removable cockpit sole boards with a large sump beneath for the bilge pump.  Companionway sliding hatch and varnished ply washboards with teak trim.  Draining forward well for anchor stowage, mooring cleat etc.  Outboard well with hull infill, storage and lid suitable for up to a 6hp outboard.  Teak hand rails on coachroof.  Moulded in, easy to clean non-slip finish.

Engine Count

Engine Horse Power

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Hull Material

Engine Type

Lifting Keel

ABOUT DEMON YACHTS KITE

The Demon Yachts Kite is 23 feet long. This 2015 Electric Demon Yachts Kite powered by TORQEEDO 1003S with 3.0 horsepower. The Demon Yachts Kite is made of fiberglass.

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Boat Test: the trailer sailer Kite

Kite is like other 19ft trad trailer sailers. Just lighter. And faster. The result is an intoxicating sail

Article taken from our October 2015 issue (CB328)

On the Solent Raid in 2010, a tiny yacht with sharp, attractive lines tacked west up the Solent toward Keyhaven. We chased hard in the light winds, tacking further and further into the shallows in an attempt to catch her, but she slowly slipped away. There were – maybe – a couple of faster boats that year (no one really counts at these things) – but they were garish craft with strange rigs and open cockpits. But Kite had it all. Light weight, pleasing looks, speed and… luxury!… a cabin to sleep in at night and to keep gear dry in during the day.

She was conceived by naval architect Andrew Wolstenholme, best known to CB readers for his Neil Thompson-built boats (particularly the 19ft 6in/5.9m Gypsy, of which more than 120 have been sold) and upper Thames boatbuilder Colin Henwood. Soon, a GRP production version was being talked about – more than a few people had seen Kite and wanted to know more. The result, something of a long train coming, was launched earlier this year by Demon Yachts, the high-tech specialist whose other work includes the building of transatlantic rowing boats. The headline here is that not only have Matthew and Euan of Demon Yachts succeeded in bringing Kite to life in plastic – but they’ve done so without adding extra weight to the original version, which was in plywood.

For our short test sail, we were blessed with near-perfect conditions near Demon’s HQ. We motored out of Shotley marina, through the lock and into the dramatic estuary, a caprice of glitter and breeze on a sunny, 24 deg C July day, with the dramatic backdrop of Felixstowe Container Port in the background. We lacked instrumentation, but windspeed was 10-15 knots, and hoisting the mainsail brought a surge of acceleration that would have floored me had I been standing. Kite is well named: it flies.

Taking the tiller extension revealed a boat that seems to skate over the water downwind, with a light helm and almost skittish feel, thanks to the dinghy-like hull form. Kite, unlike some much heavier boats in the small trailer-sailer category, is more of a ‘big little’un’ than a ‘little big’un’ – a dinghy with a lid as some would say. The entire boat weighs in at around 750kg (1,653lb) and this includes 114kg (251lb) of internal ballast and the 80kg (176lb) of encapsulated lead in the NACA-sectioned centreplate. The shape is a single-chine with a flattish vee-bottom with a moderate rocker profile from fore to aft, including a flat section in the middle for easy trailing. The rocker is sufficient for serious manoeuvrability but moderate enough to allow sailing well beyond its theoretical hull speed of just under six knots. Andrew and Colin have seen eight, and we were doing at least six, even in the light-to-moderate wind.

Going upwind, the boat heeled easily but in an exhilarating rather than alarming fashion (we had no reefs in). She sails as close as many bermudan boats, the high-peaked gaff rig giving the lie to the myth that gaffers can’t go upwind. The tiller gave a reassuring pull to weather – sometimes a bit more than reassuring until we had the sails balanced right. This tester was, as always, crying out for coamings that you can sit on, in order to get better visibility and balancing moment, as well as just the feeling of flying high, face in the wind. These coamings, though too sharp for that, do allow a very comfortable sitting-in position, which is how most would want to sail it. The boom is high enough that you barely notice it and all lines are led back to the cockpit and just where you want them to be. The centreboard case, just inside the cabin, has a geared winch which is simply pulled up and let down on a single line with a jammer. It’s just about light enough to be reasonable and has a pin to lock it in the down position for increased safety in the event of a capsize.

The engine (Matt and Euan use a Torqeedo) sits in a dedicated aft well and simply lifts into any one of four huge cockpit lockers: Andrew chose not to use this valuable space to try to squeeze in quarter berths, and the result is a reasonable cabin for two and a really decent cockpit to seat five or six, depending on conditions. The cockpit is made even bigger, as Andrew has designed the boat without the usual aft deck, which is a waste of space on a boat this size, particularly with the capacious side lockers in the cockpit. This is an easy boat to live with. The concept from the start was to produce a boat that could be trailed behind an ordinary family car rather than a powerful all-wheel-drive vehicle that could effectively double the cost of ownership. The white-painted carbon-fibre spars are comically light: about 8kg (17lb) each for mast and boom, with a neat tabernacle that sports an additional lower gooseneck for dropping the boom on to before dropping the mast back. Andrew hasn’t spent many years on the Norfolk Broads for nothing.

The GRP boat is made up of 12mm (½in) closed-cell foam sandwiched by layers of quadraxial glass cloth soaked in vinylester resin on the outside with a single layer on the inside. The transverse rigidity comes from the 9mm (23/64in) marine ply bulkheads. Matt and Euan, with their high-tech background, built much of the boat by CNC router, and their ascetic approach has guided them to leave it pretty much unadorned. “We didn’t want to dress it up as a yacht and make it into something it isn’t,” Matt explained. Interestingly, Andrew Wolstenholme agreed, although I think some sort of coloured “top strake effect” would do wonders to the slightly unforgiving acres of white plastic that make up the topsides. That would be an easy option to order. Other than that, the boat looks beautifully sharp, with the chine gently rising up towards the stern of the boat and the blunt-fronted cabin shape, similar to the Norfolk Gypsy.

I only sailed Kite on one day, so it is hard to speculate how well she would fare in the rough. One suspects that she would lose out some of what she gains in speed to the sheer solidity of the often-heavier trailer sailers in this size range; but then who buys a boat like this to sail around the Horn? Kite should look after you in any conditions that you ought to be out in – and for most, her great speed, sharp looks and easy trailability will more than make up for that. Kite is the sort of boat most of us need in this confounded real world, where work gets in the way of sailing, with weekends the only refuge.

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New and used Demon Yachts for sale

• United Kingdom
• Demon Yachts Kite

Find your dream Demon Yachts on TheYachtMarket today. We have Demon Yachts brokers and sellers from around the world at great prices.

Which models do Demon Yachts produce?

Demon Yachts produce a range of boats including the Demon Yachts Kite . For the full list of Demon Yachts models currently listed on TheYachtMarket.com, see the model list in the search options on this page.

What types of boats do Demon Yachts build?

Demon Yachts manufactures a range of different types of boats. The ones listed on TheYachtMarket include Trailer sailer , Day boat and Cruiser .

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Demon Yachts Limited provides details of all boats advertised on these pages in good faith, but the Company does not provide any guarantee or warrant the accuracy of the condition of the boat or the details provided. Any contract of sale will be directly between the owner of the boat or their agent (‘Seller’) and the party purchasing the boat or their agent (‘Buyer’).

Caveat Emptor!

A Buyer should ensure that he/she has carried out whatever investigation, surveys etc. that he/she requires before entering into a purchase contract. Boats are sold as seen.

All boats are advertised subject to prior sale, price change or withdrawal without notice.

'Kate' Kite no. 3

Price : £25,000

New reduced price!

'Kate' is a Kite trailer/sailer, designed by Andrew Wolstenholme and built by us at Demon Yachts. Originally built as our demonstrator, she is in excellent condition, and is in full racing trim with many extras.

This boat has unique provenance, being currently owned by an ex-Olympic sailor, so she has been optimised in a way that only an Olympic medal-winning sailor can!! In the Nore race she came 2nd out of 1100 boats!

Nevertheless, she is equally suitable for lake, estuary and coastal cruising with family and friends.

Mostly sailed on the East Coast, she has also taken part successfully in OGA events on the south coast and the West Country. She has a current IRC certificate.

She is fitted with a Torqueedo electric outboard, which has a new spare battery. The extensive inventory includes a fine selection of covers for all situations including a boom tent enabling full use of the large cockpit, as well as an all-over winter cover (see pictures).

'Kate' has a braked, galvanised trailer in excellent condition.

‘Kate’ also has her own ‘dry dock’ which can be included in the sale, and which provides hassle-free dry sailing!

The extensive inventory includes:

The extensive inventory includes

- Road trailer

- Torqueedo electric outboard, including new additional battery

- Antifouled with hard racing antifoul

- Carbon whisker pole

- Depth sounder

- Manual and automatic electric bilge pump

- New jib never used

- Light and heavy jib sheets

- Road and mooring boom crutches

- Grapnel anchor, chain and warp

- Current IRC certificate

- All-consuming winter cover

- Tent cover

- Boom cover

- Trailing boom cover

- Tiller cover

- Bowsprit cover

- Three fenders

- Bow and stern lines

For more general information about Kite yachts, please go to http://www.demonyachts.co.uk/kite/

This is a rare opportunity to buy a pre-owned Kite, as these boats hardly ever come up for sale!

Submit Enquiry

• Andrew Wolstenholme
• Demon Yachts Ltd
• 3' 11" / 12"
• Lifting centreplate