Designed in the 1970s by Bob Formaggia, built by him and launched into the Medway in 1979. Bob served his apprenticeship as a designer of Aircraft structures specialising in lightweight but strong methods of construction. He then moved on to the plastics injection business.
He raced Signet dinghies off the Isle of Sheppey in the 1960s. The project to design and build a 'pocket cruiser' as a bit of light relief from work. It was to be capable of sleeping two people, but having a similar size and sailing characterics to a dinghy such as a wayfarer, though rather stiffer owing to the ballast. He christened it Nil Carborundum II.
In the late 1980s Bob and his wife Hazel moved to central Wales. The boat was used occasionally with its outboard motor on the canals, minus the dagger board, but the rest of the time it languished in a barn in the halfway up a hillside in the middle of a forest.
I saw it advertised in PBO in 1996 and knew as soon as I saw it that it would suit my purpose. I was impressed with Bob's drawings and technical knowledge and took a chance. It sails beautifully. I wasn't sure whether the name came from Nil Desperandum or Non Illegitemi carborundum but decided to call it Black Jack David because of its sojourn in the forest.