Proafile Exclusive: Epicure, 47’ Cruising Proa

I am pleased to present the proa Epicure. Epicure is one of the most interesting modern proas ever built, and certainly one of the best looking and most original. Belgian-French yacht designer Daniel Charles tells us more about his incredible yacht, which is now being seriously offered for sale. IMHO, this opportunity is like finding a Bugatti in the barn. In other words, a golden one.—Editor

Epicure is a cruising proa which started building in 2003 and was launched in 2010. At 47’ long, she is an attempt at having a live-aboard cruising boat with all the modern comforts (heating, fridge, deep-freezer, oven & microwave, dishwasher, washing-drying machine…) and the modern helps (with electric winch and windlass). She took me eight years to design and build, but in truth I’d been thinking of her for thirty years.

I’ve previously designed two large proas: the 54’ ‘Tahiti Douche’ in 1980 and the 56’10” ‘Eka Grata’ in 1982. Tahiti (who still exists) was a racing boat designed in 11 days; she was an Atlantic proa, although with very different hull shapes than ‘Cheers’; ‘Eka Grata’ (destroyed following grounding) was a cruising boat, I believe the first modern multihull with divergent beams and, with the lee hull longer than the windward hull, the first approach of what I call the Indian proa (more on this anon). The experience on these two craft, plus sailing on most of the (then) contemporary proas of different types (Cheers, Eterna, Jzero…), convinced me of the superiority of the proa formula in two rarely mentioned domains. First, the very low centre of gravity gives a softness of motion unequalled by any multihull. Second, Atlantic or Indian proas have large water-plane area for their weight and as a result suffer less than any other multihull from increased wetted area when one adds weight. This comfort of motion and high payload for weight made a proa ideal as a cruising yacht.

Modern Primitive: 16’ Wharram Melanesia

For Sale: 16’ James Wharram Design “Melanesia” outrigger canoe, based on the Samoa Island style Amatasi canoes. Hull constructed of glass/epoxy/ply, yakus & ama, laminated pine/epoxy. Larger pix and more info after the jump.

Editor’s Note: Occasionally I get requests to post ‘For Sale’ notices on proas or other interesting multihulls, which I’m happy to do because I know from personal experience how difficult it can be to sell such ‘personal’ watercraft once it becomes time to move on, and besides, it helps counter-balance the somewhat “whimsical” content often found here! So if you own a much loved and quixotic multihull that needs a new berth, feel free to contact me.

And as for you Proafile readers, let’s hear your opinions on these offerings - good, bad, or ugly?

Multihulls to Bermuda

The early Multihull Bermuda Races, 1969-1983, of Manley C. Williams, M.D., narrated by Christian Williams.

Part 1 of this two-part family video features the 1969 race from Coney Island and the 1972 event, which began at Newport. Scenes include Phil Weld; Bob Harris; air-sea rescue; repair at sea; life aboard and views of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, the fleet host in Bermuda. Thanks to Chris L for this submission!

Part 1 | Part 2

Robot Resistance

Hands free driving
Cars that park themselves
An unmanned car driven by a search engine company…

Rarely does a corporate ad touch a nerve, but this Dodge Charger promo certainly does. Meet the Beneteau SenSe, the boat that does it all for you.

Traditional Marshallese Canoe For Sale

If you’ve been hankering to join the cult of proa now might be the perfect time. John Bruton is selling his traditional Marshallese proa that he built in 2005. (story and pictures here). The 32’ canoe is lying Southport, North Carolina. Please contact John directly at mr64willys (at) gmail.com if interested.

Trimaran Breaks Transatlantic Rowing Record

Team Hallin has crossed safely from the Canary Islands to Barbados (3000 mi.) in the record breaking time of 31 days, 23 hours, 31 minutes. Congratulations to both the crew and their vessel: an ultra-light, 40’ x 26’ ocean rowing racing tri. Is NO record safe from the trimaran?

‘Team Hallin’ was originally designed and built by ROC Expedition in New York State as ‘Triton’ (with hull design by KHSD), only the second ocean racing multihull rowing boat ever built. The advantages of a multihull over a monohull are: no ballast, no rolling, and increased L/B ratio. The disadvantage is increased windage, so careful streamlining is in order (a feature not readily apparent in ROC Expedition’s latest design, ‘Big Blue’).

CORRECTION 3/9/12: Roy Finlay is the designer of Team Hallin/Triton. Multihull Ocean Rowing

There are paddlers/rowers and there are sailors, and rarely do the twain meet. The only races I know of that mix and match are those run by
WaterTribe and their famous Challenges along the Florida coast. I do know that in the Pacific Northwest summers, the wind always blows from dead ahead, dead aft, or most often not at all, so a human powered vessel makes all kinds of sense. I wonder if a hybrid type craft could work here, a boat that is primarily human powered, but when the wind is blowing your way, take advantage. It’s an idea as old as the Nile, but there’s always another way to approach it.

Speaking of Egypt, there’s something pretty powerful when the cradle of Western civilization erupts into revolution. My thoughts and prayers are with the Egyptian people.

Team Hallin’s charity is Combat Stress.

Basic Black

The 2011 Seattle Boat Show has come and gone, without much of interest to report to Proafile readers, per usual. The sailing ghetto held its own and maybe even grew a bit over last year. Marine Servicecenter was displaying a Weta trimaran, my first look at the boat in the flesh. The Weta’s beams and mast are carbon fiber (mast is 6 lb.) making a pretty convincing argument for the judicious use of the black unobtanium. If the boat wasn’t made in China I’d like it twice as much. Would it also cost twice as much? I don’t know.

Powerboats continue to dominate the show, though the attrition has been terrible, with many former perennial brands opting out or simply out of business for good. The one place you’ll find (fake) carbon fiber on powerboats is at the helm - the panel holding the gauge cluster. Black is still the fashion for tow boats, which must give the builders fits.

There was one new boat on show that caught my eye: the Sea Glider 16 rowing catamaran. Originally the home boatbuilding project of teenaged Nick Graf, Larry Graf’s (Glacier Bay Catamarans, Aspen Power Cats) son, the boat is about as simple as a fiberglass boat can be: one hull mold, basecoat finish and a black vinyl gunwale. The bridge deck is the seating, and a place to mount a sliding seat if desired, no outriggers required because of the 51” BOA.

Now ten years later, Nick has been exhibiting the Sea Glider alongside his father’s boats at the shows, and getting plenty of interest. Locally designed and built, I love this little cat. Now if if only he’d make one out of carbon fiber.

Chrisco: Slick it Up

OK, this is one amazing yacht, and the promo video isn’t bad either. However, I do pity the crew. Instead of “Swab the decks!” Chrisco will have “Windex the house!”.

Yacht Design: Luca Brenta YD | Builder: CNB | Interiors: Wetzel & Brown

Change is Good

Gary Dierking is a small craft designer inspired by the native canoes of the Pacific islands. He started out with some elegant cedar strip versions of a Micronesian proa and a Hawaiian outrigger, but it is the “three board canoes” that I admire most. From Gary’s site:

In the late 1800’s, when sawn lumber began to appear in Hawaii and other Pacific islands,  the local canoe builders immediately saw it as an easier way to build canoes.  While perhaps slightly less efficient than round bottom shapes they have now become the standard working canoe seen throughout the Pacific.  The first models were simply built of three wide planks and came to be known as “three board canoes” or wa’apa in Hawaiian.

Like any good islander, Gary has chosen the obvious cost/benefit leader for his three boarders, which, even today, is second to none: marine plywood. Plywood was a World War II invention, an exotic laminate for use in fighter planes and bombers, and if generals had to pay out of their own pockets for their arsenals, weapons might even today be made out of plywood. It’s that good. They say “horses for courses”, and for the amateur builder plywood continues to make good sense.

Whatever the material, what really sets Gary’s designs apart is their modularity - an inborn facility for builder customization. Wa’apa can be built as a “take apart” canoe of either 16’ or 24’. He can also be built as a single outrigger, double outrigger, double canoe, a tacker or a shunter! And none of these permutations are permanent - your outrigger can easily become a trimaran with a few weekends of work building another ama - and when you’re done with that he can go back to being an outrigger, since everything is lashed together like a congressional bill.

I find this idea to be so… logical. Imagine if everything were made in this way: houses, cars, computers, even apps. You wouldn’t throw it away when you’re done with it, you’d simply reconfigure. It seems almost utopian! But thanks to Gary Dierking, we don’t have to wait for utopia, just go build one of his canoes. And then modify it.

Gunnar Jentzsch and his Hawaiian style double canoe made from two Wa’apa hulls. Image via Outrigger Sailing Canoes.

Green Wash

There’s a great rant over on Sailing Anarchy about the continuing use of wind energy and sailing in various vaporware investment schemes that make little sense except as tools to separate fools from their money. B9 Shipping is SA’s well deserved target, which perhaps should have replaced the 9 with an S? To counter that, here’s a little green lesson from the past:

1978: Sunburst (formerly Bits ’n Pieces) was built in St. Maarten, from the off cuts of Peter Spronk’s large charter catamaran builds. I’ve always found this little schooner to be utterly charming, and it just goes to show how uncomplicated green really is… waste not, want not.

Note: SA, while I love them dearly, appear to be operating on some kind of steam internet technology. I can’t even properly link to their article? Maybe time to invest in something more modern…