Every year in September, Port Townsend turns itself into a virtual Victorian seaport bristling with wooden masts, steam funnels, pirates, boatbuilders and sailors, the smell of tar, varnish and frying cod, and thousands of tourists soaking it all in. The odd multihull is occasionally found nestled between the ratlines and the bow sprits… this is what I saw this year.
The only “multihull” to claim bonafide antique status was the 16’…
Pacific Voyagers Charitable Trust is an NGO that builds sailing vessels that only an NGO could build. Neither the market driven yachting industry or corporate sponsored racing could even conceive of boats as cool as these, let alone build a fleet! This is Rangi, the second of the Vaka Motu line of inter-island cargo, passenger, and fishing double canoes. Intended not as a reproduction of prior art, the Vaka Motu imagine the future. The…
Luca Antara is a new 20m (65’-6”) proa nearing completion in Sagres, Portugal, and will be ready for sea trials early 2015, according to the owner and builder, Robin Warde. The hulls are strip-planked western red cedar sheathed in fiberglass both inside and out, with extra carbon fibre strengthening where required - mostly around the masts - but also around the beams. Most of the rest of the boat is built of foam. She features a…
As part of a government liquidation, the U.S. Department of Defense is auctioning off a 50-foot sailboat to the highest bidder.
But this vessel isn’t what you’d expect from a former Navy craft. The three-hulled, high-performance Contour 50 boat, which is now in Harbor Island, was used for “experimental training and recreational purposes,” according to Liquidity Services, Inc.
Built in the mid 2000s, the craft has undergone some…
The Wharram Tiki 26 is a true micro-multihull cruiser. It features the now classic Wharram attributes of plywood/epoxy construction, deep V hull, no keels or boards, lashed beams, open and high bridge deck, and the Wharram “wing sail” sloop rig. The design is probably the most popular of all Wharram’s boats, and several examples have crossed oceans in safety. Find this one here on Craigslist in Deer Harbor, WA, for $6000. If the boat…
A report from Frédéric Monsonnec on the Golden Oldies Multihulls meet up in Port Camargue, France, May 29-June1, 2014. ~Editor
Every year, the Golden Oldies Multihulls association organizes events in the Mediterranean (See Golden Oldies Trophy 2103 for report on the Sète meeting in 2013) and on the Atlantic coast. During these meetings, passionate fans of old racing multihulls (25 years minimum), gather to…
The sloop is the rig of choice on 90% of all modern sailboats. Why not on proas as well? Here’s why.
Rigging a proa as a sloop is a true blending of East and West. The proa is considered the pinnacle of Pacific canoe design, and the sloop is often considered the finest invention of Western "yachting". Brilliant in their own context, what happens when we creatively recombine their DNA?
First consider the sloop. Beautiful, efficient,…
This is an interesting time capsule - a 1955 Manu Kai class 20’ catamaran, designed and built by the legendary Woody Brown. According to the seller, the original owner has passed away. He special ordered the boat direct from Honolulu and it was made specially for him. The catamaran has been stored inside and has not been used for years. From the included paperwork:
Manu Kai Catamarans are built to the highest construction standards by…
The story of this rig begins in Hawaii, with Euell - “Have you ever eaten a pine tree?” - Gibbons, a half century ago. Now, thanks to a renewed interest in proas and the easy flow of information on the Internet, the rig has received some new attention, and looks to become a very good proa rig indeed.
Writer and naturalist Euell Gibbons was living in Hawaii and dining on the jungle flora and fauna in the 1950’s. He soon realized that…
This is a nice interview of L’Hydroptere skipper Alain Thebault by CNET’s Molly Wood. L’Hydroptere is a member of a very exclusive club: “Former holders of the world sailing speed record”. Unlike most record holders, the flying hydrofoil trimaran is not limited to shallow and waveless speed traps, but is open ocean capable. Highlights include photos of Alain’s early scale models that he built as a teenager.
This post is also a test of…
