Grillabongquixotic

When the pain stops, you know you’re dead.

Grillabong (don’t know his real name) writes one of those rare blogs that is actually worth the reading. Yes, Grillabongquixotic is nominally about the eternal “QUEST FOR PROA”, and his ongoing attempt to build a Toroa beach proa in Veracruz, Mexico, but that’s sort of like saying The Old Man and the Sea is about catching fish. It’s a strange and wonderful journey, told in a stream of consciousness style that comes straight from the heart.

I’m glad to see that after an 18 month hiatus, Grill is back in Veracruz. As the Don says: “It’s not over until it’s over”.

Merry Christmas!

Lord Vader, Your Yacht is Ready

Here’s the Wally Fulcrum 88’ Concept Yacht recently accomplished at the Art Center College of Design. One might easily presume from the continual output from Art Center that, deep down, all designers would really rather be designing starships, and they’ll quickly turn any vehicle of transportation into one at the drop of a hat. Note my own previous design concept as an example of this insidious impulse.

I’ve had a good amount of angst about this unspoken and yet unavoidable rule of Industrial Design: the “starshipping” of everything from toasters to autos to yachts, because obviously (as the latest Art Center effort ably proves) it’s easy to lose sight of “form follows function” and deliver an 88’ yacht with roughly the accommodations of a Cal 34.

Of course, the ideal client is the one who really wants a starship too.

Kalapuna

Othmar Karschulin of Multihulls.de has recently launched Kalapuna, an 8m proa of his own design. The new boat is a Pacific proa with crab claw sail, flat bottom hull, and two retractable rudders similar to Russell Brown’s Jzero. Designed for coastal sailing in warm Aegean waters, the boat was built in Othmar’s garden in a small fishing village in Southern Turkey. Construction is plywood, fiberglass and epoxy, with home made spars of carbon fiber.

Click the jump for more details.

James Wharram Designs win design competition for an Eco Fishing boat

This is old news, but I’m always happy to hear about another win for the team of James Wharram and Hanneke Boon. The brief from Classic Boat magazine was for an under 10m boat that would not require a license for fishing under sail or oar.

They chose the new Wharram Ethnic design, the 27ft Amatasi double canoe, the only catamaran entry. The design is developed from the 21ft Tahiti Wayfarer design and inspired by the Ethnic canoe craft of the Pacific. The hull lines are derived from the fishing canoe hulls of Samoa (bonito canoe, Va’a alo or Amatasi) and similar canoes in the Society islands. They have very shallow draft and are easy to row and beach. The boat is steered with steering paddles. Read the full story on the Wharram blog.

Helios - the Solar Barge

Sometimes Google serves up some interesting links in the Proafile sidebar, for instance, this one to Perspective Design.

Perspective Design is based in Brittany, France, and is the office of naval architect Philippe Roulin, formerly of VPLP. Naturally there are plenty of nice catamaran and trimaran renderings to check out, but the project that really caught my eye is Helios - the Solar Barge. No, not for barging Cleopatra up the Nile, this 16m (52-6”) solar-powered houseboat is designed with “full environmental respect” - including solar power, low-wake hull form, recyclable, bio-based construction materials (AKA wood), for cruising rivers and lakes in high eco-modern style. In other words, basically the opposite of your typical Lake Havasu scene. Well, it may not sell in Arizona, but I like it.

Before…

I love me a good boat restoration story. I’m glad there are people out there who can take a forgotten boat from derelict to Best In Show with a little patience, love and elbow grease. Unfortunately, old multihulls are rarely restored, but in this case, a forgotten Gougeon Tornado at the Oklahoma City Boat Club was saved from the chain saw by Andy Davison:

I have just about finished restoring a Gougeon Tornado. I have always had and loved catamarans, and I knew about this boat that had been sitting out in the sun at our local club (Oklahoma City Boat Club) for years. I got a phone call from Bob, a fellow club member, offering some parts. . .his plans were to “chain saw” the hulls “tomorrow” and put the pieces in the club dumpster. That was the push I needed—in a moment of insanity I told him there was no way in hell I could let him do that. I knew that boat needed some TLC, and I loved the idea of taking on the project—just not now—would I ever find the time?

Via SA. Click the jump to view the “After”.

Hypersprite 5.5 Transporter

This design was inspired by the Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor that Obi Wan flies on a reconnaissance mission to the planet Kamino in Episode II: Attack of the Clones. The Delta 7 is a small, one-man starfighter not capable of light speed, so to travel great distances it uses a Syluire-31 hyperdrive ring. Obi Wan docks into the hyperdrive ring and zips out to Kamino, where once safely in orbit, he undocks and descends down to the planet’s surface.

Yes, hit the jump to view the actual boat pics.

Aye Aye

Jim Morris launched Aye Aye, his 10m crab claw powered proa early this year and has been having all kinds of fun living like Thoreau and sailing with his young daughter among the mangroves of Hervey Bay, Queensland, AU. Alas, it is time for this ‘lost boy’ to head back home to wife and responsibility, so Aye Aye is being offered up for sale, ready for the next adventure.

Aye Aye Specifications

• Year built: 2009/10
• Construction: Stitch and glue plywood/epoxy/fiberglass
• LOA: 10m/32’-9” (One double-bed cabin)
• Beam: 5m/16’-5”  (3m x 3m bridgedeck with tarp)
• Sail area: 18 sq. m/194 sq. ft. crab claw + 2 jibs
• Mast: 8m/26’ aluminum
• Location: Australia, Qld, Hervey Bay
• Steers like a sailboard (mast rake, etc), shallow draft, very stable, easily dismantled for transport.
• Asking price: $5000

The boat seems like an ideal craft for experimenting with rigs, kites or rudders, and would make an excellent jump start for any would-be proa mad scientists Down Under. Please contact Jim directly if you are interested. Email: J1moris (at) yahoo.com | Tel: 0434363094 (Australia)

More pics after the jump.

Another Mystery

Considering how well you all did with identifying Jzero/Lazarus, here’s another challenge. This amazing vessel has recently appeared on Le Prao Petrel, with no more information than it is from the West of France. The photos show a Pacific proa with a stayed, balestron rig, leeward anti-capsize pod and small doghouse. How does this happen?!! My spies are everywhere, and this one slipped by everyone.

UPDATE 12.9.10: Helmut M. has sent along more images of the boat, which I have now posted. We still don’t know the name of the owner, builder or designer.

More pics after the jump.