Around the World in 584 Days

Solar-powered catamaran goes around the world in 584 days

I know I’ll probably get a lot of flack for saying this, but I think solar cell powered ocean transportation is almost as likely as a perpetual motion machine. MS Turanor PlanetSolar, after all their high tech geekiness, managed a circumnavigation that does indeed demonstrate what solar power is capable of achieving: going around the world at about the same rate as Kon Tiki.

Baltic Proa Congress 2012

The Third Baltic Proa Congress is officially scheduled for the weekend of July 6, 2012, in Plaza Mielno, a narrow strip of sand between Jamno Lake and the Baltic Sea, in Poland. Everyone interested in proas and sailing canoes are invited to attend. Janusz O. is organizing and keeps updates on Facebook - Zlot Proa - Bałtyk’12.

Thinking Outside the Triangle

Here are a couple of new boat designs with rigs that harken back to the days of working sail. The trimaran is a Dick Newick design for a cargo/passenger lug rigged schooner, for the Vaka Fanāua project, the second is a 60m yacht designed to evoke the romantic image of a dhow.

David Keiper’s Williwaw

Using archival footage, the Int’l Hydrofoil Society has made a short video of David Keiper’s hydrofoil trimaran Williwaw. David built the first flying hydrofoil cruising sailboat in 1970 and subsequently cruised her all over the Pacific. The boat and the voyages are detailed in Keiper’s Hydrofoil Voyager, which is being republished on Amazon this summer. Video after the jump.

Wearing of the Green

Couldn’t let St. Paddy’s day go by without a doff o’ the cap to the wearing of the green, via the proa Equilibre.

Renaissance of Lady Godiva

The first sail of Lady Godiva in a quarter century. The Richard Newick designed proa was built in Martha’s Vinyard by Rory Nugent, for the 1980 OSTAR. Now owned by Anne and Paul Buttin. See the video after the jump.

Thanks to Frederic M. and Golden Oldies Multihulls for the submission.

Early Cat Racing in California

Before Steve and Linda Dashew became famous for their innovative blue water cruising yachts, both power and sail, they raced catamarans at the center of the growing multihull movement - Southern California in the early 60’s. Steve has put up a page at Set Sail with some great archival images of the catamaran racing scene back in the day. Rudy Choy, Warren Seaman, Bob Reese, Mickey Munoz, Phil Edwards, they knew and raced them all. Go check it out.

Footprint - Where No Boat Has Gone Before

I’m conflicted. On the one hand, Footprint Boats is doing everything right:

The Footprint Boat was created to revolutionize the boating world… Using a form must follow function philosophy, this design focuses on what it must do, not how it should look. The Footprint Boat is a lightweight, low maintenance, fuel efficient, affordable “working man’s yacht.”

On the other hand, well… look at it! Considering all this yacht can do, all the while sipping teaspoons of fuel, I do see a certain empirical, practical beauty, but it takes seeing her without eyes, if you catch my drift. I think I’d paint NCC-1701/7 on the side just to nip all the shuttlecraft jokes in the bud.

Can Your Trimaran Do This?

Frank Smoot is the ultimate DIY sailor. He began his sailboat design career in 2009 with this and has progressed to this in only two years. His latest is the most ingenious small trimaran I’ve ever seen. If he continues at his Moore’s Law rate of improvement he should be building America’s Cuppers out of plywood/epoxy in about 6 months. Story via Small Trimarans. See more at DIY-Tris.com

Blackout

Proafile will be blacked out on January 18 in protest against proposed legislation in the United States – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate. We’re also supposed to be getting a huge snow storm in Seattle tonight, so if Proafile is not back online by Jan 19, you’ll know why!