Articles

The Proasis Project

 Just Launched  Boatbuilding  Proas

Henrik Richter-Alten has submitted a new proa development project to Proafile called Proasis. His team has recently completed the launch and a successful test sail. Henrik explains:

“I’ve started the Proasis Project together with Christian Arriens, a good friend of mine. We are both involved in the Low Carbon Sea Transport Project at WAM*. My contribution was the WAM Catamaran design, he did the recently launched solar-electric…

Proasis Launch

18 July 2021     11 comments.

Mini Cargo Ferry Prototype

 Just Launched  Boatbuilding  Proas

Mini Cargo Ferry prototyping and development in the Marshall Islands, by Harry Proa. This is the first step on the road to getting the zero emissions 24m cargo ferry built and hauling passengers and freight.

The mini cargo ferry was designed in response to a need to replace the outboard powered fibreglass skiffs which are ubiquitous in the Pacific.  These boats are expensive to run, difficult to maintain and have almost completely…

Mini Cargo Ferry

25 April 2020     5 comments.

LaShunk from Balkan Shipyards Update

 Just Launched  Proas  Rigs

Rael Dobkins of Balkan Shipyards sends us a video update on his shunting junk rigged proa:

WE MADE IT! The new proa rig from Balkan Shipyards. Pacific proa ‘Make
O’Break’, LaShunk rigged and showing off….. No secrets! Keep Shunting -BSY.

Congratulations BSY. Reconciling the world’s easiest handled rig to the world’s most difficult hull platform. Who’d a thunk?

Rael’s driving concern with this rig is shifting the CE (center of…

La Shunk

27 August 2019     0 comments.

First of the 500

 Just Launched  Proas

The 500 Sails Project has launched their first wapa. The Sakman Neni is a modern recreation of a traditional Mariana sailing canoe - or flying proa - as documented by Anson in 1734. It employs a Derek Kelsall KSS method fiberglass composite hull combined with bamboo connectives and lashings.

The name “500 Sails” was inspired by the arrival of the Spanish galleon San Pedro at Guam in 1565, when it was met by the Chamorros in their…

Mariana sailing canoe re-creation

28 February 2018     5 comments.

Mareinoa: a proa for cruising

 Just Launched  Proas  Rigs  Voyaging

A report on a new cruising proa build by Manfred Meier, designed by Othmar Karschulin of multihull.de. Thanks to Manfred and Othmar for the submission! —Editor

I became aware of the proa when reading a book about multihulls, named “Mehrrumpfboote” (multihulls)  written by Klaus D. Kurtz. I expected that this book would deal with catamaran and trimarans only. But instead it started with a report of William Dampier, one of the earliest…

Mareinoa

02 January 2016     7 comments.

Hocus Pocus trailerable proa

 Reports  Just Launched  Proas

Rafael and Heidi Francke update us on their latest mega-trailerable multihull - this time a proa. Congratulations on a quick build and a successful first sail. -Editor

Here we go again. This time it is NOT a folding catamaran like Cat2Fold. There is a change in wind direction.  It is a Pacific proa.

Last year we were playing with the idea of a “folding” (actually “demountable”) power catamaran. The playing got serious to the point of…

Hocus Pocus

28 June 2015     3 comments.

Gold Coast launches new Bieker 53 cat

 Just Launched  Catamarans

Gold Coast Yachts of St. Croix, USVI, have launched the new Bieker 53 performance cruising catamaran. The polarizing aesthetics aside, we are very interested in this build. The curved boards are a moderate use of hydrofoil tech that is extremely promising. Unlike the fully flying Gunboat G4, FUJIN’s foils do not lift the hulls completely free of the water’s surface. The boards augment righting moment and pitch stability, making the…

Fujin

18 June 2015     0 comments.

The Trickle Down Effect

 New Designs  Just Launched  Hydrofoils

I’ve had an interest in hydrofoil sailboats ever since I ever heard about them, when I found ‘The 40-Knot Sailboat’ by Bernard Smith in the Kirkland Public Library as a teenager, which I must have checked out a dozen times. A few years later I was glancing through the Whole Earth Catalog at the neighbors and I saw an entry for ‘Flying Hydrofoils’, published by the AYRS in 1970, which I promptly ordered. So it has been with considerable…

Gunboat G4 on foils

09 April 2015     4 comments.

The Sultans of Wing

 Just Launched  Catamarans  Rigs

Just to prove that we aren’t complete small boat snobs over here at Proa File, here’s a yacht that’s well over our usual cut-off in length and opulence. This is the sort of thing that Nigel Irens Design has been up to lately, and we have to say it: the A-65 is probably the loveliest luxury sailing catamaran launched since the turn of the century.

The challenging brief from a client in the Emirates was to design a truly exceptional…

Irens A65 catamaran

17 December 2014     0 comments.

The Launch of Arpex

 Just Launched  Outrigger Canoes

After a seven year build, Peter Mirow has launched ARPEX, his self designed and built 30’ tacking outrigger in Rio de Janiero. We’ve followed his progress over the years on his blog, and we’re nearly as happy as he is to see the great day finally arrive. Cheers, and congratulations!

Great day! What else can a man want, then to design, and build a boat, and see it floating on its lines? Hahahaha!

See more pics of the launch here.

Arpex

13 December 2014     2 comments.