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The Endless Vacation

My husband, Barry, and I enjoy independent and isolated nomadic living. So we really thought we had it made 11 years ago when we bought a 40-foot ketch and began island hopping up and down the West Indies. Eight years later, however, we'd both had had our fill. The ketch was a constant expense and every safe anchorage for a boat of that size, we'd found, was too populated by curious natives and/or other ships and yachts for our tastes. "There must be a better way," we told ourselves. "There must be a way for us to enjoy an endless round of sailing, swimming, fishing, shelling, contact with wildlife, and -- most important of all -- solitude and privacy. And there must be a way for us to do all this on little more than pennies a day."

A classic article from the Jan/Feb 1977 Mother Earth News.

C/S/K

The yacht design partnership of C/S/K was responsible for some of the finest ocean sailing catamarans ever built. The firm was active in the 1960's - a decade of creative innovation everywhere - but especially in the amped up cultural milieu that was California.

They rode a remarkable wave of opportunity that embraced the California "surf" lifestyle, the public desire for modern "Jetsons" technology, and the South Seas "Tiki" fad that swept the country - From Trader Vic's to Gilligan's Island.

2 C/S/K cats beached in front of the Outrigger Canoe Club, Hawaii.
Photo: Scoop Tsuzuki, Catamarans Offshore.

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Build This Boat!

Chris Ostlind is offering a free set of plans to the first person who steps up to build his new 22.5 performance coastal cruiser/racer: Tribal Menace. Read all about it at Watertribe

PB Racer

PB Racer is a sail/paddle kayak double for expedition adventure races such as the Watertribe Everglades Challenge. I pulled the basic hull form from an expedition double I had designed to see how well the form could be adapted to a concept boat of this type. I just gave it a transom and some additional rocker and after a lofting of the new curves, the resultant sectional shapes yielded a surprisingly good hull for sailing after I ran the hydrodynamics. A small tweak here and there and it was very good.

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Wa’apa Sailing Canoe Launched

Gary Dierking has launched Wa'apa - "a three board sailing canoe". The handsome design is intended for sheet plywood construction, and is built in three take-apart 8 ft. sections, which can be assembled as a 16 or a 24 footer. The 24 footer seats up to four crew, and the canoe may be rigged as a tacking outrigger, a shunting proa, or even a trimaran. Optional trampolines and a tent will allow sleeping onboard. Construction plans include full size patterns, printable PDF files, and construction photos. Details at Gary Dierking Boatbuilder

Large Fish ‘May Follow Dinosaurs’

The destruction wrought on the world's oceans by industrial fishing is made clear in a shocking new report. The analysis, published in the scientific journal Nature, suggests 90% of large predator fish have been cleared from the seas in the past 50 years or so. The authors say the era of "heroic" fish - the truly huge swordfish, marlin and sharks that inspired legends and novels - is now well and truly over. BBC News

Hawaiian Sailing Canoe Rig

I've been on the Holopuni site many times, admiring their OC3 sailing canoes. These 30' canoes are wonderful examples of efficient paddle/sail craft, but still, I can't help meddle with an already good thing.

See, I'm anticipating the next step in sail area/performance upgrades. The Holopuni carries just 100 sq. ft. of sail, which is no doubt plenty for Hawaiian waters, and it is a safe and sane amount for a dual-purpose sail/paddle craft. But what about unsafe and insane sailing?

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The End of Dolphin Sky

The 16m proa "Dolphin Sky" has been shipwrecked on the Dutch coast. Joachim Herborn, the owner and sailor, was rescued safely. The proa was patterned after Polynesian designs, and was intended to sail around the world. It is not yet known if the boat can be salvaged. Multihull.de

Proa Rig Comparisons

Below is a list of proa rigs under active development today. As you can see, there is hardly a consensus as of yet! None of the rigs are perfect, and all have various strengths and weaknesses. The Rig Ratings Table is a first attempt to quantify three rig performance areas: Performance, Handling, and Safety. The table is the result of some spirited discussion on the subject by the Proa File International mailing list. Many thanks to all who participated.

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Doriak Designs - Classic Wooden/Inflatable Boats!

I met George Kurzman and viewed his 'Bella Darya' (a 33' wood schooner based upon Com. Munroe's sharpies that incorporates a nylon air tube) at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival last summer, and it is a wonderfully creative and charming project. "Doriak Designs' objective is to create light-displacement boats that combine the safety and performance of a rigid-inflatable with the practicality and aesthetics of a custom-made, wooden boat." Doriak Designs. Page 4 of 8 pages « First  <  2 3 4 5 6 >  Last »