Articles

Lord Vader your yacht is ready

 New Designs  Catamarans

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…

Wally Fulcrum

20 December 2010     0 comments.

Kalapuna

 Just Launched  Boatbuilding  Proas

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…

Kalapuna

15 December 2010     0 comments.

James Wharram Designs win design competition for eco fishing boat

 New Designs  Catamarans  Designers

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…

13 December 2010     0 comments.

Before and after

 Reports  Catamarans  History

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…

Tornado after

10 December 2010     0 comments.

Hypersprite 5.5 Sailing Transport

 New Designs  Catamarans

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…

Hypersprite Transport

04 December 2010     0 comments.

Aye Aye For Sale

 Dock Ranger  Proas

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:…
Aye Aye

03 December 2010     1 comments.

When frogs fly

 New Designs

Americans may have made the first sustained powered flight, but the French will be the first to fly a sailboat over a few meters above the waves. It’s bordering on a national obsession, with l’Hydroptère being the world’s fastest and highest flying sailboat to date, but hydrofoils are just baby steps. The French dream big.

Designed for Renault, the “Zep’lin” by industrial designer Damien Grossemy is a hypothetical vehicle to explore…

13 November 2010     0 comments.

Born Again?

 Reports  History  Proas

Robert W. from Boat Bits sent in some fascinating proa pics from the Virgin Islands. I don’t recognize the craft, though it follows the basic form factor of a Russell Brown proa, and also has some obvious Newick style cues. I’d heard that Russell left Jzero (his first proa) somewhere in the Caribbean, and it makes me wonder if Lazarus is in fact that same boat, though highly modified. Waddya think? Pics of both Lazarus and Jzero after…

Lazarus

12 November 2010     0 comments.

Russell Brown Interview

 Designers  Proas

John C. Harris of CLC Boats has coaxed the Jedi Master of proas off the mountain for a chat. Fascinating stuff.

Russell Brown on Proas

Photo: Russell Brown’s Jzerro on the cover of Cruising World, shot in Tahiti on his trans-Pacific cruise in 2000. Steve Callahan was crew and authored the story.

Jzerro on the cover

11 November 2010     0 comments.

A loaf of bread and proa

 Just Launched  Designers  Proas

Epicure. noun. a person who takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink.

Belgian-French yacht designer Daniel Charles (Tahiti Douche) has launched a new proa, designed for sailors of “the third age” AKA “active seniors” (Charles is 61). The 38’-7” (14.5m) Epicure is intended to be a comfortable floating home suitable for a three week cruise. I know little else about the project, except other primary dimensions are - beam: 23’-6”…

Epicure

08 November 2010     0 comments.