Proafile v5.0 | Updated: Jul 29, 2008

Proas

Takapu the Proa

Posted by on 05/27 at 07:41 PM
I just finished reading Takapu the Proa by Mike Toy and Harmen Hielkema at Canoes of Oceania, and I just wanted to suggest everyone go there immediately and read it if you haven’t already. Harmen comes to proas in a way with which I can personally identify: as a vehicle for understanding more than just sailboats. A way of looking at the world. And when I say “the world”, I don’t mean the atoms, I mean the invisible connective tissue.

I remember seeing my first multihull, as a boy. My dad and I were out in the family outboard, when I spied a lateen sail a near way off, traveling at an unprecedented rate of knots for a sailboat. I compelled my father to approach for a closer look. It was just an Aquacat, and for a second I was entranced, enthralled. I was seeing something, something AMAZING, but I knew not what.

Tell the truth, I still don’t, and I’m still enthralled.




Comments

  • Watching Toroa is entrancing, isn’t it? Harmen’s blog is a great read.
    I well remember my introduction to multihulls.  I was crewing on a Holland 25 in a race and there was no wind to speak of.  The sails were just flopping around.  Then this trimaran (25’-30’ maybe) just came wizzing through the field and did a circuit of our boat and its crew looked mighty pleased with themselves as they disappeared tout suite.  “How can they do that”, I thought.

    Posted by  on  06/08  at  02:59 AM

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