Entries

Bamboo Boatbuilding

I held a sample of interior grade bamboo ply in my hand and it took less than two seconds to decide that I could build boats out of this stuff. I could not believe how light it was! And it felt about as stiff as steel. Of course it has to be completely incased in epoxy to be used in a marine application and the interior bamboo ply is not, but bamboo has a lot of merit, none the less.

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Takapu the Proa

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.

Pookie

Tepukai are singularly amazing proas from the Santa Cruz Islands that take the usual South Pacific parsimony with building materials to the nth degree. The boats stretch out over the water’s surface like a gigantic water spider, covering the most area with the minimum mass. Tepukai employ slender, submersible wave-piercing hulls, centrally located mass for low pitching moments, and excellent bridge deck clearance - all very M3K (millennium three thousand).

Jim Shanahan approached me with an idea for a tepuke inspired beach cruiser, and Pookie is the result. The boat stretches itself out to a 28’ LOA x 15’ beam, without weighing much more than a Hobie Cat. In the Oceanic tradition, the boat is made mostly of woven materials: Polyester, Nylon, carbon fiber, Kevlar and Spectra.

The basic configuration is a carbon fiber space frame which supports inflatable tube hulls, trampoline deck, shelter and rig. When folded and deflated, the contraption fits inside a 4’ x 8’ x 14’ box - a sailing version of George Jetson’s flying car in a briefcase.

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Le Prao Pink

The French have a way with boats, and that savoir faire certainly extends to proas. Praocéan is a proper proa, which means it exists partially in the dreamtime - a pink elephant on parade. The "illogical" Pacific flying proa configuration, the mythical crab claw sail, the whimsical eye-shaped portholes, the VALIS hue, the Venetian posture of the helmsman, all point to a craft intended for navigation not only on the earth, but also among the stars. Fair winds and Godspeed.

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