Proafile v5.0 | Updated: Jul 28, 2010

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Voyager

Posted: 03/15/05 | Contributions | 0 Trackbacks

First published 2001

Rob Sky is an outrigger canoe sailor and builder in Louisiana who shares some of his insights and solutions for small proas.

My first in-depth exposure to the outrigger sailing canoe was through the excellent book: A Song for Satawal, by Kenneth Brower (Andre Deutsch press). Beautifully written, it came along right when I needed a direction, and I was hooked. I’ve had a couple of small trailerable cruisers before but got only a little use out of them. Most of my experience is in really small man — and sail — powered craft; good ground for learning the ways of wind and water.

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The Case for the Steering Oar

Posted: 03/02/05 | Contributions | 0 Trackbacks

By Gary Dierking

Steering is one of the great challenges of proa design. The one who finally designs a steering system that a) shunts easily, b) controls the canoe both while at speed and while stationary during a shunt, c) is hydrodynamically efficient, d) is immune to underwater hazards, and e) is simple and foolproof, will have discovered the proa “holy grail”. Could it be that the Pacific Islanders have already invented such a wondrous device?

My first experience with a steering oar was not auspicious. In Coast Guard boot camp I managed to talk my way into steering one of the big whaleboats used for training and racing. We must have had all the strong guys on one side as my best effort was not enough to prevent ramming one of the other boats; causing an automatic disqualification and my demotion to rowing guy. It took quite a few years before I realized that a steering oar is much more than a rudder. If I had used the oar function I could have avoided the collision.

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The Zen of Proa

Posted: 03/01/05 | Contributions | 0 Trackbacks

By John Dalziel

When you stop to think of it, sailing and sailboats are a rather peculiar passion, one which non-sailors rarely understand. We are often asked: why sails; why do we not simply use an outboard? We have, of course, quite a number of personal responses, which are essentially statements that we enjoy it. But beneath that lies another, broader truth: within many hobbies such as sailing lie important reservoirs of alternative knowledge our culture, usually for no expressed reason, feels necessary to keep at hand, even in the absence of obvious purpose.

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