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Bernard Smith, 1910-2010

Bernard Smith passed away on Feb. 12, three months short of his 100th birthday. He invented a radical sailboat called the aerohydrofoil that had neither a “sail” nor a “boat”, and he outlined his design in his 1963 book, “The 40-Knot Sailboat” . I must have checked that book out of my local library about 20 times! Thanks to Paul Dunlop for the news.

The passing of sailing’s true rocket scientist | Mr. Smith’s Amazing Sailboats

End Game

After all the amazing legal bullshit thrown by both sides of this mighty conflict, I gotta say... the America’s Cup has still got it. I’ll be riveted to the SA coverage, and I’ll be rooting for the black trident.

Ninja Pro - Sailing Outrigger

This sporty little multihull hails from Cape Town, the home of designer Gerhard Schein and G-Force dinghies. It’s called a “tacking proa”, though we purists would say ”outrigger”. It has all the mod-cons like a square top main and a carbon fiber bow sprit for the screacher, and it looks like a great ride. Though the actual boat doesn’t have it, the 3D model on the G-Force site shows a Bruce foil in the ama.

Edmond Bruce was a brilliant sailing theorist and experimenter who was perhaps the brightest star of the Amateur Yacht Research Society (AYRS) in it’s 60’s and 70’s heyday. He had a gift for experiments - building wind tunnels out of bailing wire and desk fans, and tank testing his ideas for a miniscule fraction of the cost of a typical university. He published his results in the famous AYRS newsletter, a peculiarly British institution that printed all manner of demented English sailing fantasies as well as serious research into sailing, and since absolutely no one else was interested in the topic, they had the field mostly to themselves.

Bruce first posited the idea of using angled hydrofoils for balancing heeling force back in 1965, and it is an idea that is ever so slowly catching on. Now ocean racing trimarans sport angled boards in the amas, and so do the latest A Cats. I’m sure Edmond Bruce would be very pleased. A Bruce foiled outrigger is unique because the foil pushes up on one tack, and pulls down on the other.

Testing with Models

The Year in Proas

2009 was a good year for the proa “virus”. We witnessed two proa “messabouts”, and the launch of a truly spectacular “giant”.

The 2009 Texas Proa Championships featured four proas in attendance, and a race between Kevin O’Neill’s 21’ Skate and Laurent Coquilleau’s 21’ proa. The First New Zealand Proa Congress had a turnout of eight outrigged craft, including several canoes of Gary Dierking’s design. James Brett’s Free Radical took home the trophy. Both events are planned to repeat in 2010.

Inigo Wijnen launched the 71’ Gaia’s Dream in Oz, and capped 2009 with the maiden voyage from Coffs Harbour to Sydney.

Schacht Marine Now Open

I’m very pleased to announce that Schacht Marine, my professional marine industrial design site is now up and running! It includes a blog (of course) and that will be where the majority of my posts will appear from now on. Schacht Marine will range much further afield than Proafile, gathering inspiration from all sectors of the design world. That is also where I’ll be presenting new proposals - and there will most likely be a proa or two in there. I’ll also be looking at modern yacht design while wearing a cultural analysis hat, which I think could be a lot of fun. See The Battle Axe for an example. Please come visit and say “Hi” at the new digs!

Proafile will remain as an archive and resource for proanauts, and proa specific content will still be added. Thanks to everyone who contributed to Proafile over the years, it has been an honor and a privilege to get to know you.

All the best,

Michael Schacht

Gary Dierking on a Sail About

Gary Dierking, the New Zealand based author of Building Outrigger Sailing Canoes and one of the primary nodes of modern appreciation and adoption of ancient Pacific canoe forms, is back in Fiji, doing his delightful version of backpacking/cruising - which entails flying to an island of your choice and building a small, sailing magic carpet, using indigenous material when possible, and where that fails, ship the epoxy ahead. Then sail about, soak up the inimitable island culture, and as a sort of "balance of payment", leave the canoe. A creative alternative to Carnival Cruise Lines, IMHO.

Tahiti Douche

A 58' vintage Atlantic racing proa has become available in the Lesser Antilles. 'Tahiti Douche' (also campaigned as 'Lessives Saint Marc') was launched in June 1980, to compete in short-handed races across the Atlantic such as the TwoSTAR. One of the few racing proas to survive the carnage of that period, he's been sailing ever since in the idyllic trade winds of St. Martin.

'Tahiti Douche' was designed by Daniel Charles of Belgium for French yachtsman Alain Gliksman, and was built using the WEST wood/eopxy system by Starberry Ltd. of Ipswich, England.

We decided not to take the risk of too wildly diverting from the 'Cheers' concept, with which designer Newick had so brilliantly proved his ability.

Like 'Cheers', the boat has identical hulls in length and beam, two "dagger-rudders" and a free-standing schooner rig. The windward pod guards against capsize from being caught aback, as well as providing a bit more interior volume.

'Tahiti Douche' has always been one of my favorites, and the sleek proa is still reported as wicked fast. It would be interesting to know what modifications and improvements have been made in those 27 years, and I'd love to see recent photos. Contact the seller through Bob Wise at Boat Bits blog.

Tahiti Douche (as launched)

LOA: 55'-9"/17m
LWL: 46'-0"/14m
BOA: 27'-6"/8.4m
Displacement: 5,885 lbs/2,670 kg
Sail Area: 784 sq. ft./36.5 s.m., plus selected headsails

Larger pics after the jump.

continued...

June Launchings

After an extensive refit (that included sawing the hull in half and adding a few feet), Harmen Hielkema's Toroa is back in his element, testing a new crab claw rig. Toroa steers by weight shift and adjusting the immersion of two daggerboards. Read more at Canoes of Oceania.




Gaia's Dream. Only one year after construction began, a 70' modern Pacific proa has been successfully launched in NSW Australia. The innovative variable geometry rig should be in place in August, according to the builder, Inigo Wijnen. See more at Inigo's site.



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Phil Bolger, 1927-2009

Philip Bolger took his life yesterday, and poor as I am at eulogies, Philip was a man worth eulogizing. Perhaps the most influential small boat designer in the world, Phil encouraged and inspired a host of would be builders and designers to pick up pencil and paper, plywood and epoxy, and get to work on their dreams. His design attention ranged across the board, and even though his boats were sometimes called homely, it is perhaps only because the viewer hadn't peered deeply enough to see the mathematical beauty of his parsimonious approach. In that sense, Phil was a devout modernist, and if a cube or a brick made the most sense for a certain vessel, then the eye would soon enough adjust.

Phil even once designed a proa, which appeared in the Jan 1990 edition of Small Boat Journal. In his usual style, the design was original and thought provoking. The rig, a sort of high aspect ratio, fully battened square sail, was a brilliant effort at harmonizing the unique geometry of the proa with the rig, in that it was symmetrical fore and aft, but asymmetrical side to side. The virtues and faults of what has become known as the "Bolger proa rig" has become a source of much discussion and even controversy among proa developers, which in hindsight, perfectly fit the muse of Phil Bolger - Inspiring and controversial.



His death has hit me harder than I would have thought, considering I never met him, and I know I'm not alone. It is curious that a man with no children has left so many "sons". Fair winds, Philip Bolger.

More here.

Lunada Design

Chris Ostlind, who has contributed several great articles to Proafile, has been blogging and sharing his work at Lunada Design for a while now, but it's news to me, at least. So in case you haven't been there yet, go check out his body of work, which includes all manner of small plywood stitch-n-glue canoes, trimarans, outriggers, cats and more. It's like small boat Candyland, so consider yourself forewarned. Page 1 of 5 pages  1 2 3 >  Last »