Interesting rig/s concept.
6.5 to 39m sq. Also looks good with a crab claw.

Come on - no comments - windsurfer rigs are cheap and easy - they don’t need a person on each rig - low c of e and can put/up take down to reef.
These guys sailed the atlantic to the carribean…...
Via petrel proa site.

Hi Alex,

I agree, windsurfer rigs are an interesting alternative for small proas. It’s one of the possible rigs for my backpackers cruising proa. They are lightwheight, aerodynamicly very efficient and if you buy them new from last years (or the year before last years) season, very cheap. Used rigs are all around. There is for sure more power than a combination of two laser dinghy rigs.

You can get complete rigs up to 12 m²!!!!  9.5 m² is the mens rig for the olympic surfboard and quite common in the surf shops.  12m² ,  this is only 1m² less than a A-class cat. Seems to be enough power for a singlehanded proa. For reefing the single mast windsurfer rig one could drop the windsurfers rig and set a storm jib at the stub mast.

As a schooner rig you have enough sailarea for a two person proa, reefing could be in dropping one rig completly and set the other in the middle (or so). I think that a short stup mast ( a little higher than the ce of the sail ) is the best way to attach the sail to the boat. A little reinforcement at the windsurfers mast withz grp and a cut in the luff of the sail could be a possible attachment to the stub mast with a halyard.

More than two rigs will be difficult as you need a lot of time for rigging each sail and you will need the same time (and enough deckspace) for de-rigging.

Best Regards, Michel

I am interested in learning more about utilizing the windsurfing rig.  From what I understand they are designed to dump the excess wind from a gust, which is desirable.  I am not sure where to start though.  I was looking at a Chinook since they are inexpensive new with mast and sail.

If anyone has experience with the windsurf sail please post some pictures.

Hey Len,

I used a windsurfer rig on my proa land sailer Palindrome (there’s an article on it on this site—not in the forums).

My rig was stayed to the front of the wishbone boom and I had a LOT of problems with that.  The righting moment of my land sailer was a hell of a lot higher than a person with their feet on a board.  So I got a lot of unwanted depowering of the top of the sail.  That could probably have been fixed by stiffening the mast, but maybe not.  If I were to do it again I’d figure out how to stay the mast higher up.  But I bet it would still need stiffening.

The allure of the windsurfer rig is strong!  Its one of the best sail shapes out there.  Getting the bendyness of the rig right take a minute, but its a great starting ploint.  Figure out the reefing problem for bonus points!

Best,
Chris

A few years ago I made a concept drawing for a guy who wanted four windsurfer rigs on a 30’ catamaran (not a proa, sorry). He had visions of blasting over to the Bahamas and surfing all the out of the way beaches and cays. At first glance the concept is amazing - lots of power down low - and very cheap when compared to a custom high performance catamaran rig.

But the devil is in the details, as they say. Rigging and furling would be time consuming unless you can just drop the rigs and tie them securely to the boat. Reefing - no can do, but with such a low CE you could carry full sail in a hurricane (almost). Four mainsheets would be a bit of trouble…

He named it Quadriga, after the four horse chariot of the gods.

That design looks interesting although pretty complicated.  It also reminds me of the super fast hobie tri foiler 😊

Lenny