TP03 - lug rig schooner proa with adjustable leeboard
Busy day day up with the proa:
# Hole repaired, very dirty fix, 4 mm ply on the outside and tape and epoxy at the edges
# Halyard block repositioned to stabilise luff tension
# Old TP03 trampoline fitted to give big seating area
# Aka cross beams lashed under aka, this results in seating platform at vaka deck level touching vaka gunwale
# Steering line (red in picture) this works well as push pull me steering, could have a tiller extension attached to it possibly using a track
# blocks mounted at each bow to take a burgee, much easier to look to the bow than the top of the mast when trying to prevent being back winded.
Up at the club in race office next weekend, will sort a few more things then, hope to sail in two weeks, can’t wait
Tink
TP03 back on the water, brief headline report
Wind topping a force two before becoming nightmarishly light and all over the place and finally returning as before with F3/4 gusts.
Generally went well when there was wind and a total disaster in very light airs.
Observations
When stationary he can very quickly become back winded but I found he would sail ok in Atlantic mode using the fore sail by holding onto the boom. Once underway releasing the fore sail back winding the mizzen would spin him back Pacific mode and all would be well.
For upwind work with the board aft, foresail cleated and controlling steering with mizzen and weight steering. If he ended up luffing releasing mizzen a touch would usually resolve. When luffed too much and close to back winding I would haul the fore sail boom over the seating platform, back winding it and spinning him back to Pacific mode.
I also experimented with shunting when luffed and this worked fine also, however back winding the fore sail was less hassle.
In terms of how close winded he sailed I would say not very, probably a result of the sails which are a very poor shape and a total disaster in the heavier gusts.
So overall massive improvement but still a long way to go
Tink
Figured out how to download my data. This is only part of the day, the strange squiggles are when the wind was very light and variable and I was all over the place back winded etc
Tink
Glad all is working better now. I guess you need to get used to the boat and learn how it reacts before you can really control it well and enjoy all the goodness it has.
I know it took me a fair bit of time to learn how PM wanted to be sailed, but I’m now confident enough to take it out, sort out all the situations I found so far and really enjoy the ride. Sounds like you’ll be at that stage soon!
Congrats, great progress!
TP03 - sail 3
Overall - great day, handling much better, good performance considering weather, issues now the quality of the crude polytarp sail.
Changes sail with leeboard canted aft 30 degrees from vertical to improve upwind work
Upwind, still not very close winded but the sails have very poor shape and twists off up to 40 degrees with little leech tension, though this varies depending on which sail is leading. Despite this control and tracking is very good. On the new shunt, board fully aft, haul in and cleat lead sail, then haul in aft sail. At slow speeds he would occasionally luff up (this was why the board is canted, a simple modification would allow the board further aft) but easing the aft sail briefly corrected this. Like this he would track as if on rails with very little attention to controls required. Was the wind and speed increased the board had to be moved forward to keep him on the wind. I can only assume that this was due to the Ama being more lightly loaded and causing less drag. Speed was about wind speed, which I was pleased with.
ACTION sailing had stop as tack eyelet ripped out (from the original tarp not one of the ones I added) going to cut a foot off the foot of the sails and re cut to give better shape.
Shunting, very quick and controlled, ease sheets, move board to new stern, release both sheets, pull in new forward on and cleat. Then pull in aft sail , the odd thing being it wasn’t until the aft sail was in that he would start to really accelerate in the new direction.
ACTION Ergonomics, block placement needs sorting but otherwise very sweet and crisp shunting
Downwind, a total pig, would sail 120 degrees of the wind ok using sail steering, very hard to get and lower and then very easily become back winded. ACTION modify to allow board to move board aft, sit aft, more practice.
Wind, 2 kts, building to steady 6 kts for 1 .5 hrs then building to 8 kts
Easterly slowly veering to SE
Data via club weather station and IPhone cycle meter app.
Tink
Man it’s really good to hear about someone sailing their proa! Especially after dealing with shoulder issues 😉
I’m still stuck in the doldrums, doc won’t release me to do any more than “range of motion” exercises (something to do with old geezers taking a long time to heel). The Broomstick’s about 90% complete but can’t find the motivation to finish the thing right now if I can’t try it out. Maybe in a month or so if I’m a good old geezer. In the meantime have started playing with some robotics, which have changed drastically in the last 30 years. Might end up cobbling together a fairly complete data recorder for the Broomstick, or not.
Back to your boat, I think proas are the only class of sailboats that naturally do better upwind than down. If your lugsails can rotate around the mast having the boom swung out over the float may help, it was the best solution I found for P52. Not to discourage your present endeavors but the other thing that really worked was adding rudders.
Thanks again for the report,
Skip
Was good to be out again Skip, been busy with family stuff for weeks. I feel your shoulder frustrations, they just drag on, still stiff in the morning and don’t have full range of movement or strength.
I look forward to Broomstick’s sailing reports when they come.
Nothing to do with Proas I am going to start working with robotics in the near future (simple high school kits, nothing too innovative)
Not worried about downwind performance yet, not a concern unless I can get upwind efficiently. Family away next weekend so lots of testing / modifications then.
Have some video from today which I will edit before posting
Hope you get the go ahead to sail soon of the Dr. Injuries are just proof we lived out lives,
Tink
TP03 - sail 3
Data via club weather station and IPhone cycle meter app.Tink
Hi Tink!
Do you use your iPhone for your GPS data? If yes, what app is it?
Thanks,
Laurent
Do you use your iPhone for your GPS data? If yes, what app is it?
Thanks,
Laurent
App is called cyclemeter GPS, you can configure it for many things
...I think proas are the only class of sailboats that naturally do better upwind than down.
If you can sail at, or close to, windspeed on a reach then would it make sense to tack (OK shunt…) downwind as well as upwind ?
Or, as is likely, have I missed something fundamental ?
...I think proas are the only class of sailboats that naturally do better upwind than down.
If you can sail at, or close to, windspeed on a reach then would it make sense to tack (OK shunt…) downwind as well as upwind ?
Or, as is likely, have I missed something fundamental ?
That was essentially what I was doing but just not very deep or controlled. Sure it will be better when I modify to allow the board further aft.
Tink
Frustrating but useful day with TP03
My wife is away for the weekend so I had visions of a glorious proafest. Improved sails (more below) all ready, sunny and warm, force 3 to 4 and then the club re-scheduled some races, my agreement being I won’t sail while they are racing. So a day of modifications.
SAIL, during the week I cut a foot off the foot of the sail. This was done for two reasons, to raise the boom so I can see better. Secondly there was not much free halyard between the mast head block and the yard and this caused the sail to slack off as it shunted through 180 degrees giving the high twist. Have tested the new rig on land and great improvement
BOARD TRAVEL, increased the distance that the board can go fore and aft by a foot in both directions. This should help me get deeper downwind.
MAINSHEET OUTRIGGERS, added to get lower sheet loads on the aft sail, allows me to back the aft sail which may be useful.
SHEETING ERGONOMICS, improved to prevent confusion and tangles. Arrangements made to prevent sheets dragging in the water.
Anyway, good day, plan to get up at the club early and try and get a few hours before the racing starts,
Have put a video of last weeks sailing and the modifications on YouTube
Nice to see all the improvements and the simplicity and efficiency of the lug-rig.
They seem easy to use and powerful despite being quite small.
I would really like to see the wake from both the ama and vaka.
The wake says a lot about how the hulls behave.
Thanks for posting very detailed study of your proa. It is a goldmine of information.
Cheers,
Johannes
Well done, Tink - you have a nice little proa.
Like Johannes, I’d really like to see video of the vaka and ama wakes while sailing. I’m especially curious how the ama’s barge hull behaves in chop, since I’m planning on using scow bows on my ama.
No big report today, it was blowing a lot more than I had been out before with big gusts
Tink