Whilst cruising the internet, I happened across a few photos of this German proa. The photos were taken at the Starnberger See, an inland lake situated in Bavaria, Germany.

    Flickr - mhobl - Starnberger See

No idea as to the ID of the boat nor of the sailor. 

Cheers,
Paul

Interesting boat to say the least…. Beautiful.

Do you think it is a shunter or a tacker?
At first sight, the main hull did not seem to be symetrical fore and aft, but looking closer, I believe this is just because he is standing aft, and buries the stern… On top of that, there are the same sprits at both ends… so a shunter?
But then, the foot of the mast would have to travel longitudinally, from one aka (more or less) to the other… which means that the stays/shrouds would have to be adjustable… which they seem to be…

I’d like to know more…

Laurent

Here’s another photo - this can be can be found online here.  Notice the cameraman in the dinghy next to the multihull. I think the photo was taken during some promotional work for the 2011 Corsair Chiemsee Challenge, Chiemsee being another lake in Bavaria.

Note the slightly different position of the sailrig. The mast is vertical, plus there are no bowsprits. This photo seems to show the first iteration of the proa (and I think it is that, and not an outrigger).  It may be that the photos in my initial post show the sailrig after it’s been tweaked for better handling. I suspect that, as the proa shunts, the foot of the mast might slide fore-and-aft from one position to another, with the mast itself tilting in the opposite direction, as that happens.

Given the low freeboard of the proa, it may be that the proa was designed from the outset to be sailed on the lake, and not on a more exposed expanse of water.  It’s a nice looking craft.

Cheers,
Paul

This craft would be well suited for a spinnaclaw rig.