Jzerro sailing video
Hello proa enthusiasts. We put together a video from clips taken this fall on a cruise to Canada.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ptwatercraft
We did not have a waterproof camera. Too bad, because we had LOTS of wind and heavy rain at times. This would have made for exiting video if we had had a waterproof camera.
In any case, we thrashed the #### out of the old girl on the way home and she seemed to love it. Lots of upwind in 30 knots or more of wind. The short clip of the boat sailing under reefed main only was taken in 35 to 40 knots and heavy rain.
The single outrigger motorboat is a boat I designed for my buddy Josh. It’s his family car and pickup truck. It’s powered by a 20 hp outboard and goes about 18 knots. He put 7200 miles on this boat in less than two years and sometimes carries huge stacks of plywood and other heavy things with it.
I hope you like the video,
Russell
Thanks Russell. Great footage of some great boats. I love the tea on the stove at 17 knots!
That is a great video, Russell. Thanks for posting it and thanks to your wife for putting it together. Exiting sailing. Here’s hoping the fat guy in the red suit can organise a water-proof camera in a few weeks for you and the missus 😊
Thanks so much for sharing that with us. Jzerro does look happy as a clam, but much faster.
Best,
Chris
Technical difficulties… I made an article on the home page that referenced this forum topic, which promptly associated the topic with Editor instead of the actual writer of the topic. So I had to reverse that. Still learning the system, I guess.
Way cool! I read that older outboards burn about (HP/10_ gallons/hour) at full speed; newer ones about (HP/12) and 4-cycles as high as HP/15. This suggests this “pickup” may be getting as high as 13-14 mpg at this speed (my family’s old 16’ ski boat, with 55 hp and capable of 30 kts delivered 5.5 mpg, just for comparison). I bet he might do 30-50% better, at 14-15 kts (80% +/- of top speed)
This is pretty darned amazing, to me. I wonder, would a larger engine, running slower, do better or worse? I suspect (maybe) a bit better, per hour, but a bit worse, when amortizing the cost of the engines, but who knows?
Dave
Hi Russell,
I’ve only just become interested in sailing outriggers and am about to design and build my own 7m sailing Proa to cruise up and down the Queensland (Australia) Coast.
I do have one question about the sailing Jzerro and that relates to the possibility of capsize when on a starboard tack. Is it a concern/possibility?
Thanks
Scot.
I do have one question about the sailing Jzerro and that relates to the possibility of capsize when on a starboard tack. Is it a concern/possibility?
Hi Scot, welcome to the forums. Not really sure what you mean by “starboard tack”? Proas sail equally well in either direction, so the ama remains to windward, whether on port or starboard tack. The proa is designed so that the ama is never digging in like a trimaran. Does that answer your question?
For more info, Sven Stevens has written a terrific thread about stability for his proa Pacific Bee, a close cousin of Jzerro. Read it here.
OK I was thinking that the Jzerro was a tacking proa like the Ninja. So is the mast unstayed on the leeward side? How difficult is it to shunt the rig?
I guess my original question was related to the possibilities of lifting the ama out of the water with too much canvas up.
I’ll have a read of the Stevens article to gain a better understanding.
Thanks again for the info.
Best,
Scot.
How difficult is it to shunt the rig?
I guess my original question was related to the possibilities of lifting the ama out of the water with too much canvas up.
I’ll have a read of the Stevens article to gain a better understanding..
You don’t need to read somerwhere else than here. You will find first hand Information, theoretically and from practise, in very detailed posts from Russel Brown and the current Owner of the Brrown Proas in the other chapters of proafile.
Best Regards, Michel
Inspiring video for sure!
I wonder what the humming in the background is from? Did anyone else notice that? For the musically inclined, it sounds like it goes back and forth between an A-sharp and a D. Is Jzerro known to hum when happily flying along?
This specific video is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HevgDyupZeY&list=UUVkWkVo0rpJ1I3xgJjmYUFQ&index=3&feature=plcp
Pacific Proa Jzerro in Port Townsend - September 2012
I found this video today.
Jzerro sails so effortless and smooth… Beautiful!!
Johannes.
It is neither A-sharp or D, actually an ‘I’ as in I want want one, well certainly hums that to me!
Mark
I have been working on some parts of the boat this year getting ready for a new rig. I made new, longer sheeting struts and moved the head stays back a bit.
The boat is going upwind better than ever. I took a shakey video last Friday with one of those crazy go-pro too-wide-angle video cameras. It’s a crap video, but the boat is pointing higher and going faster than ever. Hope you like it,
Russell
Thanks so much for sharing that Russell! Jzerro really is a thing of dynamic beauty.
At about 1:40 in the video, the ama comes way up. Are we seeing the pod put the boat back on its feet right there? I’d love a better look at what’s happening there.
Would you share the details of your new rig? Why are you changing it up? What are you changing?
A while back you mentioned that Paul Bieker was thinking about a 26’ proa. Did that ever go anywhere? I’d love to see his approach. But he’s probably too busy working on Oracle stuff.
All the best,
Chris
Hello Chris,
The new rig will be taller, 40’ instead of 36’. The main will have more area up high and a shorter foot, and the jibs will be higher aspect.
I have a couple of reject carbon mast sections that I’ll splice together to make a new spar. It will be a huge job to make the mast, but the sections are appropriate.
Not sure how new sails will be paid for yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing what the boat will do with a better rig and sails.
I think that I did bump the pod in the video. The wind was pretty steady, otherwise I wouldn’t have been out there with the camera with the autopilot on.
Paul never did start on a 26’ proa, but we have been working together on a 32’ proa for the Jester class transatlantic race. There are CAD drawings of the boat now that Paul is working on it, but I’ll wait until it’s further along to post them here. The client for the boat has a lot of single handed experience in mini’s and other boats, and it could well get built.
I’ll keep you posted,
Russell