Rozinante the Mono Proa
GALLERY | Click images to enlarge
A considerable amount of credit/blame for my love of small boats goes to L. Francis Herreshoff and his book ‘The Compleat Cruiser’. I fell in love with his ideas about a simple yet refined cruising lifestyle, epitomized by Mr. Weldon and his whaleboat type ketch - Rozinante. Rozinante is beautiful, fast, seaworthy and handy, and I was musing recently about how a proa version of Rozinante might work out.
Rozinante Il is a mono-proa - a bilaterally asymmetric monohull. Her dimensions, style and intent are all within the ballpark of the original. She’s the Rozinante from the alternative proa-centered universe.
Particulars
LOA: 28’
LWL: 25’
BOA: 6’-10”
Draft: 2’-10”
SA: 285 sq. ft.
She’s a lugsail schooner, which gives us a well-balanced rig that is easily handled, reefed and shunted, and the character is in keeping with the small gaffs of the original ketch. The cockpit is 8’ long and deep enough for comfortable seating, yet the floor is above the waterline which allows it to be self bailing (unlike the original). Also unlike the original, Rozy II does not have a weighted keel and her draft is 8” less, though the keel is still sharp and deep for good windward ability. Rozy II’s ballast is in the form of a water ballast tank to windward, beneath the cockpit seat.
Rozinante II’s most startling feature is the pronounced hull asymmetry. It looks daft, but there’s good reason for it. A traditional monohull’s waterplane becomes more asymmetrical the more it heels, with the lee side bulging out, creating wave drag and a weather helm, usually counteracted by a large rudder (creating more drag). Rozy II follows the Micronesian practice of keeping the “flat” side to leeward, which creates a leeward turning force (and balancing the windward turning force of the schooner rig). The flatter lines create less drag, and best of all, the waterplane shape becomes increasingly symmetrical as the boat heels, not less. Heeled to 14 degrees, the yacht’s waterline beam shrinks from 53” to 44”, yielding a 7.6:1 Length:Beam ratio. I expect considerably better speed from this finer and much lighter Rozinante when compared to the original.
Accommodations are spartan below, as was the original. A single berth with sitting headroom and storage locker in one end, and an enclosed head in the other. Though L. Francis would prefer a cedar bucket, I’m including a marine toilet and holding tank as a concession to modernity. The galley box is in the cockpit, running the length of the leeward side.
Rozy II is steered via trimming the sheets and adjusting the two centerplate “trim tabs”. In this, she follows the practice of Yakaboo, the record breaking sailing canoe of Frederick “Fritz” Fenger. She won’t be “multihull” fast, but I think she’d make for a fun and rewarding boat to sail, and the looks she would get at the dock would be absolutely priceless.
Note: This is a sketch, a cartoon only. No plans are available.
