Speed Sailing at Weymouth 1972
Plenty of interesting boats in this short video from the wayback machine. Weymouth Harbour hosted this speed sailing regatta in 1972 that features some very early foilers and proas. CROSSBOW (designed by Rod Macalpine-Downie) lead the field with a new World Record speed of 26.3 knots.
At 0:45 we get a few seconds of an unnamed cruising proa. It appears to be an Atlantic type, sloop rigged. Does anyone have any more info on the mystery…
1955 Woody Brown Catamaran Back Home in Hawaii
Ned McMahon has provided an update on the extremely rare 20’ Woody Brown beach cat that was auctioned off in Wisconsin in 2014:
The little cat was built in Honolulu in 1955 and then shipped to Green Bay Wisconsin where she stayed until 2018. The former owner had passed away and she was donated and then auctioned off.
I bought her sight unseen but knew what she was and drove up to pick her up. All the parts were there and she was in…
The Future Past of the Das Brothers
A continuation of this July 5 article about the Das Brothers. As I noted earlier, the twin brothers Rudolf and Robbert Das had a long career as technical illustrators, architectural designers, authors and futurologists. Since then, Proafile contributor Paul Dunlop has found and acquired five rare volumes of Das books that were published in a series called Toekomst (“Future”), between 1983 and 2008.
Paul has scanned and uploaded the…
Das Prauw - The Proa of the Future
This month’s Woodenboat magazine has a nice article about Robbert Das, the Dutch illustrator and futurist. Naturally, they only show his great 3D cutaway drawings of old wooden boats, but holy smokes! A little googling and you come up with the other stuff!
The twin brothers Rudolf and Robbert Das had a long career as technical illustrators, architectural designers, authors and futurologists. I found a thread here about some of their…
Original Polycon 35 in Newport Beach
The original CSK Polynesian Concept 35 is for sale in Newport Beach, CA. This boat was designed and built for Buddy Ebsen, the actor and TV star best remembered for his role as Jeb Clampett in the CBS sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. The listing dealer appears to be banking on the star power of the yacht, but the listing is still worth a look due to the good photos.
When Cats Fly
Continuing in the ‘Old School’ vein, here is the 1924 Savoia-Marchetti S.55 - a twin-hulled flying boat that set 14 world records for speed, payload, altitude and range. “The most incredible serial-built flying boat of the Interbellum.”
Designed by Alessandro Marchetti, the S.55 achieved great fame through spectacular long-distance flights: Lieut-Col the Marchese de Pinedo flew the Santa Mariafrom Sardinia to Buenos Aires and then…
No school like the old school
Venerable multihull builder, skipper, designer and author Jim Brown is treating us to a series of podcasts done in his inimitable style - recounting his personal stories and experiences spanning over 50 years. Subjects range from Woody Brown and the birth of modern catamarans in Hawaii, to storm survival, cat vs. tri comparisons, and even a few proa related talks. View and download the collection here at Outrig Media.
Photo: before he…
Project Cheers: 2016 Edition
We’re pleased to announce that ‘Project Cheers’ - the story of the 1968 OSTAR racing proa - is again in print. A book in three parts, the story of CHEERS is narrated by the three principle players: Tom Follet the skipper, Dick Newick the designer, and Jim Morris, the race syndicate organizer and financier. A very good read, especially for budding R2AK syndicates.
This new edition is a labor of love of of Russell and Ashlyn Brown, of…
Richard Newick’s first try
This is TRINE, the first trimaran design of Richard C. Newick. Still going strong as a day charter boat in St. Croix, USVI, over four decades later. Not bad at all for plywood, and a damn good first try.
Thanks to Bob W. at Boat Bits for the submission! If you have some shots of interesting historical multihulls, send them in! We’d love to post them.
A Victorian Catamaran in San Francisco
This photo of a top hatted Victorian era gentleman sailing a catamaran named “Duster” by the San Francisco waterfront has recently come to the attention of the internet. After some initial uncertainty as to its vintage, the craft is now known to date from 1894, as in that year it participated in sailing regattas run at Sausalito, California by the San Francisco Yacht Club.
Unfortunately, beyond its name, not much more is known.…
