Proas through the ages
My buddy Lee picked up this ancient artifact for me recently: How to Build 20 BOATS, a Fawcett 50 cent publication from 1943. It’s reprinted material from Mechanix Illustrated, and it happens to include the PLYWOOD PROA by Hi Sibley. Aside from the historical value (nearly equivalent to King Tut’s Tomb) I find it interesting that:
1. In all the years since then, plywood is still the preferred construction material for amateur boat…
Equilibre
A French West Indies Proa
Jeremy Fischer designed, built and sails his 40’ proa Equilibre out of Martinique. Everything about this boat is virtually perfect: the strong Micronesian heritage, the huge crab claw sail, the time and cost sensitive construction/fit-out, even the color (probably the result of the can being on clearance at the local chandlery). Equilibre helps me think about balance, not only with wind and tide, but with the…
The proas of J. S. Taylor
The proa designs of Australian designer J. S. Taylor have been the subject of many an interesting discussion on the proa_file list over the years. Taylor, an East European immigrant to Oz in the 50’s, had several of his provocative articles published in the yachting press of the day, both locally and internationally. Taylor was one of the first to advocate the proa as a serious yachting alternative, and his imperious tone combined with…
The relaunch of CHEERS
The French love all things historical and nautical, so it makes perfect sense that they have become the curators of the first Atlantic proa in the world: the “giant killer” CHEERS. Today, he is kept in Port Saint Louis by Vincent Besin and the French government, which has declared him a “monument historique”, one of less than 100 small craft, and the only multihull. CHEERS was relaunched last week, at a ceremony that included his…
Teh Pookie
Back to the Future. A collaboration with Jim Shanahan.
Tepukai are singularly amazing proas from the Santa Cruz Islands that take the usual South Pacific parsimony with building materials to the nth degree. The boats stretch out over the water’s surface like a gigantic water spider, covering the most area with the minimum mass. Tepukai employ slender, submersible wave-piercing hulls, centrally located mass for low pitching moments,…
Samwise part 3
The third (and hopefully final) iteration of Samwise the micro-cruising proa.
Some fairly dramatic changes since Samwise Part 2 (Part 1 is here). The biggest change is that Sam is now a balls out Atlantic proa - rig placed in the windward hull. No faux Pacific, “weight to windward” sham, an Atlantic proa is Sam I am.
LOA: 20’
BOA: 8’ - 12’
Windward hull beam: 2’-10”
SA: 180 sq. ft.
Mast height: 16’-2”
Rig height: 19’
Placing the…
Canoes of Oceania
Harmen Hielkema has joined the blogosphere at Canoes of Oceania. Harmen designs and builds proas in New Zealand with an artistic eye and an appreciation for prior native art. From his blog:
Every culture with very few exceptions, somewhere in its past has some connection with the sea and a technology for moving or sailing on it. The sailboat was the first machine to give men freedom of motion without harnessing muscle power. Few of us…
Samwise part 2
There and back again, again.
I fleshed out a few scale drawings of Samwise last week. In keeping with the minimalist theme, I’m doing the minimum of calculations. As you can see, proportions have altered a bit - but form follows function. The goal was to make the hull sides from straight ripped ply - 2’ wide - easy as pie. The straight ply goal meant the crossbeams buried in the hulls had to go, so now they’re lashed or bolted to the…
Samwise - there and back again
Samwise is a minimalist cruising proa, which is really the only kind of proa there should be, IMHO. The only thing not minimal is the performance - the proa’s raison d’etre. The basic idea is reliable and cozy camp cruising in the Pacific NW - where the water is generally frigid and the air is generally tolerable.
Sam’s godfathers include Matt Layden’s Paradox and Rob Denney’s Harry, while a host of uncles include Phil Bolger, Peter…
Palindrome - the land proa
Chris Luomanen describes the world’s first and only proa on wheels!
The land proa was a mad last minute dash to the finish for 2 quarters worth of thesis work I did around "Joy Rides". The idea was to create unexpected experiences—things you had to try to understand. All of these were developed as working prototypes. The projects included:
Centipede Board: a skateboard with 11 fixed roller blade wheels on the bottom that you turned…
