Proa rig comparison table
Below is a list of proa rigs under active development today. As you can see, there is hardly a consensus as of yet! None of the rigs are perfect, and all have various strengths and weaknesses. The Rig Ratings Table is a first attempt to quantify three rig performance areas: Performance, Handling, and Safety. The table is the result of some spirited discussion on the subject by the Proa File International mailing list. Many thanks to…
A bloody fine first day with a crab claw 2
Part Two of Wade Tarzia’s epic first sail with a crab claw rig.
Bleeding while you are swimming is disarming and kind. What seems to be water dripping in my face is actually something horrific—that it never stopped dripping should have clued me in, but I’m still pondering that nth dimensional paradigm. Somewhere a baby is crying. I know this sounds like a cliche because, in all the bad novels, as soon as something interesting…
A bloody fine first day with a crab claw 1
Part One of an account originally posted on the ProaFile Discussion Group. We all thought it was a wicked good story. By Wade Tarzia.
My girlfriend tells the story about her father who saw someone waste a few hundred dollars on some unworkable scheme, and he wisely observed it had been money well spent because “how often can you get a lesson that lasts a life-time for just a few hundred bucks?” My own father, well, I think he would…
The Case for the Steering Oar
By Gary Dierking
Steering is one of the great challenges of proa design. The one who finally designs a steering system that a) shunts easily, b) controls the canoe both while at speed and while stationary during a shunt, c) is hydrodynamically efficient, d) is immune to underwater hazards, and e) is simple and foolproof, will have discovered the proa “holy grail”. Could it be that the Pacific Islanders have already invented such a…
The zen of proa
By John Dalziel
When you stop to think of it, sailing and sailboats are a rather peculiar passion, one which non-sailors rarely understand. We are often asked: why sails; why do we not simply use an outboard? We have, of course, quite a number of personal responses, which are essentially statements that we enjoy it. But beneath that lies another, broader truth: within many hobbies such as sailing lie important reservoirs of…
Testing with models - part 2
From the Proafile Archives. Originally posted 1999
After my exciting but ultimately unsatisfying flirtation with anti-heeling Bruce foils for my proa scale model, I went out and bought my first computer. We all know what a huge time sink that is, so the proa and any model testing pertaining to it went onto a very remote back burner. This turned out to be perfect timing, since once I discovered the internet, I gradually found other…
Testing with models - part 1
From the Proafile Archives. Originally posted 1999
After the disastrous first sail of my 26’ proa Rozinante, and after waiting a suitable time for my emotional wounds to heal, I decided I needed to do some research and testing. Research was easy, since there is practically nothing out there to read on proa design. One notable exception is the Amateur Yacht Research Society (AYRS) which has published many a paper about proas over the…
