R2AK - January Update
Port Townsend’s Race to Alaska made it on the cover of the Rolling Stone Seattle Times this week. It features Seattle’s own Thomas Nielson and Scott Veirs, who will be entering a Hitia 17 with crab claw rig in the event. Both Tom and Scott are experienced watermen, they and their rugged little Wharram will make a formidable team.
However, they are just the tip of the local multihull iceberg forming around the race. Edensaw Woods is…
The R2AK gold rush
One topic on everyone’s lips at the PT Wooden Boat Festival this year is the Race to Alaska, a sail/row/paddle race from PT to Ketchikan, AK sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Center, and promoted by our friends at Smallcraft Advisor. It’s a 750 mile “Aquatic Iditarod” with no rules except no engines allowed but muscle and wind. First prize is $10,000, and there is no second.
The start is set for June 4, 2015, which is a notoriously…
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.…
Multihulls at the 2014 Port Townsend wooden boat festival
Every year in September, Port Townsend turns itself into a virtual Victorian seaport bristling with wooden masts, steam funnels, pirates, boatbuilders and sailors, the smell of tar, varnish and frying cod, and thousands of tourists soaking it all in. The odd multihull is occasionally found nestled between the ratlines and the bow sprits… this is what I saw this year.
The only “multihull” to claim bonafide antique status was the 16’…
Proa Luca Antara nearing completion
Luca Antara is a new 20m (65’-6”) proa nearing completion in Sagres, Portugal, and will be ready for sea trials early 2015, according to the owner and builder, Robin Warde. The hulls are strip-planked western red cedar sheathed in fiberglass both inside and out, with extra carbon fibre strengthening where required - mostly around the masts - but also around the beams. Most of the rest of the boat is built of foam. She features a…
Sans dérive, sans safran
A report from Frédéric Monsonnec on the Golden Oldies Multihulls meet up in Port Camargue, France, May 29-June1, 2014. ~Editor
No centerboard, no rudder!
Every year, the Golden Oldies Multihulls association organizes events in the Mediterranean (See Golden Oldies Trophy 2103 for report on the Sète meeting in 2013) and on the Atlantic coast. During these meetings, passionate fans of old racing multihulls (25 years minimum), gather to…
Poland Proa Raid 2014
A report on the 2014 Proa Raid in Poland
We are a group of friends sailing proas from Poland and Germany. Every year we meet to share our experience and to raid together to gain some more experience. Last year we were sailing on the Baltic Sea. We had the same idea this year, after the Proa Conference at Jamno Lake in Poland. But we had to change our plans. The channel between the lake and sea was closed, what we had discovered in the…
Golden Oldies Trophy 2013
Frederic Monsonnec reports on the annual meet up of classic racing multihulls and the people who love them - from Sète in the south of France. ~Editor
Every year since 2005, many French sailors passionate about “old multihulls”, but also Spanish, English… meet in the Mediterranean around their boats. These “fans” are members of the association “Golden Oldies Multihulls” (you can find an English page and many pictures and video on the
Renaissance of Lady Godiva
The first sail of Lady Godiva in a quarter century. The Richard Newick designed proa was built in Martha’s Vinyard by Rory Nugent, for the 1980 OSTAR. Now owned by Anne and Paul Buttin.
Thanks to Frederic M. and Golden Oldies Multihulls for the submission.
The ArcSail Proa
Malcolm Smith always has something really tasty cooking in his workshop. His latest project is a force-balanced design utilizing a ‘ring wing’ that he calls the ArcSail. The concept has huge potential for boats both large and small, and I’m very pleased that Malcolm has opted to share it with us at Proa File -Editor
I have a long time fascination with sailing boat configurations that minimize heeling moment, due to their potential for…
