25 January 2023     3 comments

Comparative Analysis of Multihulls

Robert Zabukovec, the designer/builder of SIDECAR who’s story was published in the previous article, has kindly agreed to share some of his design methods with us here at Proafile. These are tools that anyone with spreadsheet or CAD software can use. —Editor

Comparative Analysis

Most sailors regard proas as weird and freakish, and a few, the most wonderful thing in sailing. Proas have a mythical fantasy status, but they are just…

 Designers  Proas  Research

19 January 2023     25 comments

The Proa Sidecar

It was a great pleasure last week to open an email from Robert Zabukovec, who proceeded to share his experience sailing an astounding proa of his own design: SIDECAR. Why astounding you may ask? Proafile gets a lot of “unusual” sailboat ideas sent along over the years and I like to think I’ve seen it all, but this is the first time I’ve seen a shunting biplane proa rig. The unusual rig works well and the canoe is beautifully…

 Reports  Proas  Rigs

Sidecar

12 December 2022     0 comments

Proa Takes Land Speed Record

A proa takes the record!

Team New Zealand have smashed the wind-powered land speed record.
Glenn Ashby piloted the radical land yacht Horonuku to 222.4kph (138mph) in just 22 knots of wind on Lake Gairdner in South Australia on Sunday evening.
Conditions finally aligned to better the long-standing record of 202.9km/h recorded by Britain’s Richard Jenkins on March 29, 2009.

Read more here and here.
Much thanks to Paul D. for the…

 News  Proas

06 November 2022     3 comments

Daikon - the Raid Proa

Blair Cowan reports on progress building and sailing his 21’ lug rigged schooner proa. The construction took one year, from May 2021 to May 2022. He has sailed the boat all season and plans to sail the Texas 200 in 2023 and next year’s Everglades Challenge. Blair writes:

DAIKON - The raidboat proa. A shunting outrigger canoe built for inland lake sailing and coastal adventure camping. The 21’ self-bailing Ojibwe-Chippewa inspired…

 Reports  Boatbuilding  Proas

23 July 2022     2 comments

The Canoes of NG Yacht Design

Papeete Tahiti based Nicolas Gruet - NG Yacht Design has an interesting portfolio that includes some now famous outrigger canoes of classic Tahitian form but updated with modern ideas about yacht design. See Outrigger Canoe 50 and Va’a Motu 30. They had me with the gaff rigs, but that ama on the 30 is perfect. Their latest outrigger: Pirogue 39’ VIP, is an aluminum power excursion vessel with wave-piercing bows. Again, a really nice…

 Designers  Outrigger Canoes

12 May 2022     9 comments

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…

 News  Catamarans  History

Manu Iki

22 April 2022     3 comments

Keeping the Proa in Epic

Ryan Finn has successfully completed his epic voyage from NYC to San Francisco, around Cape Horn, single-handed, in a 36’ plywood/epoxy proa. 93 days after departing New York, he sails into Frisco, under the Golden Gate, flying the ama by Alcatraz, and finally docking at the Richmond Yacht Club.

We proa fans can’t help but feel a bit proud. Well done Ryan.

Jzerro was designed and built by Russell Brown, right here in Port Townsend.

 News  Proas  Racing

Ryan Finn

20 January 2022     1 comments

2 Oceans 1 Rock, Around Again

UPDATE 3/17/22: Ryan Finn has rounded Cape Horn yesterday, 3/16/22 in the early AM hours, according to his FB post and the tracker. Congratulations Ryan! A great accomplishment for the sailor and also for his proa, JZERRO, originally designed and built by Russell Brown. Cheers!

1/20/22: Ryan Finn has started his second try at breaking the New York to San Francisco sailing record (solo no less) in the JZERRO. The proa departed NYC on…

 News  Proas  Racing

Ryan Finn departs NYC for San Francisco

23 December 2021     2 comments

Not Your Average Condomaran

Independent Catamaran and the new IC36. I have to say this boat is pretty trick (is that even still a word?) but it should be for the €400,000 asking price. Demountable, container friendly, stylish and fast, the way cats really can be.  I gotta admit that they had me with the Eames chairs. I also gotta admit that Eames did not design their chairs to become icons of cool for the 1%.

 

 New Designs  Boatbuilding  Catamarans