Articles

Samwise part 3

 New Designs  Proas

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…

Samwise 20

13 March 2008     0 comments.

Tornado wins Watertribe Everglades Challenge

 News  Racing

Via the Boat Design Forum: Tornado sailors, Steve Lohmayer and Jamie Livingston, going under the team name of Lumpy and Bumpy, have won the annual Watertribe Everglades Challenge in a record time of just under 36 hours.

The Everglades Challenge is a 300+ mile adventure racing event that runs from Tampa Bay’s Ft. DeSoto beach to Key Largo. The previous record for the event was set last year with a time of two days, 8 hours, 56 minutes…

05 March 2008     0 comments.

Canoes of Oceania

 Designers  Proas

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…

05 March 2008     0 comments.

Samwise part 2

 New Designs  Proas

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 sailplan

24 January 2008     0 comments.

Testing the crab claw sail

 Reports  Rigs  Research

Nicholas Schneider sent in some results of his crab claw rig experiments. Thanks Nic!

These are qualitative studies of slender foils and leading edge vortices for sailing craft.  The results of these experiments, suffering from improvised input and variable conditions were good enough to inspire further work but produced more questions than answers.

Description of rigs in drawings:

  • A. Original Sunfish rig, large camber, high…

  • 21 January 2008     0 comments.

    Samwise - there and back again

     New Designs  Proas

    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…

    Samwise proa

    07 December 2007     0 comments.

    Sailing over melting ice

     News  Catamarans  Voyaging

    Something about this project has captured my imagination - Sébastien Roubinet is attempting to sail the Northwest Passage (Alaska to Greenland) this summer - yea, SAIL it! Thus far, only nuclear subs and diesel-powered ice-breakers have managed the fabled voyage (a voyage that inspired many an explorer, including Captain Cook’s Third Voyage (thanks to Peter for the correction), who met his bloody end in Hawaii - “stoned” by the irate…

    Babouche

    30 May 2007     0 comments.

    FatCat 21

     New Designs  Catamarans

    Chris Ostlind presents a catamaran design for plywood stitch and glue construction that continues the Manu Kai theme.

    Just a few months back, our Proafile host, Michael Schacht, introduced a set of concept illustrations for a very nice, 23’ Hawaiian flavored catamaran called Manu Kai.

    Michael’s vision was at once elegant in the manner in which it honored traditionally styled Hawaiian sailing vessels and it provided a set of unique…

    Fat Cat 21

    14 March 2006     1 comments.

    New canoes from Selway Fisher

     New Designs  Outrigger Canoes

    Prolific English designer Paul Fisher at Selway Fisher has some new stock canoe designs of interest to Proafile readers:

    18’ stitch and tape Waka Ama (Hawaiian outrigger canoe) LOA 18’ (5.49m);  Main hull beam 1’7” (0.49m); Overall beam 5’11” (1.8m) Approx. wht 140 lbs (64kg) in 6mm ply.

    Tikopian 24 - based on the 18’ Waka Ama and uses the same stitch and tape plywood construction process. She has 4 seats plus stowage compartments…

    17 January 2006     0 comments.

    SIG 45 performance cruising cat

     Just Launched  Catamarans

    Le Breton Yachts is promoting an interesting project: the SIG 45 performance cruising catamaran. Interesting to me, because it is one of the first legit multihull attempts to play in the Wally sector: very refined, very stylish, very fast, and very expensive. The design guns are high calibre: Van Peteghem Lauriot Prevost (VPLP), Bjorn Johansson for the interior, and even Bruno Peyron as technical consultant. The impetus or the yard…

    Sig 45

    17 November 2005     0 comments.