Americans may have made the first sustained powered flight, but the French will be the first to fly a sailboat over a few meters above the waves. It’s bordering on a national obsession, with l’Hydroptère being the world’s fastest and highest flying sailboat to date, but hydrofoils are just baby steps. The French dream big.
Designed for Renault, the “Zep’lin” by industrial designer Damien Grossemy is a hypothetical vehicle to explore…
Robert W. from Boat Bits sent in some fascinating proa pics from the Virgin Islands. I don’t recognize the craft, though it follows the basic form factor of a Russell Brown proa, and also has some obvious Newick style cues. I’d heard that Russell left Jzero (his first proa) somewhere in the Caribbean, and it makes me wonder if Lazarus is in fact that same boat, though highly modified. Waddya think? Pics of both Lazarus and Jzero after…
John C. Harris of CLC Boats has coaxed the Jedi Master of proas off the mountain for a chat. Fascinating stuff.
Photo: Russell Brown’s Jzerro on the cover of Cruising World, shot in Tahiti on his trans-Pacific cruise in 2000. Steve Callahan was crew and authored the story.
Epicure. noun. a person who takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink.
Belgian-French yacht designer Daniel Charles (Tahiti Douche) has launched a new proa, designed for sailors of “the third age” AKA “active seniors” (Charles is 61). The 38’-7” (14.5m) Epicure is intended to be a comfortable floating home suitable for a three week cruise. I know little else about the project, except other primary dimensions are - beam: 23’-6”…
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
—Voltaire
Emmanuel and Maximilien Berque have unveiled their latest Micromegas: No. 5. Earlier incarnations of Micromegas have all been self designed and built, unballasted small craft for minimalist voyaging, and this one is no different.
M5 is current with the latest thinking on high speed multihulls: hulls are surfboard-like planing surfaces; The central pod…
There are no more audacious multihull sailors, designers and builders on the planet than the French. The modern, post-war multihull boom may have begun in the U.S., but in 1936, it was Frenchmen Eric de Bisschop and Joseph Tatiboet who first pitched a tent on a secluded, shady spot of Waikiki Beach, to build Kaimiloa. The “mad Frenchmen” sailed safely back to France, via the Cape of Good Hope, and the French have been mad about…
The Searunner Rides Again
One of the nicer surprises of 2010 has been the resurgence of multihull pioneer Jim Brown. His classic The Case for the Cruising Trimaran is available once again, and his personal memoirs of modern multihull history and lore are coming soon. The forward to Volume One is pure Jim Brown, and if this is just a taste to wet the appetite, consider mine wetted:
If the ancient outrigger canoe seems to us now an…
Bernard Smith passed away on Feb. 12, three months short of his 100th birthday. He invented a radical sailboat called the aerohydrofoil that had neither a “sail” nor a “boat”, and he outlined his design in his 1963 book, “The 40-Knot Sailboat” . I must have checked that book out of my local library about 20 times! Thanks to Paul Dunlop for the news.
The passing of sailing’s true rocket scientist | Mr. Smith’s Amazing Sailboats
Apacolypso is a Pacific Islander inspired outrigger sailing canoe, made from aluminum pontoon boat parts, bamboo and various other locally obtainable items in their native American south, all lashed together with spit and vinegar. Her two crew are about to embark on a voyage of discovery, circumnavigating Florida via the “Saltwater Paddling Trail”, from Pensacola to Fort Clinch State Park, a distance of 1,515 miles.
However,…
This sporty little multihull hails from Cape Town, the home of designer Gerhard Schein and G-Force dinghies. It’s called a “tacking proa”, though we purists would say “outrigger”. It has all the mod-cons like a square top main and a carbon fiber bow sprit for the screacher, and it looks like a great ride. Though the actual boat doesn’t have it, the 3D model on the G-Force site shows a Bruce foil in the ama.
Edmond Bruce was a…
