Sullivans Island

 I was in Charleston a few weeks ago a went out to Sullivans Island... a very pretty place and when the wind is up it's a favored kiteboarding  site. There must have been 30 plus kites there the day we visited.

New Outrigger Mount

The latest rendition of the outrigger attachment... I had rope braces out to the bamboo pole but ended up taking them off. Tried several different paddling positions including standing up... needed a stand up paddle. I think I'm going to try a sunfish sail rig complete with the yards... may be a little big but they are cheap... lots of them around and could be easily cut down a little if needed.

Lateen Rig

I had some tubing from an antique hang glider that kinda suited a lateen type rig. The yards were almost as long as the ones on a sunfish rig... thinking that may be the ticket.

Ama Mount

Trying to come up with a better mount... I just had it tied on for a test paddle.... interestingly I could lift the outrigger out of the water just by sitting/leaning to one side in the canoe. For now its just going to be just the one bamboo aka (crossbeam) to support the ama (outrigger hull).

Proa Testbed

I'm going to use this to continue experimenting with the crab claw rig which hopefully will be used on a pacific style proa with a shunting crab claw rig. A pacific style proa can sail in either direction but always keeps the outrigger upwind

A bad day last November

I had a serious setback last November..... on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.... I had a fire which burnt my shop and unbelievable amount of stuff with it to the ground. I had just retired and was looking forward to spending a lot of time out there. Still recovering from that but just recently acquired a 17 ft Grumman canoe... which I plan... in the near term... to use as a test bed for proa bits and pieces.

Spring is Near

This project has been on the back burner for most of the winter... but about ready to jump back on it. I've got a new outrigger in progress and want to build a new main hull as well. Thinking about going to the OkumeFest.... hosted by the folks at Chesapeake Light Craft. Its coming up May 15th, and 16th. I've been wanting to go for a long time... this just might be the year.

Sea Trials

I took the boat with the bamboo outrigger to the lake yesterday... as I got closer to the lake the sky got darker. I got there about 15 minutes before the rain... got the boat rigged and waited for the rain to pass. When it stopped there was not much wind but I did get a few puffs to see how the rig responded. One thing is for sure... it needs a full time lee board.  More rudder area would be a big plus as well.
I had a Hobie kayak sail on it and this boat is set up to tack. This boat has always been a little hard to turn and with the outrigger on it.... its even more so.  I got enough wind to see that it want take much to lift the outrigger out of the water. It is still fairly light in its unfinished state with no permanent attachment. It was held on by bungee cords. You could paddle very hard without worry of capsize given the added stability of the outrigger. The outrigger did not seem to have much drag once paddling. If it had not been for the bungees around the hull holding it on it would have been very quiet too. I was going to take some pics but I was still getting rained on a little and my cell phone was so wet it couldn't sense me touching the go button.

The Crab Claw Rig

Of Polynesian decent... this rig pretty much develops its distinctive shape just by putting some bamboo yards onto the rig and hoisting it while hold the lower yard down. A small rope holding the small end of the bamboo yards. helps establish the crab claw shape.

It efficiency rivals that of the most modern rigs rigs around.

This is a shunting pacific proa where the boat can sail in either direction. The ama or small outrigger will always be on the upwind side... most proas have pretty small amas. I would say this one is rather large compared to the main hull but I wanted to allow for supporting a person out on the outrigger frame.

We shall see... thats what sea trials are for and hopefully that is not too far away.

Proa Trials

I spent quite a bit of time this past week on my latest proa adventures.... I reckon I might have been exposed to some burning bamboo smoke for I have used a fair amount of it on a couple of proa experiments.

At the moment these are add ons to plastic kayaks... one will be a tacking proa with a hobie kayak sail and a small ama mounted on bamboo cross arms.... also known as aka.

The other is quite a bit more beefy and will have a crab claw sail on a a pretty substantial rig made mostly from common construction lumber. It will be a shunting type sail rig. shunting it where the boat can sail either direction but will always have the outrigger on the upwind side. That will be a first for me... I'm going to make the sail from polytarp.... also a first for me.

The plan is to make new main hulls at some point out of something much lighter but for now this will get me on the water with the shunting rig and to see how it works out.