A long trip in three acts
To say it straight away, I don’t consider 300 nm to be a particularly long trip. But there are so few cruising proas and even fewer reports on trips that I think some typical snapshots from the trip with my ‘Mareinoa’ are definitely worth mentioning.
On the first day, at sunrise we were already well up on our way from Boltenhagen (Germany) to Klint Holm (Denmark). With a wind of 3 Bft from the NW and a bright blue sky, we came into the land cover of Falster and later Mön behind Gedser. The islands were flat enough not to cover the wind but prevented a high swell. The speed of the boat was 7-8 knots, which is about wind speed. The boat could carry the full sails well. There was even a bit of headroom for possible gusts. However, these were rare and the wind was unusually constant by Baltic Sea standards. In general, the conditions were not far from paradisiacal. With a wind of 3 Bft blowing constantly from abeam, the boat ran extremely smoothly and as if on rails. The attached video is also from that moment. It is easy to see that the boat holds its course even without steering.
These conditions lasted for three hours, then the wind calmed down, as predicted. Motoring was necessary. When the wind picked up again from the old direction and strength after the lull, which had not been forecast, we couldn’t have been luckier. Klint Holm was reached in the evening, 75 nm in 14 hours, 1 hour of which was motoring.
The second snapshot is also a prime example of the informative value of weather reports. The following scenario was forecast for the trip from Gislövsläge (Sweden) to Vitte (Hiddensee): initially NW 2-3, slowly easing in the course of the morning and turning SW to SE, increasing from 2 pm. That should actually be enough to reach Hiddensee in time and avoid the headwind that would then prevail. The forecast NW was correct, but it died down more quickly and turned faster than predicted. However, it freshened up more quickly. As a result, a SW of 4 blew into my teeth north of Hiddensee. The boat was therefore in a position that it doesn’t like at all. Because of the motorisation, the direction of travel was predetermined and a ‘wind from the wrong side’ situation arose. The outrigger was loaded as in an Atlantic proa and almost constantly pushed under water. The bracing was octagonal and there was considerable play in the rig. At that moment, I would have liked to have had an advocate of the Atlantic Proa on board. The ‘Mareinoa’ was certainly not planned and designed for this situation. Nevertheless, this was no comparison to the behaviour when the boat is loaded as planned. The genius of the Proa generally lies in the fact that the outrigger is lifted out of the water.
In the current situation, the boat was shaking so much that I was seriously worried about reaching Hiddensee. Obviously, the 6 knots at which the 15 hp outboard motor was propelling the boat – without any problems in terms of engine power – was too much. When I slowed down, the wind and swell threatened to get stronger and higher. But it didn’t help, I had to reduce the speed to 4 knots. I had to rely on reaching the shelter of Hiddensee in good time before the wind got any stronger. We actually won the race. With every metre that we got closer to the island, the waves got lower and we were able to increase our speed. Once we arrived between Hiddensee and Rügen, the 5 Bft wind blowing directly from the front was no longer a problem, as the waves no longer reached great heights in these sheltered waters. The 6 kts cruising speed of ‘Mareinoa’ was no problem here.
On the leg from Warnemünde to the home port of Boltenhagen, the forecast for the last part was NE 4 with gusts of 6. As we rounded the cape at Kühlungsborn, the wind actually freshened to 4 Bft. The wave height increased quickly and came directly from astern during this phase. It was a wonderful swaying in the long waves that pushed the boat forwards. This is what I imagine Pacific waves to be like. The only thing that detracted from the absolute feeling of happiness was the speed. It was surprisingly low at 9 knots. From experience, 12-13 kn should definitely be possible in these conditions. I wonder if the sails, which are now 11 years old, are perhaps getting on in years?
Unfortunately, these conditions didn’t last long. By the time we reached the island of Poel, ‘in gusts of 6’ had almost turned into constant 6. In addition, the waves from the entrance to Wismar were mixing in. This choppy water was exacerbated by the low water depths of less than 3 metres in places. The end result was a sea that shook the boat more violently than I am used to. At this moment, there was little sign of the otherwise calm gliding that I usually enjoy so much about the boat and that I praise at every opportunity. I even had to hold on tight at times. It only got better when we reached the Wohlenberger Wiek and were able to drop off. Despite wind force 6 and corresponding waves, the Proa showed its advantages again on the last miles and headed for home harbour without heeling and without much movement.
The Proa
The outrigger boat from past to present
As far as we know, it is the world’s first book to provide detailed information about the Proa boat type. Important aspects are presented on over 200 pages with many graphics and pictures.
The book explains the basics of this type of boat and its components. It demonstrates the results that can be achieved when the proa principle is implemented using modern technologies. A look at the current situation in the South Seas shows the revival that these boats are experiencing there.
The building and sailing experiences of some of the great Proa pioneers are presented as examples:
· Jacknife, a foldable proa by Ian Aitken
· The boats of the outstanding Russell Brown, including the legendary Jzerro
· Epicemar, a two-masted Atlantic proa by Gérard Cosquer
· The Harryproa model series designed by Rob Denney
· Plans for self-build proas by Gary Dierking
· The evolution of the Equilibre by Jeremie Fischer
· The transatlantic-tested Des Jours Meilleurs by P. Guillard
· Madness, offered as a kit by Chesapeake Light Craft
· The largest proa currently sailing, the Big Red Yacht
· The tacking outrigger Arpex from Brazil
· Nixe, with an interesting rudder solution built in Thailand
· The Proasis, which served as the model for many replicas in the Marshall Islands
· Sidecar with its innovative parallel rig
· The authors‘ various boats
The reports on outstanding sailing adventures undertaken with proas round off the book:
The voyage of Ryan Finn with „Jzerro“ from New York to San Francisco via Cape Horn, the diary of an Atlantic crossing by Philippe Guillard with „Des Jours Meilleurs“, and the adventures of Burghard Pieske with „Ana Varu“ in the Pacific.
The book is currently listed on amazon.com.
Hardcover edition, 207 pages, format 156 x 234 mm, 194 photos, 58 graphics
ISBN 978-3-00-076976-4
US$ 49.90
Status October 2021
We took a drone video of Mareinoa in a moderate breeze of around 7kn. The speed of the boat was also 7kn.
Status August 2021
Last month another Proa was launched in Germany, called Proasis. It is a boat of almost 9m length and with a totally different concept. We sailed to their „harbour“ and had a wonderful meeting. Here you find a video about this really rare event – two offshore proas meeting.
Status December 2020
Although we were restricted by the pandemic at the beginning and the end of the year, we could sail an almost regular season. We did mange to go to several german harbors and to Denmark. During this torns we learned more about the boat. E.g. it is important to lower the front ruder a little bit. This improves the stability a lot and makes the boat more manoeverable, especially in the harbour.
We built a new, longer daggerboard to enhance the close to the wind performance. Unfortunately the daggerboard broke twice and we had to go back to the old one. So this is still an open issue. Beside that the boat again turned out to be really reliable.
Although the pandemic situation at the moment is still worrying we are looking forward to a hopefully wonderful season 2021.
Status September 2019
Again, it was a quite successful season. We did several trips up to 6 Bft. and the boat turned out to be really reliable. One journey took us to the island of Rügen. Beside satisfying sailing performance in low winds (a diagram will be published shortly) there is still need for improvement for the close to the wind performance at 4-6 Bft.
In the winter season we did some major changes on the outrigger. The shape was optimised and the outcome is more than a success. The boat is sailing even more calmly and smoothly. Another effect is that the boat is sailing faster because the outrigger is not breaking any more when diving into the waves. And the regular income flow of the sails is not disturbed any more. As already said, a real success.
https://youtu.be/dFUh7lOkzKo
Status at the end of 2018:
The season 2018 was quite successful. We changed the rigg and we are satisfied with the outcome. We did some major trips -e.g. Danmark – and the boat was really reliable. No damages at all. At moderate winds, we achieved 7-9 kn in average. Sailing in less wind, the sailing area is to small. Therefore we ordered a new blister of 65 qm.
Beside that there is a lot to do. Sailing upwind in more than 5 bft. is not possible. Therefore another headsail, especially for this conditions, is necessary.
In surtain conditions, the outrigger tends to built up. In order to minimise this problem, the shape of the outrigger has to be opimised. That means a lot of effort, but this can hopefully be done in the winter season.
We are looking forward to the next summer in order to enjoy even more the sailing with this fast and smooth going boat.
History:
I became aware of the proa when reading a book about multihulls, named “Mehrrumpfboote” (multihulls) written by Klaus D. Kurtz. The book started with a report of William Dampier, one of the earliest European circumnavigators. He described that already in 1686 proas sailed 1200sm within only four days.
I was and I am still fascinated from the principle of a flying proa that under wind load the ama is lifted and so the draft is reduced. Because I have always been an enthusiastic boat builder I built the P5, a 5m proa designed by Othmar Karschulin. I made exciting experiences and trips with this boat and so I designed and built a second proa of 5,5m lenght.
However, the experience with these boats told me that the design (asymmetric hull, no daggerboard, crabclaw rig) is not appropriate for a modern cruising yacht. So our idea, Othmars and mine, was to combine the advantages of the typical proa characteristics with modern assets. Beside the innovative material it was the leepod (the bulge in the hull), the daggerboard and the rig that considers modern technologies and the mentioned requirements.
The composite construction allows the low displacement, the leepod provides good interior space (standing height 2m, double berth 1.95mx2m) and also protects from capsizing. The daggerboard enables us to point upwind well, and the rig to handle it very easily. After almost two seasons I am happy to say that our expectations have been met (except the protection from capsizing, which fortunately we did not have to test).
Beside the fact that a proa of this size is not a normal boat, the A-mast situated lengthwise is, at least to my knowledge, unique. The reason to build the mast in this way is to get a large cockpit without an annoying mast in the middle.
Because of its exotic nature, the boat earns a lot of public attention. The german newspapers „Die Welt“, „Welt am Sonntag“ and „Berliner Morgenpost“ publishes articles in March 2014. This was at an stage, when the boat was still under construction. In May 2014, when the boat was just launched and Othmar and me did our first tests, we did this together with some reporters from the german sailing magazin „Yacht“. This magazin published the article in September in Nr. 19. Recently an article was publishes on the webside „proafile.com“. Beside of these activities, the construction and the experiences were, of course, followed in Othmars „multihull.de“.
Also in daily life the boat attracts a lot of people. Almost always people stand in front of the boat and ask what this exotic thing may be and how all the features may work. One time a sailor asked us when we would be departing, because he wanted to follow us to see the boat in action and take some pictures.
When sailing I am always impressed by the course stability. I remember one trip when I did not touch the tiller for more than one hour. Furthermore it is incredible how quiet and calm is the boat’s motion while underway. On one of the photos you see a post card. I put it there at the beginning of the season and it did not fall over during the whole summer and under all weather conditions.
Right from the beginning of the project it was clear that shunting would mean some effort. You have to roll up the genoa, then to turn around the main, to lift the first rudder, to lower the second rudder, and to roll out the second genoa. At the moment this maneuver takes almost one minute. With two well skilled people I guess it might be possible to come down to 30 seconds, but still it is not comparable to tacking of a monohull. Especially when you take into consideration that the boat comes to a stop. So sailing in narrow waters will not be the preferred trip with this boat (which is no real surprise). That is a pity because there are some nice sounds around our home port Boltenhagen in the southern Baltic.
In light winds the speed is quite considerable. I measured 4.4 – 5.6 knots at 1.8 – 3.1 knots true wind. At 5-6 knots true wind the boat speed was between 6 and 9.3 knots. All this data were taken on a course close to the wind. But because of the relatively high speed this means 90 degrees to the true wind.
Specifications
- LOA: 11.95 m
- Beam: 6.9 m
- Draft, board up: 0.45 m
- Draft board down: 1.5 m
- Sail Area: genoa 27.5 m², main 27.5 m²
- Displacement: 2.2 t, load 0.6 t
- Accommodations: two double berth 195×200 cm
- Auxiliary: 15 hp outboard
- Construction: composite
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