Innovation at it's best! Your choice of sailing "Pacific" although it is a result of necessity, since your small amas don't have the volume for "Atlantic" sailing, is the right choice and a major reason the design seems to be so balanced and so successful. The concept seems fast and agile probably as a result of a well designed rig that fits it's hull, I am a big fan of Crab Claws since they deliver so much power and excitement but still keeping costs and unnecessary complicated rigging low... Of course it would all be worthless without a true sailor like yourself!!! Nice sailing, well done. What ever you do, don't stop.
This makes a ton of sense. Traditionally, proas don't tack or gybe because that would put the outrigger to leeward. Your design solves that problem quite elegantly.
The whole point of proas is to make tacking and gybing unnecessary. That being said there are several proas that can sail in either Atlantic or Pacific mode.
No, a proa is a sailboat that can sail both forwards and backwards. This is a regular sailboat with a retractable windward float (two actually, although only 1 is deployed at a time).
My Impression: an IC-10 International Canoe with training wheels and a simplified rig. Looks like one gets the 3-dimensional motion of the hiking sled (or whatever they call it) without the crashes. For a Certified Old Guy like myself, this has a lot of appeal. Looking at the centerboard, it seems like it will deal gracefully with hitting a crab trap or sand bar at speed. True?
Very good project, congratulations! Did you tried to let the AMA on the wather to know how the results? I know you are compensated the sail forces in the balances.
Hi, This is Kim Fisher replying. Peter Worsley has passed on your comment. I think you are asking what results I have had with the ama on the leeward side (the side behind the sail). The ama when deployed on the leeward side has not enough buoyancy to help flatten the boat significantly and tends to bury itself in the water and cause turbulence and drag. If you contact me on the email address at the end of the video I can send photos of the effect. Thank you for your interest and support. Have fun. KIM
I am not sure you would want an ama on the windward side. All the forces are lifting the ama out of the water. Unless the ama is weighted, but having the other ama on the lee side only a couple of feet more inboard than the windward one would remove much of the advantage... Hmmm
I would be very interested to see the performance with the amas deployed to leeward. Even the shape of them suggests it would counteract leeway. Each ama has a asymmetrical hull and its hydrodynamic lift would be to windward.
I think the tacking outriggers which fit flush are unique. The floats (amas) were made by cutting the side off the boat after it was bonded together and then an inner wall added to the float. This made them rather heavy (approx. 8kg each!) They were designed to stop the boat capsizing to windward when you were out on the sliding seat and the wind drops. I used to sail a UK boat called a TOY with a sliding seat and it would easily capsize to windward. I have found that if the ama is out to leeward it drags terribly BUT if it is out to windward it acts as a 8kg weight more than a 1 metre from the boat and is a great counterweight as well as stopping rolling over to windward. If you put the ama in the water on it's own it floats about 1/4 height in the water so there is still a lot of residual buoyancy even in that heavy float. Having the leeward float flush with the side of the boat makes no extra drag at all. The bottom of the chine is in fact the waterline so the ama just skips along, kissing the water with little or no drag. Down wind in a blow it is nice to have a float out each side, just to stop the rolling and make you feel safe. It makes the boat 2.2 metres wide! She planes really easily and doesn't sit the stern down - quite different from a normal planing dinghy.Image result for sailing dinghy If you just came across the boat on RU-vid you might like to read about it on Proafile.com . Article about "Quill". I have always wanted to build a Proa but the weird tacking threw me so I came up with the tacking floats. The crab claw rig is the real eye opener on this experiment as it behaves very differently from a Bermudian rig. I have built a mechanism to adjust the mast rake while going along and can move it 17degrees up to vertical. This is supposed to improve its ability to beat into the wind. I have only had a few sails where I have tried this and have yet to get the sail setting right . I had to move the mainsheet deck blocks to get a better purchase and keep the boom inboard more when beating. Thanks again for your enquiry and persistence. I hope this helps and please don't hesitate to get in contact again if you have any other queries. Cheers Kim Fisher Best to contact me on email rather than on here. Email is on the end of the video.
hello peter. i have an 8 ft sailing dingy. It came with no mast and i am iterested in the sail as theres no jibb. will you contact me about it, please. thank you.
