Proasis sailing with fjordproa aka. Elliot

We've sailed Proasis deep into the Flensburg fjord to meet Lars from @fjordproa. Lars recently over Klaus Deppermanns Gilbertese proa "Elliot" since he retired from sailing. It's great to finally see Elliot on the water and once again a special occasion to sail together with another canoe!

[@chrisclarke5040]

I know these are pretty mild conditions but the lack of pitching for Proasis looks encouraging and the bows seem to part the water sweetly. Proasis looks comfortable to sail with the cabin top providing a nice windbreak - is that how the experience is in reality?

[@proasisproject]

Indeed, butterflat water. But you can see Elliot pitching sometimes. The Baltic sea is known for very short and steep waves as soon as the wind picks up. Wharrams for example have a hard time in theses conditions. Proasis is designed with high Cp (lots of volumen in the ends) to resist pitching. It works well after all, very gentle motion of the platform. Sometimes, if the waves are very very steep the windward hull slams into the water. Maybe the underwater body should have been a bit more pointy but not a big deal. The entire concept with the windward accomodation has in mind to provide shelter in cold northern conditions. It works well, it is always possible to get in and out the without water coming in. The rear corner between beam and windward hull is a comfortable place to sit on watch in the wind shadow of the cabin top. We have been sailing upwind a whole day in 20-25kn and 1.5m waves on the way back from the meeting with Elliot. I'm working on the video right now, expect it soon! :)

[@chrisclarke5040]

@@proasisproject I'm looking forward that upwind video. I do like how the visual simplicity of Proasis compliments what is obviously a sophisticated and well thought through design.

[@lucdekeyser]

do you have any idea of the comparative sail area vs weight ?

[@proasisproject]

Proasis has about 500kg and 14sqm, Elliot is 6m long maybe around 80kg (guess) with 8sqm (guess)

[@lucdekeyser]

@@proasisproject so the ratios sailing weight/sqm is roughly 650 kg/14 sqm = 46 vs 160/8 = 20 kg/ sqm - any obvious observations about difference in performance by point of sail and wind speed?

[@proasisproject]

@@lucdekeyser we haven't done any comprehensive tests, just some fun sailing. All of it was upwind because it was the first few miles on our way back to Kiel. Elliot and Proasis point roughly equal, maybe Elliot a little bit higher. Speed difference upwind was not to much, all other courses I can't tell. I would expect Elliot to be faster on all points of sail because it's a racing design and Proasis is a purposely underpowered cruising boat.

[@kevinwelsh7490]

why is the mast on the small hull? why not on the beam between hulls?

[@proasisproject]

The mast ist actually on the large hull. This is a proa, not a catamaran. We explain that in detail on www.proas.is Send me a message if you have further questions :)

[@pakde8002]

​@@proasisprojectcalling it a proa rather than a catamaran is a bit of a stretch of terminologies imo. It's clearly a hybrid, not one or the other. Not that it's very important. It's a fine sailing vessel.

[@proasisproject]

​@@pakde8002wikipedias definition of a proa (which goes back to the definition of Haddon and Hornell) is "a watercraft with two hulls of unequal length of which one is always kept on the windward side. A proa performs a shunt to change the direction of travel instead of tacking or jibing." Proasis could hardly be closer to this definition. The leeward hull is 9 m, the windward hull 6m. You can see us shunting in our latest video.