Le Ta Va'a

John Misky and friends in New Zealand are building a Samoan style sailing canoe.  He sawed, planed and sanded  a big block of foam to the shape he wanted and then took the sectional shapes off of it to make ply molds for strip planking.  Follow progress at his Facebook page.

Shunting Basics

If you've got a shunter, read this manual by Janusz Ostrowski.

In The Rough

These double outriggers don't seem to mind a rough day in the tradewinds.

Wa'apa in Wellington

Marc Dutilloy's new double outrigger Wa'apa ready to launch in Wellington, NZ.

Canoe Racks With Tin Roofs

Island of Socotra

Denis Romanov built his junk rigged double outrigger on the island of Socotra, 380 km off the coast of Yemen.  Few suitable materials were available there but he created a practical and capable sailing canoe.

Robo-Bevel For Strippers

Get more information here.

Bora Bora Sailing Canoes

Tropical Ulua

Chad Lerma's newly launched Ulua with family on board.

Another Ulua in Brazil

Tom Raiss on board his stretched Ulua in Brazil.

Proa ITI for Sale

 

New Zealand proa sailors may be interested in  ITI, a prototype 23 ft shunter that  has lived in the Whangarei harbor for the last decade and a bit more.

Outrigger sailing waka ITI (or Micronesian type flying proa) was originally built to be used as a fishing waka, and go trolling under sail on the Tutukaka coast, were he was built. But changing circumstances and the owners relocation brought about a change in those plans……moving from the coast to the upper reaches of the Whangarei harbor made getting out to sea much more difficult. So in order to spend the odd night aboard, a whare (deck house) was built to provide shelter and a lock-up place for gear.

Now, with older age and bad health starting to show in wear and tare of  joints, I need a waka  with a deck that I can stagger about on, if not a small monohull that does not require much moving about on deck.

ITI has a narrow and slightly sunken deck, which was intended to prevent the imagined fish caught along the Tutukaka coast from falling overboard, but which does restrict movement from end to end when shunting. There is the possibility in lifting the tack traveler to a height that will provide support from falling overboard and thus remedy this restriction, and at the same time it would be worthwhile to change the rig so that the mast does not need to be raked while shunting, which is what is needed now.  ITI, has a running stays system that allows the crabclaw sail to be carried over the sheets when shunting single handed and a fixed mast would eliminate this complication, as well as  allowing a bigger sail to be carried, but this would be a dipping lugsail rather than the Oceanic Lateen and would have some cost in outlay and labour, which in my case would be better spent on the 30ft Pahi proa that I am busy building. ITI is in need of some maintenance and would be better off in frequent use with an owner who has the time for this, as well as doing harbour and coastal sailing around Whangarei and the Northland east coast.

Any  enthusiast  willing to take him over at  price near $2000 NZ  may contact me via email at southernoutriggers@xtra.co.nz.

Selling price mentioned above includes a 2hp Yamaha OB motor, although a set of female mould infibreglass, for the waka and the ama, are on offer as well, but at an adjustment to the abovementioned price.

Build a Paraw

 

I was very pleased to see construction plans available for a 20' (6M) Philippine paraw.   Visit Lorenzo Acompanado II's website to view or order his plans.

Ahh..Tahiti

Canoe Racks

In Tahiti and the surrounding islands, the tidal range is very small, only about a foot and always at noon and midnight.  This makes it very convenient to store your outrigger on a platform just above the high tide level.

500 Sails

500 Sails is an organization devoted to restoring the maritime traditions of the Marianas Islands.  The above photo shows the prototype 26' proa being built in Derek Kelsall's shop here in New Zealand.  Upon completion it and more building materials will be shipped to Saipan where many more will be built.  The KSS building method produces light weight foam/fiberglass composite hulls without a female mold. 
There is a Facebook page to follow their progress.

I built my own 45' version of this ancient design in Saipan back in 1983.  I used C-flex to construct the fiberglass hull.  It was designed to take six paddlers to train for OC6 competitions.  The hull was unfortunately destroyed by a falling ironwood tree during a typhoon some years later.

PJOA

Janusz Ostrowski, a long time proa designer and sailor from Poland, has a new proa design in production.  Molded in ABS plastic, it is even recyclable. 
More info at:  http://www.pjoa.eu/