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.
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