On 4/23/07, Christoph Maier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 09:20 -0700, Gus Wirth wrote: > Bob La Quey wrote: [...] > > One feature of the proa is that it is not tacked but shunts, > > a procedure where one changes the direction of the boat > > to take off on another windward tack by swapping ends. A > > bit hard to describe in words but simple enough to understand > > when one sees a diagram. > > http://www.sailingcourse.com/images/shunting-proa.gif > [snip] > > I wonder who made the diagram. They violated the first precept of > sailing diagrams, which is that the wind always comes from the top, > similar to the the way North is always at the top of maps and charts. > > Of course, maybe that shows just how different it is sailing a proa. > > Gus > ... and I thought that the short hull should be on the downwind side, for stability, so I also thought that the wind should come from the top.
NO! A conventional proa relies on the weight of the ama (the short hull) to hold that side down. The ama is always on the windward side of the boat. http://proafile.com/view/weblog/comments/a_primer_on_proas/ The vector fin proa uses hdrodynamic forces to further pull the ama down into the water. The harder the wind blows, the faster the boat moves, the larger this downward force. See http://proadesign.com/ BobLQ -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
