[MHml] Early Proa Story

[Gary Pearce]

From "The Commodore's Story" 

Cdr R M Munroe & Vincent Gilpin

pp 279 onwards

"I have postponed mention of one very interesting sideline in the Commodore's 
drawing room - namely, the "flying proas". He had long been interested in 
these remarkable little craft with the outriggers and lateen sails which used 
to rabge the South Pacific in all weathers, and were said to outsail large 
ships, in a stiff breeze, when they wer running 10 or 12 knots - a speed at 
least double that possible to any small sailboat. Their general principles 
were obvious from the few ancient drawings published in old voyages - a long 
easy-lined hull with no stability, supported by an outrigger to windward 
which had sufficient buoyancy to hold the hull upright when not sailing.

In 1898 the Commodore decided to build one and after consulting all available 
data, most of which were in early volumes of exploration, he drew a simple, 
flat-bottomed canoe-like affair – a sort of elongated double-ended sharpie – 
29 feet long and 3 feet wide. On it were mounted springy outrigger-planks 10 
feet long holding a white pine log float. On a well stayed mast amidships was 
set a high narrow lateen sail, laced to mast and boom, of such construction 
that its tack and clew could be easily and quickly exchanged, making either 
end of the boat the bow at will – for, of course, the outrigger must be kept 
to windward, and in changing tacks it was necessary to sail the boat in the 
opposite direction. Lateral resistance was supplied by two deep 
dagger-centreboards amidships, and she was steered by an oar.

The results were extremely interesting. They set sail on the trial trip with 
the greatest curiosity, fully prepared to swim, and expecting behaviour as 
sensationally “different” as the appearance of the queer craft. The only 
surprise, however, proved to be the comfort and stability she showed. They 
sheeted home and moved off with a strangely matter-of-fact air; as they felt 
her out, a slight puff lifted the outrigger clear of the water and they 
expected an instant “flop” but it did not come. She was strangely stable thus 
balanced between sail and outrigger, and when close-hauled they soon found it 
possible, by a judicious combination of careful steering and quick shifting 
in and out on the outrigger planks by the crew, to ride her like a bicycle, 
keeping the outrigger clear of the water for some minutes at a time. She 
would keep going far beyond ordinary windward speed of small craft, and the 
farther they tested her, the more amazed they were !

Coming about was a queer upheaval of precedent. Instead of luffing, they bore 
sharp off, slacking away the sheet. One man jumped to the tack-lanyard, cast 
it off, and ran to the opposite end of the boat, passing the tack to leeward 
of the hull and immediately bowsing it down in its new position at what had 
been the stern, but was now to be the bow. Meanwhile the steersman had 
carried his oar in the other direction, and as the sheet was trimmed in the 
(at the new “stern”) the boat gathered way, headed up and was off on the new 
tack. It was an amazing and fascinating business, and the way the strange 
machine crabbed to windward was certainly beyond the performance of any other 
small boats. They found themselves across the Bay in no time, and the next 
question was, what would she do running free?

They headed off cautiously, and with this much practice found it fairly easy 
to keep her outrigger out of water with wind on the beam; the resulting 
speed, with her large sail and shell-like hull, may be imagined, and was 
certainly exhilarating. Slowly they edged her off, with ever increasing speed 
and growing delight, and then suddenly cam the final revelation of what 
manner of beast they were riding. With the growing wind on the quarter, 
outrigger in air and spray flying, they were traveling at very high speed for 
a small boat. Then suddenly, with a little extra puff, the fore part of the 
boat lifted under them and, skimming the surface like a skipping stone, 
leaped into a surprising burst of speed. The sea beneath swept by like a 
cataract, vague and foam streaked, the tugging steering oar cut a clear open 
cleft in the water and threw up on either side a long rainbow of spray, while 
the boat itself rested so lightly on the water that she made little, if any, 
disturbance in her flight. They stole hurried ecstatic glances at each other. 
How fast were they going ? What sort of creature was this proa ? And what on 
earth was she doing ?

The facts are that the proa, though it had the limitations of an ordinary boat 
when sailed close to the wind, quite literally took wings after slacking off 
even a small portion of the sheet. Except when close-hauled by the wind, the 
outrigger proved entirely unnecessary and no excess of wind had any other 
effect on her except to make her go faster and faster with her bow literally 
soaring in air. Her limit was never reached even in the hardest summer 
squalls, and it is probable that the only limit that would ever handicap her 
would be the limit of the steersman's power.

remember, this was in the days before hydroplanes; but the proa didn't know 
that planing hadn't been discovered, and that is just what she was doing. Her 
speed ? Well, they afterwards took her over a measured half-mile at the rate 
of 18 miles per hour, while on other occasions they couldn't time her, she 
went considerably faster. When you think that 4 or 5 miles is fair speed for 
a canoe, and that this proa was nothing but a canoe, with a few inches of 
freeboard, you may guess that the three-minute rate in her, especially in the 
days when the most powerful racing motor-boat could do little better. These 
gay craft inspeired a sonnet from the pen of John R Strong:

THE FLYING PROA

Biscayne Bay

'Mid passing waves, glides on my boats keen keel,
Responsive to my hand, as blithely free
As swallow o'er her meadows, all the fee
Of the wide plains is mine, so light to feel
Minutest alterations in the breeze, to heel
The slight mast and its kite-shaped sail; we flee
Large lengths of miles upon the silver sea,
Finding in Ocean all reward for zeal.
The slender midships mast a lateen sail,
With delicate cordage, holds, and balance o'er
This nautilus its air-float can avail.
For novelty prayed, the cry along the shore,
Neptune the Flying Proa gave, so hail
The prettiest racer, thank the Commodore!

The commodore afterward build several proas, for the boys' schools and others, 
and some of them a little faster, but none more generally successful than 
this forst experiment. Of late years there has been a proa club, fostered by 
the yacht club, with some good racing, and altogether the reconstruction of 
ancient South Sea design produced a lot of good fun and brought out a number 
of interesting points.

They of course anticipated capsizes in the beginning, and wondered what could 
be done with a swamped proa. As a matter of fact it occurred but seldom, and 
then gave comparatively little  trouble. It was quite possible to lower the 
sail, right her, bail out and start afresh; of course there was no ballast, 
and even when filled with water, whe would keep several people afloat. When 
thus filled, provided there was a fresh wind, it was only necessary to sheet 
the sail home and she would start with a leap, and sail herself out from 
under the water in her, leaving only a little to be scooped out later, under 
way ! She was lots of fun.