Proa building blog
Henrik hast developed a data logger to collect performance data for polar plots for the GIZ implemented Marshall Islands project on low carbon sea transport. The loggers collects samples of GPS speed, heading and wind speed and direction simultaneously. The data is collected and will be processed soon!
To visit fjordproa we’ve sailed proasis deep into the Flensburg fjord. On our way back home we had to tack upwind against 20kn of wind and steep chop the hole day. Nothing special in general but so far we haven’t been out with Proasis in those conditions. Spoiler: she did very well and brought us home safely.
We’ve sailed Proasis deep into the Flensburg fjord to meet Lars from fjordproa. Lars recently over Klaus Deppermanns Gilbertese proa “Elliot” (see his old video from the 1990’s) 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!
We met the proa “Mareinoa” on the baltic sea for an unofficial and spontaneous proa meeting. Two large proas sailing together are a rare event, we hope to do it more often in the future!
Fouling (marine growth on the bottom of boats and ships) is a big problem for shipping worldwide. Excessive growth of barnacles, algae etc. increases the friction between hull and water and therefore leading to high fuel consumption and unnecessary GHG emissions.
The conventional solution are toxic bottom paints which slowly leach microplastic and biocides into the water. This is a big problem for the marine environment taking into account the thousands of big and small ships out there.
The Dutch company Finsulate has invented a biocide free (non-toxic) antifouling solution. Manfred Bauer, the local distributor of our area has invited us to an application training.
Innovations like this have the potential to make a real impact. We will trial the Finsulate material and report regularly about the results in the future. In a first step three identical test bodies will be deployed at our mooring: One equipped with Finsulate Seagrade, one with conventional Ultra 600 bottom paint and the third one without any specific antifouling measure.
Check out www.antifoulingfolie-sh.de and www.finsulate.com for further information!
