Sailing Blog Archives - Page 2 of 4

Proasis Relaunched

We’ve successfully relaunched proasis last weekend, thanks to numerous people of our local sailing club who helped to push her down the beach. After assembling everything and carrieng countless boxes of very important stuff down the beach we enjoied a very nice 15 nm sail home to our anchor bay. Highglight of the trip was our first catch ever, a huge garfish!

All the improvements were well received, especially the wet box for the anchor and chain. Unfortunately the electric installation is not finished yet so we coudnt test the navigation lights.

Kieler Klimawerkstatt

We will be part of the Kieler Klimawerkstatt on 26.03.23 in Kiel Schilksee. We will be there with a booth 11:00 to 17:00 and give a talk at 15:45. Hope to see you there! More information here: www.kiel.de/klimaschutzwerkstatt

High and Dry

Sad but true: we have already winterized Proasis. We need to do some work on the bottom of the hulls anyway and I (Henrik) will soon go back to the Marshall Islands for half a year (make sure you stay tuned, updates will follow!).

We had the great advantage of using an electric winch and some nice custome made trolleys to pull her up the beach this time. The task was done very quickly and didn’t took many people.

Meeresschutztage Kiel

Teamed up with the Freedome (old wodden sail boat) for a weekend dedicated to ocean conservation and awareness projects. Great opportunity to tell some stories and take people out for a ride!

Speed Run

Spontaneously took Proasis out in 15-20 kn of wind for a speed run. Top speed was 11.7 kn, but to exited to turn on the camera. The video below is shot at 8-9 kn.

The feeling of 10 kn and above is just magical. The platform starts to hum (very gently), spray is flying around the bow and the splashing noise is replaced by a pleasant shhhhhh from behind. everything feels light and free. Just like riding a magic carpet!

Climate Week 2022

Had much fun at the 2nd Kiel Climate Week. As usual we opened Proasis for visitors, gave short presentations and took people for a sail. Looking forward to next year!

Kite Proa Launched

This is a little bit of a late post but Dominik, a friend of us, recently launched his kite powered proa. Now we have two shunters in Kiel. Check out his website, he is trying out lots of innovative stuff with the ultimate goal of green transatlantic shipping in mind.

Had a great party including campfire and sauna on the beach!

Singlehanded Sea Trial

Took Proasis out for a few days on a singlehanded sea trial to Denmark. Aside of the pure fun and joy of sailing the main purpose was to fine tune the rig and and the general capabilities for short hand sailing.

Sailing into the sunset

It turned out Proasis is quite well suited for this. It is very easy to to find a balanced setup for almost every point of sail. Once the rudder, sheet and mast rake is adjusted properly she perfectly tracks on her course (as you can see in the video above) and hardly needs any attention on the tiller.

The free time under way was used to work on the boat. This includes a new, easier to use main sheet system. The new sheet is way easier to uncleat, adding some safety for the windy days. In addition many minor improvements of the storage system in both hulls were made. It just sucks to dig for equipment when sailing alone.

New Reefing System Trialed

After some delay we finally managed to modify our new sail for the reefing system. We have designed an innovative system using a long zipper parallel to the trailing edge of the sail. In strong winds the aft part of the sail is simply zipped of. It works well so far but time will tell whether this is manageable in high winds and swell or not. We will keep you posted!

Sail cut in two to sew in the zipper. Weird feeling to take scissors and cut a nice new sail!

Zipper is on, quite difficult with the small sewing machine.

First test sail with the zipper in. The wrinkles disappear in anything above 5 kn of wind.

Kiel Week Tall-Ship Parade

The highlight of the Kieler Woche 2022 was the tallship parade. After two years of covid it was great to be part of it and see so many traditional ships!