Re: Equilibre - details (part2)

Second part of the outside views, showing the flexible ama (the "onboard" views were taken two days later in slightly more wind, 8-10kt, and further out at sea), a shunt and how easy mooring Equilibre is.
In the last sequence, Jerry keeps reefing and un-reefing the sail to do minor course adjustments while aiming for his buoy (which is clearly just a plastic bottle;)

During these takes, Jerry did everything alone. Normally, I'm with him on board, which means that everything is even easier.

Music:
*A Man Called Hoarse playing "When All Seemed Calm", which again can be downloaded for free at download.com * Yamaha 2.5hp outboarder playing "Where Did All The Gasoline Flow"

• Category

  Sports

[Ray Watson]

Blimey - imagine trying to do that shunt in heavy weather, or even at night, on that narrow deck and having to dip the sail in the water. Except for the poor islanders that didnt have a choice of materials, why on earth would anyone build a boat like that ?

[sammyF70]

I don't have to imagine it :) the deck isn't THAT narrow actually, so it's really no problem to do that by night (although a head mounted lamp really helps) and the boat is quite stable, even in heavy weather. We had a couple of people falling off the boat, but it was always during the day and due to carelessness, except for one occasion, while the boat was at a pier in a marina after a race and the person in question had enjoyed slightly too much beers :)

[sammyF70]

(sorry, word count exceeded). There are a couple of good reasons to lose the rudder and shunt like that. The boat gains in speed due to lesser drag (our sail is less than 40m2 big for 40 feet of main hull and ~1 metric ton of weight),and we easily outsail everything with our racing rating), you don't have to worry about fisher nets or low tides as much, as there are no ~lose~ parts who could get entangled/hit rocks or corals ... couple more. no space left ;)

[sammyF70]

last answer, I promise : concerning night and bad weather, our last return from Guadeloupe back to Martinique ended in 3m high waves, 20 knots of wind ... by night. It *WAS* scary, but shunting wasn't a problem at all ( finding out where we where, as the GPS's batteries had given up, on the other hand ...)

[Ray Watson]

- you have to be kidding !!!! walking out on that exposed deck in 3 metre waves would be bad enough, but having to do that to shunt sail ....... Were you wearing a safety harness ? I wouldnt want to be your insurer.

[sammyF70]

aehm .. yes. Of course. No need to become completely irresponsible. The narrowest part where you have to stand to do the shunt is approx. 1.40m wide, as the deck is much wider than the main hull (think airplane carrier). The point where the whole widthissue can seriously become dangerous is when you *have* to walk to the tips (when something broke for example), but there are very few damages which will result in an unmanoevrable ship (although due to the simplicity of the hull)

[mozzerelli]

Pretty boat, and nicely keeping with tradition. Thanks for posting!

[Miner4aheartofgold]

Thanks for this video. Its good to see someone actually sticking closer to traditional. When comparing with traditional proas, most in the West seem to have way too stiff

outrigger assemblies and too large Amas. Western Tri's and Cats have too much influence?

Also, would a smaller Ama be easier to keep to the windward...? Did you ever get backwards to the wind?

From watching the float hobby horse it appears that less rocker and a little more length would make the Ama work even better.

[soliv27]

C'est royal! en effet le flotteur est plus souple, et plus leger.

La première musique est bien sympa. (Sur la partie 1 c une coincidence "Harry correy, ...morning" ? Non c pas Harry je connais corey Harris, pas mal aussi)

J'espère que tu as décrit en details les modifs sur ton site.. a+

[sammyF70]

non .. a peu pres la meme taille. Quelque chose comme 35m2.