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Sail shapes and rig type efficiency.


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Interesting findings here:

 

Short summary: the "crabclaw" type sails of ancient Polynesian canoes (from Santa Cruz archipelago) are surprisingly efficient... and generate considerable lift. Couples with a decent v shaped canoe hull and outrigger, I can imagine that considerable upwind speed might have been possible.

 

http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/docs/Volume123/JPS_123_1_01.pdf

 

 

Something like this.1024px-S%C3%BCdseeabteilung_in_Ethnologi

 

Shame they don't compare this to a modern rig - would be interesting.

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The are two amazing things I sometimes think about: 

 

1. That the Universe is so gigantic beyond all human comprehension -- the earth is literally a speck of dust comparatively speaking.

2. Less philosophical, but no less of a wonder, is that those Polynesians were simply brilliant craftsmen and navigators they way the migrated to the islands scattered around the North and South Pacific in craft built with only basic materials, and which they indeed would have had to make some hard windward passages.

 

I really do have to find some time and read David Lewis' books about Polynesian Seafarers.

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The vessels that intrigue me is the dowel. Little breeze yet seem quick.so have we really revolutionised sailing?sure modern materials and designs but looking the out riggers etcin comparison are werewolf going faster?

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The vessels that intrigue me is the dowel. Little breeze yet seem quick.so have we really revolutionised sailing?sure modern materials and designs but looking the out riggers etcin comparison are werewolf going faster?

I've never seen one, but I understand that werewolves, like vampires, are extremely fast... ;)

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Tis true as I have discovered with the humble lug rig, mix it with modern materials and you have easy efficiency with amazing lift. But the old Cornish fishermen knew that hundreds of years ago -and some who were only pretending to be fishing! 

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great pic of a crab-fest in new guinea, can't post pic, only clickable link

 

https://www.boatdesign.net/attachments/lakatoi-jpg.24435/

 

lakatoi-idea-1.jpg

 

These are the traditional steps for building a tepuke.

They include some steps that modern boatbuilders do not speak of.

But they are steps that Lata took, and are true for all of us.

 

Step 1) Plant the Gardens. To build a tepuke, first we plant seven to nine large gardens of yams, sweet potatoes and bananas, and we start to really fatten our pigs.

The foods will be eaten with fish and breadfruit and other non-garden foods as part of the feasting that marks every workday.

Some big pigs will be eaten at the launching.

 

Step 2) Make the Sennit Cordage (Kaha). We bury piles of coconut husks in the tidal sands each week A few weeks later we retrieve them and beat them with small wooden sticks until the blackened, rotten pulp drops off the golden, seasoned fibers. A few at a time, we twist these fibers together and braid the strands into cordage. The pattern of the weave is the same pattern Teube told Lata to copy from the tail of the moko`uli lizard, guardian of the tree that would be selected for the main hull.

 

Step 3) Fell the Tree. The Teube bird told Lata "Follow me into the forest. When I land on a tree and flutter my wings you will know that that is the tree for your tepuke." Teube pointed out a Mountain, or "True" Tamanu (Callophyllum) tree, and on 16 January, 1997, the community opened the great earth ovens in which they had baked the fruits of the first harvest from the canoe gardens. Hundreds of workers paddled to the other side of the island and climbed three miles into their virgin forest carrying adzes, axes, cooking pots and and baskets of food.

 Every such work day is a feast day, for teube explained to Lata that if the workers do not eat well, the adze blades will not eat well.

 

 

 

lakatoi-idea-4.jpg

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fat fingers on ph,are we going faster in comparison?

I got it, I just thought it was a v-nice autocorrect :) (especially as it's Halloween )

 

 

Couple of things.

 

 

I find the fact that they navigated so well, less of a marvel than the manner in which they constructed the vessels. That they fitted planks apparently so perfectly and tight that "one could barely discern the seam" is quite amazing given the stone, bone and coral tools with which they worked. Cinching up plank lashings tightly enough must certainly have been quite a trick

 

 

That a lot of these skills, that developed over millennia, have essentially disappeared over only 100-200 years I find quite sad. Especially sail making. Obviously it's easier to hang up a piece of canvas or polythene, but that resource needs to come from somewhere - and it's to the point where I remember that someone here on crew was looking for old laser and P-class sails (?) to send to the Islands so that the locals could go out fishing again. Apparently they no longer had the necessary skills to weave them.

 

 

The development of built-up canoes was particularly refined in places without large trees. Additionally, the use of the outrigger, appears to be something that the earlier Maori were familiar with, but something that fell out of favour, and as a result, by the time Cook arrived, craft that could beat against the wind, or even reach, were apparently few and far between, sails being primarily downwind devices only. Any other point of sail was a paddling affair. Anyone care to speculate why?

 

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