The Maltese Falcon is most impressive.
However, the rig worries me because there's no easy way to depower
it, and keep it depowered without attention/effort, if you're not on
a mega yacht.
The Falcon is an extremely heavy monohull with full electronic
control of those sails. Need less power? Push a button, and motors
roll the sails in between the fixed arms. If things get hairy, the
boat is heavy enough and strong enough to hang on until the sails
are in. While sailing, electronics will also keep the sails at an
optimum angle to the wind.
Assuming a proa won't have those features, I'd have to say this is
more of a racing rig, to be used only by those who really know what
they're doing, and are prepared to capsize, than on a boat where you
might go cruising, or on a single or dual-handed distance race.
Presenting that full face of the sail to the wind during a tack or
shunt is a problem. On a small boat, or a model, it might be fun to
pop the windward hull out of the water during a shunt, and then to
zoom off at the amazing speeds the dynarig is capable of. But what
if you're on a large boat that's not easily rightable after a
capsize, perhaps in high seas with gusty winds? That could be a
disaster waiting to happen, particularly if there's only one person
to handle the sail.
Reefing the sail in those same high seas and gusty winds could
also be a problem. With an easy rig, una rig, or junk rig, you can
let the sheets out, the sail will weathercock, and you can take your
time while reefing, getting a drink, peeing, or tending to an injury
or equipment failure. For as long as you want. On the other hand,
the square rig won't stay weathercocked in one direction, and stands
the chance of presenting the full face of the sail to the wind, even
if for a short period of time.
Even if the boat does not capsize, shock-loading components to
that level isn't a recipe for equipment longevity.
Again, I think the square/dynarig would be great fun on a 20'-er
in warm waters (or with wetsuits), where you could play with the
boat like a Hobie, flying a hull, and righting the boat if things
don't work out. But I couldn't imagine putting that sort of stress
on a lightweight proa in the 30' to 50' range. Putting a boat that
size on its side is a bad day, no matter what happens afterwards.
- Mike
Malcolm Phillips wrote:
How about going with a modern square rig like that used on the Maltese Falcon Mega Yacht?
This would seem ideally suited to a proa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_%28yacht%29
Malcolm