2007 Tasmania to New Zealand proa trip
Proa diary first trip.
Matt Tucker,
Saturday march 31 2007,
Overview:
In February 2006, after an amazing journey to Antarctica on my brother Ben’s 34ft yacht Snow Petrel, I began thinking about building my own boat with the intention of sailing it from Tasmania, Australia to my home town of Auckland, New Zealand. There was one catch to what would otherwise be a fairly common project… it had to be different! It also had to be cheap, and relatively simple to build.
When Ben started talking about proas I was skeptical at first – they just look wrong somehow. A question that seems to come up on a regular basis is “Where is the rest of it?”
Once you get past the fact that they are lopsided, have no stern, can’t tack and rely on pieces of string to hold everything together they are actually quite practical and of course different. So that’s what I decided on.
When one of my other brothers Dan moved over to Hobart for a working holiday, he didn’t take much convincing to join in since he had always been interested in proas, and being a sculptor he was very keen on turning it into a work of art as well as a seaworthy ocean crossing boat. So we began planning, but first we had to figure out exactly what a proa was and how it worked!
A proa is a sailing outrigger canoe that has been used in the Pacific for thousands of years. It consists of two ‘hulls’ – a main hull which is usually asymmetrical, meaning the down-wind side is flatter than the up-wind side, giving it lift to windward much like an aeroplane wing. An outrigger or ‘ama’ to windward keeps the boat from capsizing and, rather than tacking you just reverse the boat and continue in the opposite direction, a manoeuvre called “shunting”. A steering oar at each end and a completely reversible sail is needed, which makes for some interesting engineering problems and the discarding of any conventional sailing ideas.
We began working on the 20ft aka in late September out the back of our terrace house in Hobart. Weekends and after work were dedicated to getting the first of 2 hulls finished, and by December it was ready for a coat of paint or two to finish off. On 2 December 2006 we moved out to our parents’ bush block on Bruny Island off the south-east coast of Tasmania and began work on the main hull. It was a great place to be, with all sorts of native animals showing up to check out what was happening – we even had a Potteroo couple coming round every night for some tasty food scraps.
We set up a tent each to sleep in, used the old boat shed as a living room and then built a shelter out of old tin and tarps to build the rest of our boat in. We were hoping to have the boat in the water by mid-January and head off after the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in early February.
There were no set plans for the boat – we just had a few rough measurements: height 1.2m (one sheet of ply), width 0.7m and length 30ft, and a photograph of a traditional Marshall Island proa. It made for a very interesting building process with lots of “that looks about right” and finally, after a couple of weeks we began to get an idea of what she would look like.
One month later we were still flat out and recruiting friends, family and anyone unlucky enough to visit to help out with the pre-launch preparation.
On the January 31 we loaded up two utes with beams, masts and the two hulls, and in a procession of 5 vehicles made our way down to the launch beach in the Duck Pond just down the road on Bruny Island. It made for an interesting sight with a 30ft long hull strapped to the top of a clapped out red ute and dad running around under my instructions filming it all!
Luckily there were plenty of people around to help carry the pieces down to the beach and assemble it and then after a ceremonial spraying of champagne (a Tasmanian bottle at one end by my lovely Aussie girlfriend Laura, and a Kiwi bottle at the other by our proud mum Barbara) we launched Upokorua into the bay. Upokorua is a Maori word for two heads. This is in reference to the two bows of the boat and its Tasmanian roots (a common joke amongst Australians is that Tasmanians are born with ‘two heads’). The entire boat is lashed together using 5mm twine and combined with the laminated celery top beams it makes for an alarmingly flexible ride! Early the morning after launch (as in 4am early!) I flew to Sydney with my girlfriend Laura, and Dan’s girlfriend Rosie flew over from New Zealand so we both had a well earned week off.
We both returned in time from our breaks to attend the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart with Upokorua. The Festival was a great event, and we spent most of our time chatting to enthusiastic people and explaining how the boat worked since it is not every day that a proa is seen in Tasmania (though by some amazing coincidence a 20ft proa is being built on Bruny Island as I write this!). We got a prime spot on the ‘Dutch’ wharf surrounded by some amazing boats, and it was a great spot for people to stop and have a look.
After the Festival we took the boat back down to Bruny Island and began preparing for our first sail. The rig is a tripod arrangement with a mast fore and aft joined at the top and another from the ama joining the other two. The lateen sail is supported by a 32ft spar and the whole lot swivels inside the 3 masts, the tack moving from one end to the other. The steering oars are supported by a rowlock at the top and a bracket at the bottom and are pulled into or out of the water using guy ropes. The first sail went well and we were pleased to get a comfortable 4 knots from around 5 knots of wind but there was still a lot of tweaking to do before we were happy with how she all worked.
It is now the last week of March and we are hoping to leave on the weekend. The past few weeks have been spent on a small beach not far from the launch site doing the hundreds of little jobs to finish her, including installing an escape hatch in the bottom of the boat in case of a capsize, tightening and re-lashing, getting the rig working properly, painting, sanding etc. Dan has carved two figure heads – one male and one female – to go at each end of the boat and they are finally on and looking great.
We are now in the final stages of preparation and have been for a few sails with the rig now working smoothly.
Though we have yet to push her to the limits we have reached speeds of around 10 knots and are very confident in the seaworthiness of the boat even if she is a little wet and bouncy! Our estimated day of departure is Sunday (April 1st) and we hope to be sailing into Auckland Harbour mid-April but with no engine to help us on our way dates are very weather dependent.
I have taken hours of footage detailing the adventure so far and will be taking plenty more of the trip over the Tasman so keep your eyes out for the documentary, “Two Heads and a Tail Wind”, later in the year!
Wednesday April 4 2007
Laura Banks,
Hooray – they’re off and away!
Of course in true style the departure was not without its hiccups – after being cleared by Customs just after 9am, a Tsunami alert was issued at 10am for 10.30 meaning the boys had to throw everything on Upokorua and move her out of Con Dock to avoid coastal water surges.
No sooner had the warning been downgraded (the Tsunami had no effect in Queensland) then a visit from Tas Police followed, prompted by concern over the journey – especially fresh in everyone’s mind after Andrew McAuley’s trip. The boys however are well prepared – they have all the correct safety gear, plenty of supplies and are both experienced sailors. So finally, with all the right parties satisfied, the boys jumped on-board, and were waved off by a crowd of around 50 well-wishers set sail for Auckland.
It was a beautiful day out on the Channel and Upokorua was accompanied by a flotilla of approximately seven yachts, New Zealand Maid being the Tucker parents, Jon and Barbara’s boat, Snow Petrel – owned and skippered by brother Ben, Erryn, Windward Star, Maggie B and Winkipop the Hartley as well as a few other vessels joining us along the way.
We left Upokorua, Dan and Matt at Iron Pot as they sailed towards their first (and last before they hit NZ) port of call Dunalley.
Bon Voyage and best wishes for a safe journey boys!
Saturday April 7 2007,
Laura Banks,
St Helens or bust,
Well what a week!
Just a quick post to update you all on the latest news… the boys were tracking well up the East Coast of Tassie. By Thursday afternoon we could see they were making a clear right-hand turn and heading out to sea.
But… at 6.30pm on Thursday we had a call from Dan on the satellite phone, and the ama, or outrigger part of Upokorua, was taking on water. The boys made the call to head into the small seaside town of St Helens and assess damage there.
As it turned out I was spending the Easter long weekend in St Helens so could take some gear up to the boys. I arrived there at lunchtime on Good Friday. The boys had recieved a tow into St Helens from the local friendly Coast Guard.
It was quite a shock to see Upokorua, the ama was almost completely submerged. The boys had even thrown off some supplies on their journey through rough seas into St Helens the night before.
So… after assessing the damage they’ve decided, for a number of reasons I’ll leave them to explain, to put back the crossing of the Tasman until summer 2007/2008.
We are now organising trailers, trucks, utes and whatever else we can find to bring Upokorua back to Hobart and both Matt and Dan will be in New Zealand over the next few weeks.
However… now they’re back safe and sound on dry land I’ll let them fill you in over the next few days of their adventures thus far.
We’re glad you’re safe and sound boys!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Matt Tucker,
What Happened??!!!!
I’m sure that’s the question on everyone’s minds and I’ll do my best to clear it all up as the news reporters seem to leave out all the important things!
We had a great sail up the coast after finally making it through Dunalley Canal. It was a bit of an adventure passing through the canal – the bridge decided to pack up and we were doing 6 knots under sail straight for it before we realised something was wrong. So with a very professional display of seamanship (even if I say so myself!) we pulled up and grabbed hold of the bridge while the keeper belted it with a sledge hammer and after half an hour freed it up! With that small drama out of the way we anchored for the night in the lagoon and prepared for sea.
The next day dawned beautiful and clear but with a 5-10 knot North East wind so we didn’t expect to get too far. 10 hours later we were passing inside Maria Island with the sun setting over the rugged coastline and seals everywhere. We shook off the urge to stop at Maria for the night and continued up the coast with a 5 knot Southerly now blowing.
After relieving Dan for the 6am -10am watch in the morning I put out a lure and within half an hour had hooked a decent sized Skip-jack Tuna for dinner and was thoroughly pleased with myself. By lunch time the wind had picked up to a steady 25knot Southerly and we decided it was time to make a right hand turn to New Zealand. The seas steadily began to increase and get a lot steeper but the boat was handling it very well and we were doing a steady 5 knots with just a headsail up. By 3pm we were getting 3-4 metre breaking seas over the whole boat, but though it was very wet Upokorua handled every one of them without any complaints at all, until…
Around 4pm we had just got off the underwater shelf that, coupled with the tide and swell, was creating these steep nasty waves. It was beginning to ease but with a shock I noticed that the inner forward beam mount was lifting off the deck every time a wave hit the outrigger (ama). I immediately woke Dan up and told him we were turning around and making for the nearest port which happened to be St Helens. After a short time I also noticed that the ama was slowly sinking which added a whole new element to the situation. We had a series of compartments as well as a hell of a lot of foam inside the ama but it continued to sink until all that was out of the water was an inch at one end! We called Dad from the satellite phone and he informed St Helens Marine Rescue of our situation in case of emergency. With the outrigger causing so much drag the only way to steer was with a sea anchor out the opposite side to the ama which meant we were only doing around 1.5 knots. It was 32 nautical miles to St Helens and we made it into the bay at first light the next morning but with a strong tide flowing and no steerage there was no way we could get over the bar and upriver to St Helens, so the St Helens Marine Rescue boys were more than happy to give us a tow in. They did a great job taking time out of their Good Friday to help us out and even gave us a thermos of hot coffee to keep us going!
As luck would have it, my girlfriend Laura was spending the Easter long weekend in St Helens with friends, so we had warm beds to sleep in, a hot cooked meal, some eggs from the Easter Bunny, and – most importantly – were able to get back to Hobart with ease and arrange for a trailer to bring Upokorua home to Bruny.
After a thorough inspection we have concluded that what had happened was the first beam mount had ripped off along with a piece of the deck and the bolt holding it had left a hole the size of a 10 cent piece. The added weight of the water had caused the other 2 to do the same and the whole ama had filled with water until the only thing holding it up was 4 sealed pvc pipes inside (around 120 kgs of buoyancy). A few interesting things to note are that the lashings around the ama were the only thing that saved it from completely sinking – they were what had caused so much skepticism in the first place. If the beam mounts had only been bolted and glued the aka would not have got us safely home. Secondly the buoyancy rated expanding foam did nothing whatsoever to keep the ama afloat – in fact it only made it more difficult to get the water out because it had soaked it all up.
As most of you will know we have decided to postpone our trip until January 2008 for a variety of reasons. Firstly we had both planned to move home to New Zealand and have commitments there that can’t wait for us to do the necessary repairs and continue. We both value our girlfriends and wouldn’t have them much longer if we didn’t stop thinking about, talking about, and working on the boat for a little while at least! In addition, the weather is getting too cold and unsettled which would just ruin the fun of it! Also… after sailing up the Tassie coast we realised we would like to sail further up before we leave for New Zealand and do some exploring of the beautiful Australian coast with the intention of leaving from Sydney.
I will have a bit more time now to attend to the website and put some more pics and videos on even though Laura did an awesome job with limited time and knowledge and my disorganized instructions! All questions are welcome.
I will be making a documentary of the adventure so far and welcome any questions or queries so I can make it as interesting as possible.
Thanks to everyone for their help and support so far, especially: Laura Banks, Mum, Dad and Ben, Jim Reeder, Erryn and Joss Reeder, Nick Gales and the team at St Helens Marine Rescue.
Sincerely, Matt Tucker
Matt put together this short video about it all.