New Zealand boat designer Rob Denney is a proa enthusiast. He built his first catamaran aged 14 and, after skipping his accountancy exams to do the Sydney-Hobart race, never looked back. He’s spent his career racing, delivering and designing yachts, among them a catamaran he capsized in a ‘gung-ho’ two-handed round-Britain attempt (the boat, considered a shipping hazard, was destroyed by the Irish Navy) and a 30ft Iroquois catamaran propelled by a three-bladed windmill.
“That taught me a lot about engineering,” says Rob. “We sailed at 6 knots into 20 knots of wind, which I considered a success. It was fun!”
Rob returned to Australia and launched a business selling cedar-strip kit boats, before building hiscrossing vessels capable of carrying a dozen people and supplies for many weeks,” he says. “They were probably the first improvement made to a floating log by early sailors. A second, smaller log was lashed to a cross beam to stop the main log capsizing. Rigs were added later when technology allowed.”
