Proa

The Proa or prau malay prahu, Dutch. Prauw, Eng. prow is a sailing ship type from Indonesia and the South Pacific. In the Malay language the word is prahu for boat or ship.

The unusually narrow hulls are built mostly of hard teak. Under the influence of foreign cultures a variety of prau types emerged. These include the prau Mayang, the prau stipulated for from Madura and the Paduakan from Java. The latter is up to 30 m long and 6 m wide. A common feature of all prau types are asymmetric set sail.

Proas or outrigger canoes are alongside the catamarans and trimarans to the multihulls. Proa a two hulls, one of which is larger than the other. Proas are sailboats and typically drive a crab claw sail. In addition to the crab claw sail there in the recent past models that are driven by kite, a kite. In this model the sailor sitting on a roller-mounted seat which can be moved on a rail between the hulls. By shifting the center of gravity higher speeds than many monohulls are possible.

A distinction is made between Polynesian Proa (flying Proa ) and Atlantic Proa, depending on whether the small hull ( Ama ) is moved to windward or Lee. The rig is located here on the big hull ( Waka, also Wa'aka ).

In the Polynesian Proa the small trunk always to windward ( the windward side) is moved in the Atlantic Proa the small hull is driven on the leeward side.

In contrast to monohulls, there are at Proa no tack or jibe, where the bow or stern are brought by the wind. As the boat is longitudinally symmetrical bow and stern can be easily replaced when changing directions (also called shunting ).