You say:
who doesn't know the Polynesian side.
---based on remarks like the below, I don't think YOU do. Sorry if this offends your Eurocentric sensibilities...
You said: For instance the attempt to build a catamaran warship by Sir William Petty or Herreshoff adding the gaff and sprit rig and taking on the yachts of the time in what sounds like modern beach cat fashion. Many years later we consider a sprit/pole to almost be a required part of modern cat design.
----go here:
http://www.pvs-hawaii.com/canoe/canoe_evolution.htm---A crabclaw IS a sprit rig. Both the Polynesians AND the Arabs (catsail, JUST like the Sunfish rig-look at a felucca) were sailing upwind for thousands of years before the Europeans happened to stumble upon it.
The basic, long, narrow, V-hull design is pretty old. In fact, neither Amaryllis (flat bottomed) nor Petty's design is as 'modern' as the Polynesian cats. They used the shipbuilding techniques that we now consider 'old' (frame-and-plank) whereat the actually OLD Polynesian techniques are more like what's being done now (stitch-and-glue, tortured ply, bulkheaded). The materials are now different, sure, but the basic hull concepts from the Polynesians are now just pretty much refined. I have this info from reading what the designers (Wharram, Shuttleworth, etc.) have to say. They looked to the Polynesians for first principles.
Here's another tidbit: Battened sails were invented by the Chinese - have a look at junk-type sails sometime. Works the same... the Chinese have a saying about how the sail is 'an ear listening for the wind.'
Again, sorry to offend your Eurocentric sensibilities, but credit is due where it's due, and these designers just refined the concept-they didn't invent it. But then, there's nothing new under the sun.
What's your problem? Gotta have a fight? Want to lay frustration from previous crap in this thread on my head? Whatever.
By sprit I meant bowsprit. Yes, crabclaws, junks, lateens, etc. all came before. The use of sails themselves came before. The idea of something that can float came before from somewhere else. Doesn't mean that there are not modern versions.
My comment about Polynesian sensibilities was only because you seemed to believe that only you had knowledge of their contributions - the "do your research" line ticked me off. It was actually meant tongue in cheek. Sorry. Never said anything or claimed anything about battened sails, and if you knew me (which you don't) you'd realize that the eurocentric remark is pretty stupid. But yes, I must claim european as my ancestral roots. Because of that I must have never known that fully battened sails were not an invention of Hobie Alter - NOT. Chinese junks you say? Never heard of 'em. I'll have to look that up.
Yes, narrow v-bottomed hulls are pretty old. Do we all use them these days? No. Is that simply a refinement? Maybe. I-20s, and others use a flatter section. Your main hull (vaka) on your F-27 although narrow, is flatter on the bottom to promote planing by the main hull (even though the amas or as Farrier calls them floats are v-sectioned), and Ian likes to make that distinction with respect to other designs that follow the narrow v-shaped model, more room and faster he says. Looking to old designs for principles doesn't mean that new designs are merely copies, only influenced (although some are copies). Even Petty and Herreshoff admit to being influenced by the Polynesians. Good for them to draw on that to produce something out of the box from the conventional eurocentric thoughts and designs of their times, and to introduce the concepts to a lot of folks who though themselves to be the pinnacle.
But I still think that that the appearance of the boats from Herreshoff and Petty in the middle of what was considered at the time to be the cream of the crop of boat design as significant. Petty's larger stuff looks more like two conventional ships joined at the hip. But the boats Herreshoff was trying were a little more in line with what we have today. And Amaryllis was not his only one. And the mono/multi debate at that time is certainly a preview of modern times.
Since we're all googling, here's an interesting page. It's in French, and the English link brings up a translator (not an English version of the site). Look at the configuration of Amaryllis. I may be crazy, but it bears similarities to what is sailed today.
More Stuff Anyway, have a nice day. Relax. Take a deep breath.
