Harry has yet to race, but will have by the time this is printed. Pictures and results will be in the next magazine. Harry's vital statistics imply that it will be no slouch. Weight 650 kgs (1,430 lb), sail area 40 sq m (430 sq'), loa 12 m (40') and boa 7m (23'). Harry is one third the weight of a typical lightweight racing 40 foot cat. Consequently it is very easily driven, (7 knots with a 5 hp outboard) so a small sail area is sufficient for cruising. The lightweight is not at the expense of strength. Pacific proas are far less stressed than conventional multis. On Harry the stress is reduced even further by placing the entire rig, beam and steering loads within 2.5m of the middle of the leeward hull.

Light though Harry is, a racing version would weigh about half as much, and with optional water ballast could carry twice the sail area.

Harry is very stable, theoretically not flying a hull in cruising mode until the apparent breeze reaches 25 knots.

Harry is also very safe. With the rig in the leeward hull, none of the sails' heeling force is trying to bury the bow; the most common cause of multihull upsets.

When it does fly a hull, the boat rotates around the base of the mast. Consequently it has a very smooth stability curve which is still positive at very high (over 75°, depending on crew location) angles of heel. If it was to capsize, the buoyant mast and boom should stop it going past 90°, and should also act as a sea anchor, enabling the hulls to blow downwind, at which time the wind should flip the boat back upright. Lots of "shoulds" in the above as it has yet to be tested, although it worked on the prototype. It will be tested on Harry in the near future.

Harry is all timber, epoxy and marine ply, fibreglassed inside and out. It has a carbon mast and rudderstocks. It is an ongoing test bed for various ideas and is continuously being altered so although it is reasonably well built, the finish is pretty rough. The story of the building will be in a future article.

Harry is light and cheap because everything has been kept simple. It is also highly effective. Some examples:

2) The building technique is incredibly quick, a combination of the best of strip planking and sheet plywood techniques, made possible by Flexiply, a plywood with 95% of the laminate in the lengthwise direction. Each hull needs two building frames/bulkheads, and a couple of pieces of 4x2. Very simple, self aligning and difficult to mess up. No special tools are required and the finished hulls are not only relatively small in surface area, they are inherently fair; sanding, fairing and torture boarding are limited. Harry was built single handed in a 6m x 3m (20' x 10') space and assembled at the waters edge. As well as the hulls, beams and original wing mast, even the steering wheel is built of Flexiply. A competent amateur should be able to build a Harry in 250 hours.

3) The EasyRig. The name says it all. It is also low cost compared to conventional rigs and all there associated paraphernalia and has far lower ongoing maintenance costs.

5) Apart from rope (6 and 8mm spectra), the trampoline and a couple of sheaves and cleats, there is no chandlery on the boat at the sailing stage. It is far cheaper, and in many cases easier, to build the required fittings in situ.

6) The cantilevered bunks effectively halve the length of the beams, further reducing loads that are already much lower than those on cats and tris.