Testing Protei 005.6 on the water
On Saturday July 23rd and almost six weeks before the unveiling of Protei +006 during the World Port Days (September 2) and its presentation in the World of Witte de With festival (September 9, 10, 11), the Protei team travelled to De Kaag to test Protei 005.6 on the water!
The Protei team in action: testing Protei 005.6 on the water
The Protei team after working all night at the workspace, visited the De Kaag in order to throw the Protei 005.6 into the water. On the dock, the team did the final tuning, adjusting details as well as preparing inflatable bags that would fill the hull in order for the boat to float on the water.
After the final adjustments, the team threw the prototype into the lake firstly without a mast so that they could test the movement of the hull on the waves. After that, the mast with the sail were added on the hull as well as some weight on the bottom of the boat to improve its balance. The model was ‘thrown’ again back into the water along with the Protei team member, Roberto Melendez with the help of co-team member Francois de la Taste. Roberto’s small ‘accident’ proved to be a creative contribution to the testing as he tried to surf on the boat in order for the team to examine its movement and endurance. Protei 005.6 proved to be rugged and it survived 4 to 5 power wind.
Also on: http://www.youtube.com/embed/Uxla-3FE9Gc
The testing gave important feedback to the team about the Protei prototype. After that, everybody was ready to work hard on the development of Protei 006.
In the meantime, Protei has acquired a visual identity! The logo will be a paper boat that symbolizes the constant development of Protei as well as its open source nature.
In addition to that, Protei has attracted the local media attention. The Dutch magazine Zeilen has devoted a four-pages article to describing the project and the team. You can find the relevant article below: Krom en toch rechtschapen.
For updates from the Protei team you can visit the following link:
