In February 1990 I decided to build a special kind of multi-hull, a proa.
I was living in Bergen in the Northern part of the Netherlands only a few km from the beautiful lake,"Alkmaarder Meer". I had sailed a lot on this lake.
The designs of James Wharram influenced me because they look good and are rather easy and cheap to build. But Wharram's multi-hulls were catamarans and I wanted to build a real proa. My design became a Wharram-like, rather small proa, made of plywood.

* Length big hull: 9 meters
* Length small hull: 6 meters
* Beams: 3.5 meters
* 2 Aluminium masts with 2 jibs

The small hull should be windward.
I only used two jibs for the sails.
Changing direction was very easy. For no-wind conditions there was a small 4 HP outboard.

In November 1990 the proa was launched. I sailed this first Gaia a lot on my own and also sailed her with my brother Merijn. I experimented with self-steering, shown in these photos.