Documenting the history of modern multihulls - before it’s gone
GALLERY | Click images to enlarge
The Searunner Rides Again
One of the nicer surprises of 2010 has been the resurgence of multihull pioneer Jim Brown. His classic The Case for the Cruising Trimaran is available once again, and his personal memoirs of modern multihull history and lore are coming soon. The forward to Volume One is pure Jim Brown, and if this is just a taste to wet the appetite, consider mine wetted:
If the ancient outrigger canoe seems to us now an almost Jurassic creature, then today’s multiple-hulled boats must constitute an entire new genus in the phylum of surface watercraft.
Jim has begun a new project at Outrig.org, where he is documenting the beginnings of the modern multihull movement, with which he is intimately associated. He’s begun with the pioneers such as Woody Brown, Arthur Piver and Richard Newick, and new material is being consistently added. IMHO, this is an extremely worthwhile and timely endeavor. The history of the origins of the modern multihull live mostly in the memory cells of those who lived it, and those cells are being rapidly diminished over time. If the true history isn’t recorded now, it never will be, and that really would be a tragedy.
Since World War II, many individuals have invested substantial portions of their lives – some life itself – in creating this sea change in marine architecture. You are invited to read, hear, and see their pioneering stories – and to tell your own true tales of seafaring multihulls—at this Website. A rich, new nautical heritage lives here!
Jim Brown’s enthusiasm for the multihull concept seems undimmed even after 50 years of designing, building and seafaring, and amongst all his many accomplishments, I think that is what I admire most.
