Multihulls at the 2014 Port Townsend wooden boat festival
GALLERY | Click images to enlarge
Every year in September, Port Townsend turns itself into a virtual Victorian seaport bristling with wooden masts, steam funnels, pirates, boatbuilders and sailors, the smell of tar, varnish and frying cod, and thousands of tourists soaking it all in. The odd multihull is occasionally found nestled between the ratlines and the bow sprits… this is what I saw this year.
The only “multihull” to claim bonafide antique status was the 16’ VIPER - an authentic 1929 Hickman Sea Sled. Not quite a multihull, the patented inverted V hull was darn close for its day. this example features a double step chine design, and according to the owner, does 30 mph with a 25 HP Tohatsu outboard. The original 1929 32 HP Johnson was also on display.
A Papua New Guinea dugout outrigger canoe was on display, built with Soi Islanders by the young crew of the schooner Pacific Grace during her offshore Pacific voyage of July 2008.
WILDFLOWER is a custom 22’ wood/epoxy catamaran built by Skip Allan and Howard Spruit in 2011. The little cat’s home port is Capitola, CA, and with her 8’-6” beam and 800 lb displacement, was trailered up to Washington State behind the family car. This summer she was launched in Anacortes for a cruise up to Desolation Sound and back, before attending the Wooden Boat Festival. Read more about her build here.
Richard Woods again brought his SKOOTA 28 cruising power cat. The designer describes her as a semi-displacement power catamaran ideal for couple to cruise the Pacific NW. The flow between cockpit and cabin takes advantage of “living all on one level” of a solid bridge deck cat, and I can well imagine it as an ideal cruiser for the inland passage.
Trimarans were represented by SUNBOW, a John Marples designed Constant Camber 35. Launched in 2002, the tri was built in the Mohave Desert by Dick White while he was employed at Burt Rutan’s air and spacecraft company “Scaled Composites”.
My “Best In Show” is the new OUTRIGGER JUNIOR displayed on the water by Chesapeake Light Craft. This is a really lovely little multihull that gives nothing away to the varnished monohull eye candy floating around. My hat is off to John Harris and CLC for bringing such a sweet outrigger sailing canoe to market. Read more about the kit here.
Have YOU been to an event with some interesting multihull content? Send in a report!
That Outrigger Junior at the festival really is a great looking boat. I don’t know that it has anything on a beach cat in terms of performance, but it sure is more attractive and it just makes you want to sail it.