Old School
A 19 foot beach cruising catamaran
Beach cruisers are single gear bicycles with upright posture and balloon tires that put more emphasis on ride comfort and style than ultimate performance - the alternative to the ubiquitous road and mountain bikes. In that spirit, I present Beach Cruiser, the alternative beach cat. 19’ LOA by 8’-6” beam, Beach Cruiser fits nicely on any beach cat trailer. The sail area of 220 sq. ft. also means that…
Changeup camp cruiser catamaran
The slider is the best pitch in baseball.—Ted Williams
Changeup is a riff on Ray Aldridge’s brilliant beach cruising cat, Slider. I hesitated to publish these drawings at first, since they are an obvious take-off on Ray’s design, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I hope Ray takes them in the spirit intended, which is one of respectful admiration.
Slider answers almost every single desire of my beach cruiser…
Slider
The Sixteen Foot Beach Cruiser Catamaran
Multihull beach cruisers are something I spend a little too much of my time thinking about, and it’s nice to discover kindred spirits. Ray Aldridge of Florida has progressed considerably beyond the thinking stage and built one of the sweetest little beach cruisers I’ve ever seen. Slider is well named, squeezing between the fantasy island of sailing nirvana and the rocks of economic/bureaucratic…
Edel 4XCat 33
The Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Multihulls World includes a boat test of the Edel 4XCat 33 from ADN, which I happen to like quite a lot. The ADN design team is seeking that sweet spot between performance daysailer and luxury cruiser - a performance cruiser. It’s a niche currently dominated by folding trimarans and its nice to see this creative catamaran version.
Construction
The two hulls and bridgedeck nacelle are three separate modules…
Sailing over melting ice
Something about this project has captured my imagination - Sébastien Roubinet is attempting to sail the Northwest Passage (Alaska to Greenland) this summer - yea, SAIL it! Thus far, only nuclear subs and diesel-powered ice-breakers have managed the fabled voyage (a voyage that inspired many an explorer, including Captain Cook’s Third Voyage (thanks to Peter for the correction), who met his bloody end in Hawaii - “stoned” by the irate…
FatCat 21
Chris Ostlind presents a catamaran design for plywood stitch and glue construction that continues the Manu Kai theme.
Just a few months back, our Proafile host, Michael Schacht, introduced a set of concept illustrations for a very nice, 23’ Hawaiian flavored catamaran called Manu Kai.
Michael’s vision was at once elegant in the manner in which it honored traditionally styled Hawaiian sailing vessels and it provided a set of unique…
SIG 45 performance cruising cat
Le Breton Yachts is promoting an interesting project: the SIG 45 performance cruising catamaran. Interesting to me, because it is one of the first legit multihull attempts to play in the Wally sector: very refined, very stylish, very fast, and very expensive. The design guns are high calibre: Van Peteghem Lauriot Prevost (VPLP), Bjorn Johansson for the interior, and even Bruno Peyron as technical consultant. The impetus or the yard…
C/S/K Hula Kai restoration
Frank Russell found this 1963 vintage C/S/K catamaran at a California dock in 2003 - in need of some love. He took it home to Long Island, and undertook a complete restoration - the fine result was relaunched June 2005, and christened Hula Kai. Read about the project here.
Wharram Islander 55 Launched
Check out the new pics of Wharram’s latest - launched in Indonesia. The yacht will most likely sail to Europe around the Cape of Good Hope, to be used for charter in the Mediterranean and/or Caribbean. It reminds me of a double-hulled Turkish gulet or Arab dhow. James Wharram Designs
The yacht design firm of C/S/K
An appreciation of the catamarans designed and built by the firm of C/S/K—or Rudy Choy, Warren Seaman and Alfred Kumalae.
The yacht design partnership of C/S/K was responsible for some of the finest ocean sailing catamarans ever built. The firm was active in the 1960’s - a decade of creative innovation everywhere - but especially in the amped up cultural milieu that was California.
They rode a remarkable wave of opportunity that…
