David Keiper’s Williwaw
Using archival footage, the Int’l Hydrofoil Society has made a short video of David Keiper’s hydrofoil trimaran Williwaw. David built the first flying hydrofoil cruising sailboat in 1970 and subsequently cruised her all over the Pacific. The boat and the voyages are detailed in Keiper’s Hydrofoil Voyager, which is being republished on Amazon this summer.
Renaissance of Lady Godiva
The first sail of Lady Godiva in a quarter century. The Richard Newick designed proa was built in Martha’s Vinyard by Rory Nugent, for the 1980 OSTAR. Now owned by Anne and Paul Buttin.
Thanks to Frederic M. and Golden Oldies Multihulls for the submission.
Early Cat Racing in California
Before Steve and Linda Dashew became famous for their innovative blue water cruising yachts, both power and sail, they raced catamarans at the center of the growing multihull movement - Southern California in the early 60’s. Steve has put up a page at Set Sail with some great archival images of the catamaran racing scene back in the day. Rudy Choy, Warren Seaman, Bob Reese, Mickey Munoz, Phil Edwards, they knew and raced them all. Go…
Dugout road canoe
If “canoe” means a vessel for traveling, then it fits. From Tiny House Blog.
Zol Fox emailed me an interesting article showing some of the logging history of the Northwest and included in the email a couple of pictures of tiny houses built from hollowed out logs. The size of the trees that were taken down in the Northwest 150 years ago is something impressive. We are not likely to see anything like it in this area ever again.
Imagine…
Viking XX - the solar road proa
I’ll bet you didn’t know a proa won second place in the first solar race ever held in the United States! Originally called Sunrayce USA, the first race was organized and sponsored by General Motors in 1990 in an effort to promote automotive engineering and solar energy among college students. The original, 1,800 mi (2,900 km) Sunrayce USA route started at Disney World in Orlando, Florida and ended at the General Motors Technical Center…
Multihulls to Bermuda
The early Multihull Bermuda Races, 1969-1983, of Manley C. Williams, M.D., narrated by Christian Williams.
Part 1 of this two-part family video features the 1969 race from Coney Island and the 1972 event, which began at Newport. Scenes include Phil Weld; Bob Harris; air-sea rescue; repair at sea; life aboard and views of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, the fleet host in Bermuda.
Green washing
There’s a great rant over on Sailing Anarchy about the continuing use of wind energy and sailing in various vaporware investment schemes that make little sense except as tools to separate fools from their money. B9 Shipping is SA’s well deserved target, which perhaps should have replaced the 9 with an S? To counter that, here’s a little green lesson from the past:
1978: Sunburst (formerly Bits ’n Pieces) was built in St. Maarten, from…
Before and after
I love me a good boat restoration story. I’m glad there are people out there who can take a forgotten boat from derelict to Best In Show with a little patience, love and elbow grease. Unfortunately, old multihulls are rarely restored, but in this case, a forgotten Gougeon Tornado at the Oklahoma City Boat Club was saved from the chain saw by Andy Davison:
I have just about finished restoring a Gougeon Tornado. I have always had and…
Born Again?
Robert W. from Boat Bits sent in some fascinating proa pics from the Virgin Islands. I don’t recognize the craft, though it follows the basic form factor of a Russell Brown proa, and also has some obvious Newick style cues. I’d heard that Russell left Jzero (his first proa) somewhere in the Caribbean, and it makes me wonder if Lazarus is in fact that same boat, though highly modified. Waddya think? Pics of both Lazarus and Jzero after…
Documenting the history of modern multihulls - before it’s gone
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…
