Boat show plans arranged..

Here’s a little information on the Woodenboat Show Multihull Pioneer Tribute honorees. I have made all my arrangements and will be able to attend. This feels like a milestone as for the past several years something has always gotten in the way of getting there. What a great year to finely get to go.

“Trimaran” Jim Brown has been designing multihulls since the 1960, since his association with another pioneering multihull designer, Arthur Piver. He is best known for his work, with John Marples, on the Searunner trimarans and as inventor of the Constant Camber boat construction method. Jim also designed the Windrider, a rotomolded trimaran for Wilderness Systems. His article on Multihull Pioneers appears in the May/June issue of WoodenBoat magazine.

Meade Gougeon is the co-founder of Gougeon Brothers, boatbuilders and manufacturer of WEST System epoxy and Pro Set resin. He is a pioneer in the construction of modern multihulls, having developed many of the protocols used in modern wood-composite construction. Gougeon-built boats accomplishments in the world of multihulls (and monos) are legion, and include the fastest time in the world speed trials of 1979 (in the 60' proa Slingshot), a 1976 Olympic silver medal in the Tornado class, and a Little AMERICA's Cup win in the C-class catamaran PATIENT LADY in 1977.

Walter Greene is one of New England’s leading yacht designers and builders. He began sailing multihulls in the early ‘70s. One of his early multihull designs won the Route de Rhum race in 1978, which quickly established his name in Europe. In the 1980 OSTAR, Walter built the Dick Newick-designed MOXIE for Phil Weld, who won the race to great acclaim. Walter founded Greene Marine in Yarmouth, Maine, in 1980, and continues to design, build, and sail multihulls to this day.

Dick Newick broke with the “plywood box” norm of modern multihull design when, in 1971, he specified cold molding for his trimaran THREE CHEERS. The boat had a one-piece, totally integrated crosswise bridge, or “wing aka,” to connect the three hulls. THREE CHEERS met a tragic demise on a risky, ice-riddled route in the 1976 OSTAR Race. She was, however, a harbinger of things to come. The boat gave rise to MOXIE, sailed by Phil Weld and built by Walter Greene. MOXIE won the 1980 OSTAR, cementing Dick Newick's legend.

James Wharram was one of the first modern multihull designers to test his creations by crossing oceans. He introduced the seafaring, home-built catamarans to the masses. Over almost five decades, some 10,000 builders have purchased his plans. Wharram recently completed a circumnavigation, with design partner Hanneke Boon, in the 63' SPIRIT OF GAIA