According to some anthropologists, the outrigger canoes’ history goes back thousands of years, but they cannot agree as to how many thousands. To me it is really irrelevant, I am not a historian and thus, it really doesn’t matter. Suffice it to say, that the Indonesians migrated in these multi-hulled canoes much before the Vikings took to sea (that’s the basis of my Editorial quoted on page IV).

As far as our extensive research can determine, the first multihull yacht was "invented" by Sir William Petty, who launched a 30' catamaran, crude by any standard, in Dublin on September 22, 1662. He named her Simon & Jude, but King Charles II insisted to rename her to be called The Experiment. Her hulls were cylindrical, and she was tested in a race organized by the Royal Society in 1646. She beat all other entrants.

Some 200 years later, Nonpareil was launched by John Mikes, the designer, builder and skipper of this strange craft. It had three cylindrical hulls of rubber, each 25' long, and 30" in diameter. She was rigged as a schooner and sported a tent between the masts to offer shelter for her three-man crew. Nonpareil sailed from New York to Southampton in 1868 and took 51 days for the voyage, which was fantastic in those days. In contrast, Serge Madec had made that same trip in 1990, sailing the 75' catamaran, Jet Services 5, in 6d13h3m2s.

Another two Centuries passed and in 1876 Nathanael Herreshoff beat the entire fleet with his 25' Amaryllis at the New York Yacht Club’s Centennial Regatta. He was promptly banned from all future races.

Sixty years had gone by when in 1937 Eric de Bisschop, a Fench explorer and ocean sailor, built the forerunner of the modern catamaran, a 35' double canoe, on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. He named her Kaimiloa. He then sailed through the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, back to Cannes, France. The voyage took 264 days. His epic voyage inspired others

The first westerner to base modern ocean-going catamarans on ancient Polynesian sailing craft was Woodbridge (Woody) Brown, an ex-US serviceman who spent WWII in the Pacific and became fascinated with the native sailing craft. After the war he teamed up with Alfred Kumalae, a boatbuilder; and with Hawaiian Rudy Choy, a young boat designer. Shortly Warren Seaman joined them to establish what the world knows as C/S/K Catamarans. In 1947 they launched the 38' Manu Kai. She was the first modern asymmetrical ocean-going catamaran. A few months later, independently, the 47' Copula was launched in France by Raoul Christian. Although both these catamarans had asymmetrical hulls, the difference between them was like day and night. Manu Kai was built of plywood, but Copula was made of steel and weighed 22 tons! Then in 1953 Wolfgang von Schwartzfeld built the 30’ Gerümpel in Germany. All the above designers/builders had one thing in common: they spent a lot of resources on their vessels, but did not enjoy much return from them, other than fame in the history books – and a lot of ridicule from their contemporary yachtsmen who declared that "this multihull mania will never last." Where are they now?

While C/S/K was building catamarans that cost thousands and thousands of dollars, a young James Wharram, began designing Polynesian-type catamarans and built Tangaroa, a 23-footer for $420. He then proceeded to cross the Atlantic with it in 1957, having two German girls as crew. They made history in more than one way. In 1959 Wharram built the 40' catamaran, Rongo, in the Caribbean, sailed it to New York, then across the North Atlantic to England.

Arthur Piver crossed the Atlantic a year later in the 30' Nimble One trimaran from Swansee, Massachusetts, to England, via the Azores. He was to enter the first Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (STAR), but arrived too late to qualify. That qualified Derek Kelsall to be the first multihull to race solo across the "big pond."

Trans-oceanic voyages became commonplace for multihulls despite predictions of grave disasters that would beset them. Currently the fastest circumnavigation, the longest 24-hour distance, and most line honors belong to multihulls. Even if one disregards "speed" as one of the virtues, comfort, space and safety – yes safety – is what all these ancestors were instrumental in bringing about.