We noticed a recent item in Scuttlebut and then several racing buddies sent us the recent LA Times story about the Newport to Ensenada Race multi-hull controversy. Since we were once caught up in this ourselves – and it changed our lives forever – we thought some history might be of interest.

Back in the early days of cat racing – we are talking late 1950s here – the center of gravity on the planet for multihulls was the Pacific Multihull Association. The Brits were at it with small boats, but PMA had big and small contingents.

The big boats were almost exclusively Rudy Choy (later Rudy, Warren Seaman, and Al Kumalie) designs. These ranged from the 46′ Aikane (still his best design in our opinion) to the 24′ x 10′ Foamy class boats, and included Patty Cat, a 27 footer with about 11′ beam. These were all designed asymmetric hulls.

Small boats were dominated by Wildcats (of which we had #4) and Malibu Outriggers (a lovely Warren Seaman design), then P Cats, and eventually Sharks (this was all before Hobie did the 14).

It was one big happy family, racing and socializing together, and trying to get some respect from the lead mine establishment. Both the Foamies and Patty Cat were deemed large enough and safe enough to do the Ensenada Race.

Then Bob Reese came up with a breakthrough design which upset the status quo. Wildwind was 32′ x 16′, had symmetrical hulls, daggerboards, and was very clean structurally being held together with aluminum extrusions rather than the plywood box beams of the Choy boats. She was also significantly faster than anything else.

Seeing a threat to his livelihood, Rudy, together with the big boat owners, set up Ocean Racing Catamaran Association (ORCA) and got the Newport Ocean Sailing Association (NOSA) to make ORCA the arbiter of who could race to Ensenada. And guess what, Wildwind was deemed unfit (where the Foamies and Patty Cat were OK).

There were a bunch of us who sailed alongside the official Ensenada fleets just for fun. Carter Pyle, with Mickey Munoz as crew, took the first P Cat down, we went several times in a Shark (20′ x 10′), and C-cats (25′ x 14′). Eventually we formed the annual D-Cat cruise which coincided with but was separate from the official Ensenada race. We always beat the ORCA cats by lots of hours. One of these races, around 1971, had a weather front and associated squall line come through, decimating the official fleet. Two of the ORCA cats flipped, and about half the monohulls turned back. In this stormy race Beowulf V, our 32′ x 16′ D Cat beat the official first to finish boat by over six hours. The lead photo was taken after the start of this race.

We were sailing in conservative mode, bare headed and not using the trapezes from which we sailed in short races.

Choy aficionados kept tight rain on the handicap mechanism and authority of who could and could not race.

The subsequent photos are snapshots of prints in our engine room on Wind Horse, so they are not of the best quality. The shot above is when Beowulf V broke the mythical 30MPH barrier during a speed trial in LA Harbor. She went on to improve the record to 35.58 MPH. We always sailed her from the trapezes in local races.

Where Southern California had been the epicenter of things multi-hull, only the Choy type boats were encouraged. Multi-hull Innovation moved East to the UK and France and West to Australia.

In 1974 we decided to design and build a cruising cat which would meet the ORCA rules. We had lifelines, an outboard, a small cabin, and even a toilet. We also had 38 feet of waterline 19 feet of beam and just under 2000 pounds displacement in ORCA trim. It was great fun cruising Beowulf VI with our two young daughters.

Some of our friends in ORCA, notably Warren Seamen, encouraged us to join the big guys. We were inspected by the full board of directors and offered a provisional membership. We could race for first to finish trophies, but were not eligible for handicap positions. This was fine as our real goal was elapsed time records.

The board then watched as we took off from Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club on a reach. The breeze was blowing 10, on the beam, and we quickly accelerated to our normal 17 on just the mainsail. Big mistake. A second meeting was convened, and our status was downgraded. We could race, but were no longer eligible for the first to finish trophies.

A few months go by, we have paid our entry fee for the Ensenada Race, gone through formal safety inspection, and are on the Newport to Ensenada starting line. Ten hours and fifteen minutes later we cross the finish line, breaking the record by four hours which Aikane had set in the mid 1950s.

This shot of Beowulf VI was taken just after the start of the race. She is averaging in the low 20 knot range in her cruising (ORCA) trim.

The only problem with this is that we were not listed in the results. John Rousmanierre, then West Coast editor for Yachting, and a member of our crew, went to inquire as to why. This created some embarrassment for ORCA and NOSA. It seemed we were an entrant but not a contestant.

A month later, Vic Stern, then a long term board member of ORCA, presented us with an ultimatum at a ORCA dinner meeting. Write an apology to the ORCA board for the embarrassment we had caused, or be kicked out and have nowhere to race.

Disgusted at dealing with the ORCA politics we began to examine what we were doing with our lives. In short order we sold Beowulf VI, then let go of our construction business, purchased our first cruising boat, and took off for the South Pacific. The rest as they say, is history.

Not a bad trade (above in 1977 anchored at Bora Bora). For this gift of a new life we are eternally grateful to Vic Stern and ORCA.

Post Script:

Supposedly the issue in this latest ORCA saga revolves around the safety of the Reynolds 33. Two of these boats capsized recently in a windy race. But by this standard most of the ORCA cats would also be banned. Any multihull with performance will capsize if operator error occurs. Look at the ORMA (60 foot) trimarans. Eight knots true wind and they are flying the main hull. You can capsize one of these ocean crossing machines if it is just beginning to white cap. And then look at the Choy boats in the 1971 race, two of which (including Vic Stern’s Imi Loa) went over. There are lots of other examples. We are not familiar with the Reynolds 33 design other than it looks cool. This whole episode smacks of selective application of safety standards. If you want to be really safe, then ban all the multihulls. And then subject the monohulls to a rigorous set of standards, just in case a 1971 type blow occurs again.

This is the URL for the story in the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-newport-ensenada-race23-2009apr23,0,4633631.story?page=1