Multihulls: Field Getting Bigger, Better

“Multihulls are the leading edge of the sailing world,” said Georgs Kolesnikovs of Newport Beach, who is planning to sail his trimaran, Great America, alone around the world beginning next August. It will be race of multihulls, called the Multihull Challenge. Kolesnikovs is the race’s founder and organizer.

Kolesnikovs may be on to something about the future of multihulls. Of the 66 entries at the 13th One-Of-A-Kind Regatta, hosted by the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, 29 were multihulls.

Thirty years ago, catamarans laid an egg in the One-Of-A-Kind. The cats were fairly fast on the reach, but so slow upwind that the monohulls beat them and the scows absolutely killed them, said Bob Bavier of Yachting magazine.

Now catamarans, save boardsailers, are the fastest of all sailboats.

Many new multihulls have appeared since the locally designed and built Hobie 16 was a pioneer in the field. There are the Tornados, the Prindles and the Nacras, to name but a few. Perhaps the number of cats in the One-Of-A-Kind is a sign that they are still a developing type, with many designers and manufacturers vying for supremacy.

And speaking of Hobie, the new Hobie 17, a single-handed, cat-rigged cat, made its debut recently in its first regatta at the annual Newport Landing Regatta. It took the 17 class.

Sailing Notes There are plenty of Christmas boat parades this season. Here’s the calendar:

Dec. 7, 6 p.m., Long Beach Harbor’s second annual parade, sponsored by the Shoreline Yacht Club; Dec. 12-21, 5:30, 6, 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., Huntington Harbour; Dec. 14-15, 7 p.m., Dana Point Harbor; Dec. 14, 5:30 p.m., Marina del Rey; Dec. 14, 7 p.m., Los Angeles Harbor Christmas Afloat; Dec. 14, 6:30 p.m., Alamitos Bay; Dec. 17-23, 6:30 p.m., Newport Beach’s Christmas Boat Parade of Lights; Dec. 21, 7 p.m., Oceanside; Dec. 21, 7 p.m., San Diego’s Mission Bay; Dec. 22, 6 p.m., the Greater Shelter Island, San Diego, parade.

Peter Isler, 31, former Yale University collegiate sailor of the year, will skipper Leonard Green’s Courageous Challenge to the America’s Cup, Courageous IV. Isler was being wooed by Dennis Conner’s San Diego Yacht Club challenge, but he decided to sail for his alma mater, the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club.

New Zealand has announced its intention to build two, and possibly three, 12-Meters in fiberglass, not the usual aluminum, in its first bid to challenge for the America’s Cup.

Olympic yacht racing will come back to Long Beach with the 26th annual Olympic Classes Regatta of the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club on April 18-20. Racing will take place on Olympic courses off Long Beach. All seven Olympic classes have been invited--Soling, Flying Dutchman, Finn, Star, 470, Tornado and sailboards. Included will be both men’s and women’s divisions in the 470 class. Sailboards will have three divisions, Windsurfer One Design, Open Class I and Open Class II. ABYC Commodore Tony Fallon says that Ken Weiss, a former Olympic classes competitor and international sailor, will be the regatta’s general chairman.

A Swedish Olympian, Per Hurtig, won the singles class of the California Yacht Club’s ninth annual Rowing and Paddling Derby from Catalina Island to Marina del Rey. He rowed a shell (20-foot in length, beam of 2 feet, equipped with outriggers), and made it across the channel in 5 hours, 38 minutes and 22 seconds. The record for singles was set in 1938 by Steve Hathaway, at 5:27:41.

It’s bailing time for open boats, boats without self-bailing cockpits and boats with leaky cockpit hatches. Sometimes sailors who live inland tend to overlook this chore, only to visit their vessel to find it awash or swamped by rainwater.