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In 1947 Woody Brown, Alfred Kumalae and Rudy Choy built MANUKAI, the first catamaran of the modern era. The inspiration for this revolutionary boat lay in the ancient Polynesian Double-Canoes that had enabled migration to Hawai`i from Tahiti over 1,500 years ago, a time in which Western man was still land-bound. While Woody’s background as a world-champion glider pilot greatly influenced her construction, so that she more closely resembled a lightweight aircraft than a boat, her hull design was influenced by sketches of ancient double canoe cross-sections. Other cats soon followed with equal and greater success, thrilling the adventurous on high-speed reaches off Waikiki Beach. But it was the refusal of the Trans-Pacific Yacht Club to accept WAIKIKI SURF in 1954 Trans-Pacific yacht race from Los Angeles to Honolulu that sparked a determination in Rudy Choy to crusade for his belief that catamarans were the vessel of the future. In 1957, with Alfred Kumalae and Warren Seaman, he formed C/S/K Catamarans. The partnership, joined by Vince Bartolone in the early 1960’s, was responsible for some of the fastest and most innovative catamarans ever created. The early 1960’s were truly the dawn of the multihull era. The firm was fortunate in attracting the interest of many conventional yachtsmen who, in defiance of the rigid, stodgy tradition of conventional yachting, were intrigued enough in the raw performance of the early cats to pioneer a new generation of race boat. Men such as Ken Murphy, Jack Swart, Dr. Jack Pursell, and James Arness (Marshall Dillon of T.V.’s GUNSMOKE) sparked the competitive spirit and creative energies of the partnership, leading to a series of ocean racers that dominated West Coast racing for decades. Even the 35’ length-overall POLYNESIAN CONCEPT, built for Buddy Ebsen of BEVERLY HILLBILLIES fame was capable of high performance, capturing First-Corrected time in the ORCA (Ocean Racing Catamaran Association) 1968 Transpac, finishing second only to the C/S/K designed SEASMOKE, a 54-footer. Without question C/S/K’s passion was designing and building ocean racers. Yet, the majority of the its projects were cruising catamarans. LANIKAI, which was built in 1962 for Martin Crumrine, was perhaps the first true cruising catamaran on a par with the finer conventional cruising monohulls of the day. WORLD CAT, launched in 1965, became the first modern catamaran to circumnavigate the globe. Lessons learned from her formed basic principles that are followed by Choydesign - namely that even with the construction of cruising boats weight is a consideration in order to maximize performance in the ocean, and that the accommodations plan, particularly, should be created to maximize utility at sea, not just when docked or at the mooring. Testimony to the soundness of this approach can be found in the fact that many of these cats are still sailing actively today, including LANIKAI, IMILOA, BANTU, PAPA NUI (renamed MOANA PUA), ANTIGONE, and KENUMEMA, to name just a few.
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