Skip to content

Eight Bells for Rudy Choy

Renowned catamaran designer Rudy Choy passed away on September 13 in Honolulu. He was 88 years old.

In 1947, Choy, along with mentor Alfred Kumalee and Woody Brown, created the first modern catamaran in Hawaii. A decade later, Choy and Kumalee joined forces with Warren Seaman to form Southern California’s C/S/K Catamarans, one of the best known cat builders of the era. The firm saw great success during the ’60s, building such well-known racing cats as Aikane, Pattycat II, Seasmoke, and Aikane X5, which smashed the TransPac speed record in ’89 when she arrived in Honolulu in just 6 days, 22 hours.

Thanks to Choy’s vision and determination, his name will be forever linked with the modern catamaran movement. He is survived by his son Barry, who took the helm from his dad by creating Choydesign, a luxury catamaran design firm.

Leave a Comment




We want to remind you again about a series of upcoming performances by a charming family of sailor/acrobats who have just arrived in the Bay.