High-Flying Cat

Just before we left San Diego for the start of the Baja Ha-Ha in late October of last year, we were treated to an unusual sight — a big multihull coming out of the water at Driscoll’s Boat Yard on Shelter Island without benefit of a Travelift. The boat was Gunboat 62 Cucu Belle, ex-Safari, which had been built in South Africa in 2002. Her 28-ft beam was too wide for the Travelift, so a heavy-duty crane was brought in for the job.

Soon to be christened Chim Chim by her new Southern California owner, the big cat has a lot of ocean miles have passed beneath its hulls. In fact, we remember sailing Profligate side-by-side with her from Isle Fourche to St. Barth in late 2004. For the last four years the Morrelli & Melvin design has been cruised all over the South Pacific, as far as New Zealand and Australia.

The cat’s new owner is giving her a complete refit. The company overseeing the project is Multihull Solutions VI, a project management and performance multihull consulting company run by Nils & Meredith Erickson. "We’ve gutted all the wiring and plumbing, removed the genset and bathtub, and will be installing all new electronics and solar powered air-conditioning," reports skipper Nils. And that’s just the start. Instead of the hulls getting a new paint, they will be covered in colored vinyl. Brad Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Racing is doing the composite work and structural changes to the boat. 

The owner plans to daysail and cruise the boat in Southern California, but he also wants to do this summer’s Los Angeles-to-Honolulu Transpac. "Our goal is to have the boat in the water by May 15 so we can qualify for the race," says Nils. "We’re on schedule, as everything was removed by January 1, and the new work has started." 

Although Chim Chim is in the process of becoming the lightest Gunboat ever, she’ll probably not be a threat for elapsed-time multihull honors in the race to Honolulu. Readers may remember that Lloyd Thornburg’s Santa Fe- and St. Barth-based orange Gunboat 66 Phaedo, an admittedly higher tech and slightly longer Gunboat, did 427 miles in just 24 hours in the last Transpac before being dismasted. If Phaedo skipper Paul Hand, who used to be Chim Chim’s skipper in the Caribbean in 2004, can keep Phaedo’s mast up, it will be hard for Chim Chim to maintain pace. But you never know. And it should be a fast and sweet ride.