Jim Brown Is Creating a History of Multihulls in Video: ‘Mavericks & Multihulls’

The history of multihulls starts with Polynesian voyagers in the Pacific. In the 1950s, pioneering sailors started designing and building more modern multihull designs that have since transformed sailing. On the front lines were people like Arthur Piver from Mill Valley, West Coast sailor Jim Brown, Rudy Choy from Hawaii, and many more. (Rudy’s Aikane X5 smashed the Transpac speed record in ’89 when she arrived in Honolulu in just 6 days, 22 hours.) Jim Brown is currently in the process of chronicling the history of multihulls in a video called Mavericks & Multihulls.

Jim started building multihulls in coastal California. In 1974, he and his family cruised from Santa Cruz, California for a three-and-a-half-year odyssey through Mexico and Central America aboard Scrimshaw, their Searunner 31 trimaran. In today’s sailing world, multihulls have only become faster, and for cruising, much more popular. If you’re a BAMA member or multihull fan it’s amazing to see the progression from early plywood designs to modern foilers and global circumnavigators.

The West Coast has figured prominently in that history, with many boats designed and built here. Schooner Creek Boat Works continues to build multihulls for the Hawaiian charter trade, and Morelli & Melvin remain at the forefront of multihull design. The first multihull in the America’s Cup raced in San Diego in 1992. The multihull world continues to rapidly evolve toward higher speeds or greater comfort.

If you’ve got a piece of West Coast multihull history, let us know in the comments below and connect with the Mavericks & Multihull creators to contribute to the story.