Jay Kantola was an American naval architect who is most known for his work designing multihull sailboats. He began designing multihulls in the 1960's. [1] Kantola was an early proponent of a vessel construction technique called cold molding and cored construction. Cold molding involves bending strips of wood at room temperature to form a desired shape. The shape is then retained by gluing the wood together using epoxy. When the shaped construction is coated with layers of fiberglass saturated with epoxy, the final construct is termed a cored or composite construction. Kantola was one of several designers that worked closely with Meade Gougeon, Joel Gougeon, and Jan Gougeon. These brothers are collectively known as the Gougeon brothers. [2] They also designed vessels and founded a line of epoxy products called West System. [3]
Kantola primarily produced the plans and blueprints for others to construct the final product. One builder he worked closely with for many years was Richard Barrie of Western Boatworks of Reseda, California. [4] Perhaps the most famous vessel that resulted in this collaboration was the 1/8th scale model of the stern section of the vessel RMS Titanic. The 60 foot (18.3 meter) long stern section was utilized in the sinking scenes shot for the movie Titantic. A second model of the entire vessel at a scale of 1/20th actual size now resides in a museum. To construct both models Kantola utilized drawings of the Titantic's sister ship the RMS Olympic. [5]
Kantola also designed the personal sailing vessels built by Ricard Barrie and his wife Kris Barrie for their own use. The Barrie family weathered a storm aboard the Kantola designed trimaran named Fifth Fox in May 1984 that had winds over 50 knots. [6] In the 1990's, they built a much larger trimaran named Windswept. Windswept is believed to have been the largest trimaran designed by Kantola. It took the Barrie couple 8 years to build the 65 foot (19.8 meter) long by 40 foot (12.2 meter) wide vessel. It was ultimately launched in 2000. The vessel featured four cabins, two heads, a large living area, and a 79 foot tall mast. It could sail at speeds in the low 20 knot range.
For sheer poetry and performance, Jay Kantola's tris are a class apart. Spaceity, a 32-foot sloop encountered in Pago Pago, presented a symphony of lines, from matched transoms to triple bows. Flat-bottom planing floats give her 180-mile days. A large centerboard provided sportscar handling, but severely restricted her main cabin.
A multihull is a ship or boat with more than one hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull.
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a yacht, as opposed to a boat, such a pleasure vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and may have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities.
A catamaran is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stabilized craft, deriving its stability from its wide beam, rather than from a ballasted keel as with a monohull boat. Catamarans typically have less hull volume, smaller displacement, and shallower draft (draught) than monohulls of comparable length. The two hulls combined also often have a smaller hydrodynamic resistance than comparable monohulls, requiring less propulsive power from either sails or motors. The catamaran's wider stance on the water can reduce both heeling and wave-induced motion, as compared with a monohull, and can give reduced wakes.
A trimaran is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recreation or racing; others are ferries or warships. They originated from the traditional double-outrigger hulls of the Austronesian cultures of Maritime Southeast Asia; particularly in the Philippines and Eastern Indonesia, where it remains the dominant hull design of traditional fishing boats. Double-outriggers are derived from the older catamaran and single-outrigger boat designs.
The Transpacific Yacht Race (Transpac) is a biennial offshore yacht race held in odd-numbered years starting off the Pt. Fermin buoy in San Pedro, California and ending off Diamond Head in Hawaii, a distance of around 2,225 nautical miles. In even-numbered years the Pacific Cup race starts out of San Francisco and is run by the Pacific Cup Yacht Club. Started in 1906 by Clarence W. Macfarlane and hosted by Los Angeles Yacht Club, it is one of yachting's premier offshore races and attracts entrants from all over the world. The race is organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club.
Hobie Cat is a company that manufactures sailing catamarans, surfboards, sailboats, kayaks, stand-up paddle boards, and pedalboards as the Hobie Cat Company. It was founded in 1961 by Hobart Alter, who originally manufactured surfboards. Its line of products has included more than twenty sailing craft, plus a variety of other watercraft.
A sailing hydrofoil, hydrofoil sailboat, or hydrosail is a sailboat with wing-like foils mounted under the hull. As the craft increases its speed the hydrofoils lift the hull up and out of the water, greatly reducing wetted area, resulting in decreased drag and increased speed. A sailing hydrofoil can achieve speeds exceeding double and in some cases triple the wind speed.
Phil Morrison is a British boat designer and racer rendered notable by the success of his many designs in many classes since 1967 as well as his own distinguished yacht racing career.
Arthur Piver was a World War II pilot, an amateur sailor, author, printshop owner and legendary boatbuilder who lived in Mill Valley on San Francisco Bay and became "the father of the modern multihull."
A sailing yacht, is a leisure craft that uses sails as its primary means of propulsion. A yacht may be a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, so the term applies here to sailing vessels that have a cabin with amenities that accommodate overnight use. To be termed a "yacht", as opposed to a "boat", such a vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities. Sailboats that do not accommodate overnight use or are smaller than 30 feet (9.1 m) are not universally called yachts. Sailing yachts in excess of 130 feet (40 m) are generally considered to be superyachts.
Dragonfly Trimarans is a line of trimaran sailboats built by the Quorning Boats shipyard in Skærbæk, near Fredericia, Denmark.55°31′11.97″N9°38′8.08″E
Telstar trimarans is a line of trimarans most recently built by the Performance Cruising Inc shipyard in Annapolis, Maryland.
VPLP design is a French-based naval architectural firm founded by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, responsible for designing some of the world's most innovative racing boats. Their designs presently hold many of the World Speed Sailing records.
Farrier Marine is a catamaran and trimaran manufacturer based in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The Wētā 4.4 Trimaran is a 4.4 metre sailing dinghy conceived and developed in New Zealand from 2001-2006 by Roger and Chris Kitchen and others with original drawings by TC Design's Tim Clissold.
Jim Brown is a multihull sailboat designer who collaborates with John Marples.
Hodgdon Yachts is a builder of yachts and specialized military vessels, based in East Boothbay, Maine. It is a family-run business that was founded in 1816—reputedly the oldest continuously operating family boatbuilder in the United States. Hodgdon Yachts is noted for building superyachts, both sail and power, using advanced composite materials and construction techniques. It's also noted for its ability to incorporate those advanced materials into traditional designs that employ modern electronic and mechanical marine systems. The company has several divisions—yachts, custom tenders, yacht interiors, yacht services and military composites with offices in Boothbay, Maine, Newport, Rhode Island and Monaco.
The Romandisea Titanic is an unfinished full-scale replica of the RMS Titanic, located in landlocked Sichuan province, China. The project was first reported in October 2013 and formally launched in January 2014. The ship was to be the same size as the original Olympic-class ocean liner Titanic. The replica vessel was anticipated to be the centerpiece of the Romandisea resort and would have included overnight hotel accommodations. It was to be permanently docked in a reservoir on the Qijang River, a tributary of the Fu River, at coordinates 30.6282°N 105.2220°E in Sichuan's rural Daying County.
Hemisphere is the largest sailing catamaran and the largest sailing private yacht catamaran in the World since 2011. She is 145 feet (44.2 m) long and built by boat builder Pendennis (UK). The vessel has won five different industry awards, including for the interior finishing. In suitable weather Hemisphere goes 13 knots, with a top sailing speed of 20 knots. VPLP collaborated with Michael Leach Design for the interior design, and the yacht has over 1300 square feet of deck space. Some of the deck spaces include areas including the wheelhouse, flybridge, and salon.
The F-31 Sport Cruiser is a family of American trailerable trimaran sailboats that was designed by New Zealander Ian Farrier and first built in 1991.