SHARING THE LORE
The Personal Accounts of Early-Modern Multihull Pioneers
In the fifty years between 1945 and 1995 there occurred in maritime affairs a distinct and highly formative phenomenon: the emergence and eventual mainstreaming of the modern multiple-hulled boat. The technology and activity generated by this emergence has helped to stimulate development of super-efficient watercraft of all configurations monohull and multihull alike, power and sail.
Many individuals have invested substantial portions of their lives – some, life itself – in creating this phenomenon. A rich heritage exists from that barnstorming era, yet much of it is little known even to today’s new multihull devotees. Many of the luminary pioneers are either senior citizens or deceased. Their stories are entertaining and informative today and multihull watercraft are becoming both recreationally and commercially important for tomorrow. However, their living history is at present largely overlooked.
The ancient heritage of multihulls goes back over three thousand years (they were the first real seafaring vessels known to humankind) and in any scenario of the future their usefulness is certain to increase. Here’s why:
• The design and construction of multihulls have advanced rapidly in the last fifty years and that rate is now increasing. While these vessels are not suited to carrying heavy bulk cargos, with lighter and more valuable loads – like vehicles and people – their wide platforms and narrow hulls provide an unprecedented combination of stability, spaciousness, speed, shallow draft, smooth riding, unsinkable safety, and fine seakeeping properties.
• Their development, however, is now further stimulated by the essential fact that multihulls can make very efficient use of propulsive energy. Whether driven by paddles, sails or engines, their narrow hulls are easily propelled at speed through even very rough water. In such diverse applications as beach cats, cruising yachts, ocean racers, excursion craft, fishing boats, fast ferries, research vessels and even gunboats, multihulls use power well.
For these reasons, future multihull designers, builders and operators, will need to know as much as possible about how and why these vessels have emerged and evolved. More immediately, today’s maritime enthusiasts deserve easy access to the rich technical and cultural heritage of these distinctive watercraft. To these ends:
The OutRig Project, a private non-profit entity, undertakes to gather this legacy now and make it perpetually accessible.
The ultimate scope of the OutRig Project is broad and ongoing, but the initial focus is on modern multihull vessels, their pioneering designers, builders and sailors. It is this legacy, the trail blazing advent of the modern multihull, that has been the most formative element in contemporary seafaring, yet it is in the greatest danger of being lost as “living history” due to the attrition of its pioneers. Modern multihulls are not old enough to be historic in a curatorial sense and are therefore being largely ignored by nautical historians. Nevertheless multihulls comprise a growing segment of the marine marketplace in both powered and sailing boats. In sailing especially, multihulls are the “up side,” the only growth area in an otherwise seriously contracted industry. For these reasons our initial efforts concentrate on “getting the multihull stuff.” We are figuratively dumpster diving to rescue this often degradable material.
The stories of influential developments and individuals from all types of seagoing watercraft will be welcomed into The Project as soon as the principle elements of the multihull legacy become secure.
The high profile components of multihull history have been published in books and periodicals but are often difficult or expensive to access today. Selections from this literature are to be posted on the project’s Website. Electronic re-publishing is to be arranged for selected items now out of print.
However, the project’s primary coverage is on previously unpublished data, the sagas of the many little-known multihull pioneers who bootstrapped this movement working mostly alone and at their own expense. In their own words and pictures these devotees are invited to tell of the challenges and achievements, the voyages and races, the escapades and tragedies– the legacy and lore – of the early-modern multihull vessels, their creators and their crews.
The OutRig Project is not a periodical and does not focus on current events; that area is laudably covered by other elements of the nautical press. Instead we are primarily concerned with the half-century beginning at the close of WW II, 1945 to 1995. It is that portion of the heritage that we feel has been the most formative yet is now in the greatest danger of being obscured by time.
Collection… The project provides a point at which to gather the personal accounts, graphics and memorabilia of individuals who designed, built and operated the early-modern multihulls. This material is gathered by direct requests made to known individuals and by publicly inviting submissions of manuscripts and graphics from anyone with a relevant story to tell.
Preservation… The project’s ongoing data collection will be added periodically to the trove of nautical history permanently archived and/or displayed at the Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, Virginia. This world-class facility has made a place in its archives and in its collection of actual vessels for modern multihull history. Several ancient and one modern multihull are now on exhibit there and the private collections of several pivotal multihull pioneers are presently being archived at the Museum’s extensive research library. Included are design drawings, books, personal papers, photos, movies and memorabilia. Other key collections are deeded, much of it is being digitized, and perpetual access to all this material is assured.
Dissemination… Besides being archived at the Museum above, the data collected by The OutRig Project is to be organized chronologically and made easily accessible to all in three media: Website, Print and Video as described below:
WEBSITE… http:\\www.outrig.org
© 2010 James W. Brown
Besides posting submissions from the readership this ongoing database is to feature staff-written essays and profile interviews of early-modern multihull luminaries. Design drawings, photos, and other multihull art and graphic artifacts are all to be posted. To facilitate searches and give structure to the database, all postings are to be organized on an Annotated Multihull Time Line. This chronological listing of events and personages can be increased perpetually. Each posting is comprised of a one-sentence abstract with a link to its one-page annotation, which in turn is linked to the full submission of even book-length postings complete with thumbnail/enlargeable graphics, all downloadable and printable. Submissions are invited to conform to an editorial policy stated at link YOUR STORY How to tell it here.
VIDEO…
This archive is managed by Canadian cinematographer Scott Brown (no relation to Jim). Scott is co-founder of the project, is renowned for his documentary camerawork, and is a multihull sailor. With his guidance and facilities the Project now collects and will release archival multihull footage. Submissions of old videotapes and movie film are invited no matter how amateur or how remotely related to multihulls. The media is digitized and the original footage returned to owners accompanied by free DVD copies.
Whenever possible the project’s profile interviews are captured on video. Still graphics from the collections of those interviewed – plus still and video images from the entire collection – will appear in video productions offered by the Project. More than thirty on-camera interviews with multihull luminaries have been gathered to date. A series of flagship productions are foreseen.
BOOKEO …
This “new” audio-video medium is a combination of video with either print and/or audio-only storytelling. Unlike “books on tape” or “talking books” on CD, this medium provides copious illustration, both stills and moving footage, to enhance the verbal story. The format lends itself to amateur productions at very low cost by utilizing hardware and software normally on the shelf in many households. It makes ideal usage of the author’s personal collections of slides, snapshots and old home movies, and it can take full advantage of his or her ability to write a compelling story and/or spin a gripping yarn out loud. Productions in this format are described in more detail in the document WHAT’S A BOOKEO?
PRINT…
Print productions offered by the Project are to include:
• Periodic anthologies of selected works from the Project’s Website.
• Electronic re-publishing of hard-to-find seafaring literature.
• Complete volumes of individual works previously serialized on the Website
To sustain the Project, this arm is to operate The OutRig Store and organize various functions such as gatherings, symposia, sail-ins, charters, races, tours and expeditions, reports of which will be posted on the Website.
Membership in the society, which carries certain privileges and responsibilities, is acquired by any of four means:
1. By having one’s submission selected for posting on the Website.
2. By donating one’s time and skills to help implement the project.
3. By buying individual memberships at $25 per year.
Family/supporting memberships at $100 per year
Sponsorships at $1000 per year
4. Having one’s Website posting selected for inclusion in a print and/or video production earns lifetime membership.
Details of the Society, its calendar of events, its DISPATCHES forum and its contact service will be posted.
The foregoing advance description is a proposal of the Project’s goals. At this writing in December, 2009,, preparation of the first print and video publications and of the Website are under way, but meeting certain of the goals depends on participation and support from the nautical community. Submissions, suggestions, donations and skilled involvement are gratefully accepted now.
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