News From The Multihull Centre

November 2004

Pat Patterson 1933 - 2004

We are very sorry to report that Pat passed away in October. He had returned from New Zealand, where he was preparing "Star" for another ocean crossing, due to failing health 18 months ago.

Pat Patterson started his sailing career in the late 1950s by building a Yachting Monthly Senior. While sailing this boat from Roa Island, Barrow he met and sailed with Ernie Diamond on one of Ernie's cats. He then became the U.K. agent for Arthur Piver's trimaran plans, selling plans all over the world. Pat joined one of his customers in the wastes of Labrador, Nothern Canada to sail back to Scotland fending off ice and Polar bears with equal amounts of fortitude and fear.

Pat then designed and built in 1966/67, in co-operation with Derek Kelsall, his first catamaran "Iconoclast" (using the hull mould for 'Toria', Derek's Round Britain Race winning trimaran). Pat had many adventures in Iconoclast and introduced many people to the joys of catamaran cruising whilst skipper chartering her for several years in the early 1970s.

Pat will probably be most widely remembered for his most popular design "Heavenly Twins", first produced in 1972, many hundreds of which were built and are found up creeks all over the world. Pat sucessfully sailed one with Tom Rees in the 1974 Round Britain Race.

His next sailing design was "Ocean Winds", also a commercial sucess, and he sailed one around the world 400 years after Sir Francis Drake, following Drake's route as closely as possible. This included sailing through the Magellan Straits, thus becoming one of only a very few who have sailed through both the Magellan and McLelan Staits at each end of the American continent. During this circumnavigation he introduced Mike Golding to long distance sailing.

Pat later sailed up the Amazon and around the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. After this voyage Pat returned to the Multihull Centre to develop the sailing catamaran designs "Summer Twins" and "Star Twins" later followed by "Ocean Twins" and "Twins 36" and the power catamaran "Dive Twins".

Continuing new design and development, Pat built "Star" a 43ft Power/Sail "Twins 43" catamaran which he sailed to New Zealand following the old clipper route, via Brazil, South Africa, Kerguelen Islands in the Southern Ocean and Australia, where he visited his brother and family. He then completed a circumnavigation of New Zealand, again sailing two handed with Tom Rees, before becoming too ill to continue sailing.

Pat had much more sailing experience with his own designs than any other multihull designer and this knowledge is translated into the seaworthiness and comfortable fast passage making of his later designs.

We will all miss him

July 2004

SOUTHAMPTON BOAT SHOW STAND C31

We will have our demonstration Twins 36 at Southampton during the show which will be available for viewings. Demonstration sails will be possible if pre-booked. Talk to us in our usual place (C31) at the base of the steps across to Mayflower park, next to the Guernsey/Alderney stand. If you have a boat to sell and would like us to list it at Southampton please let us have the details soonest. Remember we are specialist in Patterson designs (Twins range), Woods designs, Catalacs and Schionnings though our knowledge of all Multihulls is encyclopaedic and, as with age, increases every day.

The new Waterline 1160 is well underway with the first hull being turned over and glassed inside and out. The second hull commenced building at the beginning of the month and will be turned over alongside the first by the month end and the bridgedeck should be in shortly after. Jeff Schionnings design and build method and the materials used make for a very fast one off construction. We are very impressed with this method so far. Jeff also produces flat panel CNC cut kits using Duflex panels which can be shipped around the world. As European agents for Schionning we can help anyone who is considering building their own fast cruising cat and wants to get on the water quickly. Order plans and/or kits through us and we will offer you the back up and benefit of our experience. If you are not happy about building yourself but still fancy one of Jeff's fast cats then talk to us about building it for you. We hope to have a page on our site soon showing pictures of the build and once the page is up will update the pictures as the build progresses.

Richard Woods is currently drawing two 38ft cats, one full bridgedeck cabin and the other with a central cuddy, these will also be available for home build and we will of course be able to offer parts built for you from bare hull mouldings to hull and decks or complete shells. Remember that, like the Sagitta and the Eclipse, it is very cost effective and much faster to have hulls/shells professionally built, then complete the fit out yourself, and it helps the resale value to have grp mouldings.

Our BROKERAGE department has recently had a spate of enquires from people wishing to list/sell their home built cats that are less than 5 years old and not CE marked. It is ILLEGAL for them or anyone else to sell or attempt to sell such boats in the European Community. It is also illegal to sell a boat of any age in the EC if it was built outside the EC and has not been CE marked. These owners may try to sell to unsuspecting private buyers, so caveat emptor and use a reputable broker if you are looking for a second hand cat or tri. It does not cost more buying through a broker and may well save both money and heartache.

The boatyard continues to grow and we have recently improved our security with anticlimb gates and CCTV coverage. We now have a much improved chandlery shop with increased stock and still offer good discounts to anyone who pre-orders

May 2004

We are just about to commence building on behalf of a client a Schionning Waterline 1160, which will be an interesting project, this is an Australian design built for speed so is light but also suitable for cruising (see our agency part of the website for further details). We will keep you informed of the progress.

We have got Pat Patterson's boat Star back from New Zealand, on the container ship with great ease and she arrived back into the UK after about 5 weeks which was very good going. This was amazingly hassle free and was very efficient. It was also many thousands of pounds cheaper arranging the transportation from the New Zealand end rather than through a UK based shipping agent.

On the brokerage front, we have several clients looking for cheaper cats such as Strider Clubs and Hirondelles, so if you are thinking of selling please let us know and we would be pleased to promote your boat, we have several large cruising cats for sale including Backlash the Woods Banshee which as you may well know has being a successful racing cat having participated in Round Britain Races and AZABs and much more. We also have some interesting larger ocean going cats for sale such as, a Prout Escale, modern Snowgeese, a Quest 33CS, an older but robustly built Kelsall 42 which has been tried and tested by the current owner, plus many more,

Our demonstration Twins 36 is available for immediate puchase, see boat of the month for full details or we can of course build new to your special specification.

We hope you all have an enjoyable summer sailing and lets hope the weather is kind with lots of sunshine and fair winds.

February 2004

Firstly we have two apologies to make, one for the problems we have had with our web site, the server was not letting us update the brokerage list and also seemed to manage to loose some pages. However this is resolved. If you require further information on the used or new boats, please either use the enquiry form or email us directly on info@multihullcentre.co.uk. The other we have found is that some of you failed to find us on the Multihull Group stand at London Boatshow, sorry about this.

We still have available to purchase the Twins 36 which we built last year still available, please see the details on the boat of the month site. We have a good selection of brokerage boats at present, including Backlash the Woods Banshee which as you may well know as being a successful racing cat having participated in Round Britain Races and AZABs and much more. We also have some interesing larger ocean going cats for sale such as, a new Prout Escale, modern Snowgeese, an older but robustly built Kelsall 42 which has been tried and tested by the current owner. At the other end of the market we have a good Hirondelle Mk1 which comes complete with road trailer, plus much more.

We are agents for Schionning Design Catamarans from Australia, these cats are fast cruising or racing boats which can be built from plans and kits or complete. We have their design catalogue available to purchase, if you are interested please give us a call or email for further information.

Pip and a friend have just flown out toNew Zealand to have Pat's catamaran Star the Twins 43 put on a container ship to bring her back to the UK, as this is has proved to be the quickest method and most practical way of getting the boat back.

DECEMBER 2003

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our clients old and new a Merry Christmas and a successful New Year, and looking forward to a good sailing season in 2004. We will be exhibiting at London Boat Show at the new site at Ecxel, from the 8th -18th January, you will find us on the Multihull Group stand no. N1839 we look forward to seeing you there.

If you are considering selling your catamaran or trimaran we would be happy to promote it at the show,so if you are planning to sell please let us have any details before Christmas so we have time to put together the information. We have a constantly changing brokerage list that is updated regularly on the Web Site, so do keep checking the list if you are looking for something in particular. We have some interesting brokerage boats just come on the market, including the Woods Banshee Backlash, well known for her successes in the Round Britain Races etc that she has participated in. We also have two modern type Prouts and two that may be of interest to potential ocean goers a 40ft Lock Crother Spindrift and a very large Kelsall, both proven boats, at the other end of the market we have a couple of Hirondelles amongst others.

Autumn 2003

The New Twins 36 is available to view at Our yard in Millbrook, please call or email for an appointment to view, the boat is available for sale, for more details see our boat of the month section on the website. Now winter is coming on, don't forget we can store your boat here, at competitive rates, give us a ring for prices. We have several new interesting boats on the brokerage list, please see the site for a full up to date list. We are now agents for Schionning Catamarans from Australia, we have their design catalogue for sale, promoting the wide range of plans that they can supply for you to build a safe, comfortable and stylish boat.

BROKERAGE NEWS

The brokerage has been very busy and we have been selling as if the season has already started. Fortunately we are getting new boats onto the list at about the same rate as they are going off but we could always do with more. If you are buying please check out the listings on the website, these change at least every week and often more rapidly than that. Sometimes boats do not even reach the site as experienced by a Hirondelle last week for which we had a buyer already waiting. If you are thinking of selling drop us an e-mail, phone us or write to us, we would be only too delighted to help you and to be able to help some other lucky sailor find the boat of their dreams.

MULTIHULL CENTRE BACKLASH TRIES AGAIN.

Having come third in class in the last Round Britain and Ireland race Pip and Tony Purser have entered again this year and are hoping to improve on both their position and the time taken to complete this grueling challenge. To ensure that their efforts are not in vain they are accepting personal sponsorships in aid of the R.N.L.I. and all donations to this worthy cause will be gratefully received. They hope to beat the amount they raised for charity last time around and with your help that may be possible. Please make cheques payable to RNLI and send to the Multihull Centre, Foss Quay, Millbrook, Nr Torpoint, Cornwall. PL10 1EN

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September 2001 - Southampton Boat Show Stand C31

We have had a very busy Summer, both new builds have been launched, the luxury finish Power-Sail 39 is having the final touches applied and has had some trials. We are very pleased with her so far.

The Wind Turbine Powered Twins 36 is on the water finished and is awaiting some wind to be able to try her out properly. Scheduled for early this month and we will have more details at Southampton Boat Show. Preliminary trials have been very sucessful.

Brokerage has been fast and furious this summer and we have quite a few new additions to our listing for the Southampton Show. This is just as well as we have sold a lot of boats recently and the listing was starting to look a little thin. If you wish to sell your boat please give our brokerage department a ring or send us details by e-mail, if it is a good boat and reasonably priced then we will sell it fairly quickly.

Another new development now on the water and sailing very fast is the Woods designed Eclipse 9.9 We hope to have her in Southampton during the Show and anyone interested in having a trail sail or a viewing should contact us to make an appointment. Pictures of the Eclipse 9.9 designer's own boat, can be viewed on the Woods Designs site. www.sailingcatamarans.com

For pricing details and delivery dates on any of our range including the above new developments please call or e-mail us.

Pictures of "Revelation II" , revolutionary Twins 36 with Wind Turbine Propulsion

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