I purchased her from John Kuhlman of Northridge, Ca. in October of 2003 where he and his family sailed her for more than 30 years between Ventura and Catalina Island. She was then known as 'Nip & Tuk'. John was her second owner. Her original owner was Bill Scott who built her on Malibu Beach in 1963. At the time, Warren Seaman of C/S/K Catamarans (designer of the popular Malibu Outrigger) was living near-by during construction and would stop to inspect progress and give pointers. According to Warren and Roy Seaman, Bill was highly respected carpenter in the Malibu area. If you rent "Beach Party" w/ Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, you will see this cat in the background in a few scenes. The film was made just prior to her launching.
Here are some older photos of "Nip&Tuk" , pre 2003.
Here are some pictures that were taken when I first inquired about her.
I found an add for her on Mike Leneman's site Multi-Marine . He had listed her as a favor to John, an old friend. I think I called the first day and immediately made an offer. I had been looking for a small C/S/K cat since I was a kid. As a guy in my late thirties with a wife and a 6 year-old, this was perfect! And better yet, it needed work, putting her in my budget for initial outlay.... minimal. I called my dad and he was thrilled, never really having recovered from selling his 38' C/S/K when I was about 25 years old. Which brings me to a little personal history:
The Outrigger Years: 1963 - 1970
My father was into sailing mulihulls fairly early in the game. In 1947, he had seen an issue of Yachting Magazine featuring the "sleek double canoe" built in Hawaii by Woody Brown and Alfred Kumalae. The term 'catamaran' was not in use yet. For the next 10 years he spent his rainy days building models of outriggers and catamarans like the ones he saw in the magazine. And then, in June of 1958, after reading magazine articles that Rudy Choy was writing regularly for Yachting and others, he came across the Popular Mechanix article on the Malibu Outrigger. Within 5 years, after getting through his residency, he built a 24' Malibu-styled Outrigger in 1963. It was something else... being on the East Coast. In Malibu they were very popular as you can see in the movie "Endless Summer". But, here on Long Island Sound, it was certainly a freak!
I was born in '65. By the time I was 3 months old, I had many hours under my belt in an open outrigger. And by the time I was 5, I was an old salt at scrambling out on the ama to avoid going over in the puffs.
In 1968 - 1969, my parents were flying to California on occassion to meet with Rudy Choy to discuss designing and building a catamaran. My parents were in love with Dr. John Purcell's 'PattyCat II', a 44' ocean racing cat that was built in 1964.
A 44-footer was a little beyond their budget, so they went with a 38' version, which was also a stretched out 'Imua', Jack and Dot Swart's first of three C/S/K catamarans.
2/11/05 - go to page 2 for Hula Kai's restoration photos and story. This history part will be periodically updated as I upload old photo albums and as time permits.