the Newsletter and a leading source of information and enthusiasm about 

 the class. (His address is 461 S. Brevard Ave., Apt. 18, Cocoa Beach, Fla. ) 



On April 9, 1962, he wrote: "As we are a restricted class, there is con- 

 siderable variation among the boats. We are now in the throes of defining 

 our own class rules. So far we have been following the British rules, which 

 don't seem to work too well over here. I believe we will wind up with the 

 requirement that the hulls be built by Prout (G. Prout and Sons of Essex, 

 England, designed the first Shearwater in 1952 ) ." 



Those interested in evidence that catamaran ideas are moving almost as 

 fast as the boats themselves will be entertained, as I was, by reading the 

 above-mentioned Newsletter. A British newsletter follows along similar 

 lines and suggests an ambitious program. It was addressed "To Shearwater 

 Sailors in British Guiana, Canada, Canvey Island, Eire, England, France, 

 Guernsey, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Mauritius, New Caledonia, New 

 Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Nyasaland, Orkney, Salem, South Africa, Scot- 

 land, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad, U.S.A., Wales." 



As already explained in connection with the Cougar Catamaran, the orig- 

 inal Shearwater was developed by two Englishmen, Roland and Francis 

 Prout, who first brought it out in 1952. They were also the designers of 

 Shearwaters II and III. According to Robert B. Harris, the Shearwater III 

 "has reached speeds up to 21 knots." 



Shearwater III is the American class boat and is distributed in the United 

 States by McNichols Boat Sales (1617 E. McNichols, Detroit, Mich.). The 

 boat is of molded fiber glass, with an aluminum mast, boom, and iuffspar 

 for roller-furling the jib. The twin centerboards, rudders, and tillers are of 

 aluminum alloy. Price with sails, etc., f.o.b. East Coast dock, is $1750 plus 

 local sales tax. Kits are $1225 plus sales tax. 



VITAL STATISTICS (Shearwater III): L.O.A. i6'6''; beam 7'6"; 

 draft without boards 7"; sail area 160 sq. ft.; weight including rig 350 lbs. 



TIGER CAT 



First on corrected time and second boat-for-boat to the Class A Inland 

 Lake Scow, which is more than twice as long, the Tiger cat, ^ closely fol- 

 lowed by the Cougar Catamaran, made history in Yachtings 1959 One-of- 

 a-Kind Regatta. The modern era of catamarans really began. The original 

 Tigercat and the Tiger Cat class which followed were designed by Robert 

 B. Harris. He and William S. Cox— a noted racing yachtsman with many 

 championships to his credit— were the men who created the original Tiger- 



* Tigercat was the name of the boat raced at Miami, the prototype of the Tiger Cat class. 



CATAMARAN CLASSES 315 



