C/S/K

C/S/K was a pioneering multihull design and boat-building partnership, of Rudy Choy, Warren Seaman and Alfred Kumalae, which they formed in Los Angeles in 1957. In the early 1960s designer Vince Bartolone joined the team.

In the 1960s there was a rising interest in multihulls. The firm was fortunate in attracting the curiosity of many sailors who, in spite of the stiff traditions of conventional yachting, were intrigued enough in the raw performance of the early cats to consider a new form of racing boat. C/S/K produced a series of ocean racers that dominated West Coast competitions for decades.

Though C/S/K’s passion was designing and building ocean racers, the majority of the company's projects were cruising catamarans. LANIKAI, which was built in 1962 for Martin Crumrine, was perhaps the first cruising catamaran on a par with the finer conventional cruising monohulls of the day. WORLD CAT, launched in 1965, became the second catamaran to circumnavigate the globe. C/S/K closed down in the '70s, though Choy, Seaman and Bartolone contined to work together on design projects for many years.

Rudy Choy first got involved in multihulls in 1947 in Hawaii, when he assisted Woody Brown and Alfred Kumalae in building his second two-huller, the 38 ft (11.6 m) MANUKAI. This very early ocean racer is often attibuted to be the first modern catamaran. Other cats followed, including WAIKIKI SURF, which the Trans-Pacific Yacht Club declined to accept into the 1954 transpacific yacht race from Los Angeles to Honolulu. This rejection determined Rudy Choy to crusade for his belief that catamarans were the vessel of the future. He later moved to Los Angeles, where he executed his first solo design, AIKANE. Soon after arriving in Los Angeles he met Warren Seaman, and with Alfred Kumalae, formed C/S/K. Homesick and interested in the business possibilities of tourism, Rudy Choy founded Aikane Catamarans back in Hawaii. The company became very successful, taking tourists on diving trips and dinner cruises.

Alfred Kumalae was an early mentor of Rudy Choy. Alfred was a natural engineer and gifted boat builder, with great technical appreciation and attention to detail. He left the partnership in the late 1960s.

Warren Seaman took on much of the responsibility for the detailed design and drafting work for the partnership and was generally the pragmatic voice of reason, counterbalancing Rudy Choy's "gung-ho" enthusiasm.

Vince Bartolone was mostly responsible for the recognisable style of C/S/K catamarans, as well as developing and presenting concepts to customers. He went on to found his own design company, Design Concepts.