The Shearwater III is a type of two crew racing

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

, produced originally by G. Prout & Sons of Canvey Island, Essex, and was first sold in kit form. It is a "restricted development class". According to the UK's National Maritime Museum, The Shearwater III was the world’s first production catamaran. Brothers

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

and Roland Prout were canoeists who took part in the

1952 Helsinki Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

. They worked in the family firm G. Prout & Sons Ltd, with their father, making folding canoes and dinghies. They developed their first catamaran, the ''Shearwater I'' in the early 1950s. Initially, they experimentally lashed together two K1

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

s and added a bamboo platform and a mast and sail, and after the success of this went on to build the ''Shearwater I'', in which they participated in local regattas. They then developed the ''Shearwater III''. Shearwaters regularly field at least 15 entries at National Championships since 1998.

External links

Shearwater Catamaran - The home of the First Racing Catamaran Class
Shearwater Class Association *

References

Catamarans {{ship-type-stub