I see that the Choy catamaran ImiLoa is for sale. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/CATAMARAN-SAILBOAT-43-CSK-Rudy-Choy-Design-ImiLoa-/232058125191?hash=item3607bdfb87:g:HnEAAOSwj2dXj8UL#viTabs_0
ImiLoa was kind of famous here in the PNW back in the old days. First, let me explain who Larry Christensen is. Back in the 60s he designed and built a 37′ trimaran that was years ahead of it’s time. Invictius had a huge dagger board, was wide, and had big amas way out there. And it was rigged to excel upwind, for its time. Unlike the famous Atlantic ocean trimaran designers who were using 3 strand halyards and had huge forestay sag, back then.
Larry basically schooled a whole generation of builders and sailors here in the PNW, including me. And he did every race he could, including a couple of Transpacs. Am doing this from memory. Anyone actually knows more, do share.
So ImiLoa came to the PNW to do the Swiftsure. They were bragging that they were going to clean everybody’s clock, including Larrys. “Wait,” Larry said, ” You are telling me that you don’t have boards on that boat?” “No.” “You won’t even finish on the same day that I do.” They didn’t.
I see on the specifications and the boat, that it has boards now. Larry must have taken them to school also. Does anyone recall what year that was?
Jonathan Mckeefry, If you are still around please contact the Northwest Multihull Association at http://www.nwmultihull.org/home. We would love to find out more about invictus. We have a member who crewed on and helped engineer Invictus for many years. Larry the builder died Dec 18, 2019 and the member will be showing slides and giving a tribute to Larry later this spring. Here is a link to a thread about this. http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?/topic/207647-nw-multihull-meeting-polynesian-proas-tuesday-april-2-seattle/
You can contact the original poster of the thread via private message for more info. You have to become a member first to send private messages.
I’ll politely state this story is ‘inaccurate’. Imi Loa NEVER traveled to the Pacific Northwest….ever. It’s primary owner (40+ years was Dr Vic Stern (R.I.P.) who kept the boat in Alamitos Bay (Long Beach) its entire life, parked front & center at the base of gangway 3, Slip #1. The 2nd owner, ‘Doc’ took it to Catalina Island for a while….before disappearing South with it as you see in the photo above (I believe the Sea of Cortez (Baja California). Vic did a lot of SoCal (& Ensenada) coastal racing with the boat and a few Hawaii trips…but it never went to the PNW. Imi Loa also had various dagger boards, of some sort, from day 1. In a nutshell, it must have been another CSK catamaran… period.
larry was pretty clear about that. maybe anyone else was doing swiftsure back then.
This history is mostly accurate. It was gangway 5 and she sailed to Hawaii several times. She did an extended trip to the sea of Cortez when my dad (Victor Stern) was about 50 because I was 15 at the time. She consecutively raced in Newport to Ensenada (I believe) more than any other boat ever, so she has a long history south of the border. Never went to the PNW. If anyone knows her current whereabouts and owner I’d love to know.
Hi. I sailed on the Imi Loa with Vic during the 90’s.
He was tough!! But taught me so much. Catalina races and mother ship for the 6 meter cats race, Newport to Encinitas race ( I believe Vic had the record for most races to Encinitas). Lots of great times on that boat. If you know me or were around then please reach out.
Charlie
cnejaime@aol.com
So happy to have found this post, because my wife and I were just talking about a coworker of hers who races sailboats, and I was talking about the memory of my dad (RIP) racing a big catamaran (could possibly have been a trimaran) named the Imi Loa from Long Beach to Ensenada, and was looking for anything I could find to corroborate that memory, which was many many years ago.
I also saw mention of a Imi Loa in the Pacific Northwest, but I would concur that that would have been a different boat.
If we are thinking of the same larry” ive purchased and begun restoring the ” invictus” would love to see and learn more about the design and build of this trimaran. The more I know the better she will be. Please help, thank you
I sailed on Invictus many times but was not involved with design nor build.
Who knows.
My father bought IMUA! in ’77or ’78 for 12,000. I think we sold it for 6,000 in ’84. I saw it listed for sale in Florida (have no clue how it got there) in 2012 for $16,000 OBO. IMI-LOA , my guess sold 25-30k cash.
What is a 50+ year old cat worth?
thanks; j.kuss