OLD? Chris Dunn 0181 847 2269 chrisdunn@bigcatcharters.co.uk 020 8847 2269 Recent? Chris or Viv Dunn Big Cat Charters 26 Augustus Close Brentford Dock Brentford Middlesex TW8 8QE Tel: 020 8568 2703 Mobile: 07834 604710 Fax: 020 8956 2211 Email: chris_dunn@bigcatcharters.co.uk From Scott Brown May 2003 (last modified) ad: "This is the best thought out Pahi 63 ever, professionally completed with all systems to the highest spec. and some great improvements to the original design (more freeboard in the ends for instance). Everything is first class, built & maintained regardless of cost. Superb finish (Professional) 2 diesel engines Great mods Serious cruising/charter inventory Was asking £165,000 Owner now keeping to have some more fun! " 2003, May: Offer on Big Cat was being considered by Scott Brown ttp://www.themultihull.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=706 2002, April 13-14: Big Cat attended the Mount Batten Watersports Centre, Plymouth From http://www.themultihull.com/misc/symreport402.htm 2001, July: Weekend originally intending to go to the Channel Islands but enjoyed sailing & mucking around with kayaks in the Solent instead. 2001, June 16: Round the Island Race, placed 350 of 1700. http://www.themultihull.net/bc3.htm 2001, Easter: Calshot, Southampton Water, UK for antifouling & inspection http://www.themultihull.net/bc2.htm 2000, July 17: Out sailing with the staff of the Master Builder. 1998: Bringing the "Moana Pahi" Up the Danube and to Britain http://beamreach.org/vessel/pahi63/bigcat/moana/moana.htm 1992: Chris Dunn was pictured aboard the Tiki 26 "Sharing the Challenge" just before the Single Handed Race. http://www.themultihull.net/stc1.htm From http://www.cjmarine.co.uk/oldnews.htm One of the most interesting projects we have been involved in, is to manufacture Upholstery and Cockpit Cushions for a Wharram Gaia 63' catamaran owned and chartered by Big Cat Charters. This is an exciting project to be involved in, as only six have ever been built in the world! Our clients chose fabrics from our vast range of upholstery materials that really enhanced the Polynesian theme and history of "Big Cat". Big Cat will be based in Southampton for corporate and hospitality events. For further information please contact Mr Chris Dunn, on 0181 847 2269, or e-mail chrisdunn@bigcatcharters.co.uk From http://www.thisisdorset.net/dorset/archive/2000/11/06/BOURNEMOUTH_SPORT_SAILING01ZM.html First published on Monday 06 November 2000: This Big Cat loves the water WHEN Britain's most popular sailing waters are your cruising ground chances are you will meet up with one or more of the country's most interesting craft. Such was the case when I took my own boat up the Solent to the Beaulieu River this season and found myself moored at Bucklers Hard - next to Big Cat. There was a striking touch of the exotic about this very different craft and I was soon to learn why from her owner, Chris Dunn, who turned out to be a former Bournemouth College student. She is a Polynesian Catamaran, so called because the principles of her design are drawn from those of the canoes built by the natives of the Polynesian Islands up to 1,000 years ago. Think of a dug-out canoe and you think of a fairly crude craft. But the Polynesians built such beautifully designed and crafted boats that when 18th-century explorer Captain James Cook visited their waters they were able to sail rings round his own ship. A modern-day designer, James Wharram, became such an admirer of the original craft he has adapted their lines to create a distinctive new breed of multihulls. One of this class, Cookie, has more than proved her seaworthiness by being sailed round the world by owner Roy McDougall, who exhibited her at the Southampton Boat Show two years ago, where she went virtually unnoticed I was surprised to discover that probably more than 1,000 of the Polynesian Cats are now owned in Britain. But Big Cat, the largest at 63ft and rigged as a gaff schooner, is the only one of her type operating around our shores. Entrepreneur Chris is so smitten with her that he has built his Big Cat Charters company around the eye-catching boat, offering her for corporate hospitality and for families and groups of friends to hire for weekends or short cruises. Her ample accommodation includes berths for up to 12 people, a dining area below seating six to eight, a large central helming position and sunbathing areas fore and aft. Chris found her in a boatyard on the Danube in Austria where another Polynesian Catamaran enthusiast had built her, but then ran out of funds for the engines, masts and sails. Chris carried out a few modifications before setting off up the Danube on the long journey to the Hamble, where Big Cat is now based. "She is a very special boat," he said. * More details of Big Cat Charters on 020 8847 2269.