The Final Kisscat Sailing Catamaran

At least that’s what Tony tells me, this is the last boat he’s building.

Tony Sharp is an Aussie who builds catamarans for Kisscat Catamarans her in The Philippines, in Cagayan de Oro. You can see photos of this catamaran’s sister ship here.

The Good Lord knows Tony has had his share of problems, from having to go to extraordinary lengths to evict someone from the land he bought to build the boats on, to other more personal battles, and when he says he’s had enough boat building in The Philippines, he probably has good reason.

Yet Tony is a real trooper. He is one of the people associated with the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro’s Interplast (link) Project. The Interplast Project is where foriegn doctors donate their own time to perform surgeries for hairlip and burn patient victims. If I find a hairlipped child, I just give the contact information to Tony and he takes care of the rest, making sure they get into the program. Often they do not get into the program because the child lives out in the provinces and it is too difficult for the parents to get the child to the hospital. Tony provides the necessary intervention to make sure the child gets there. The Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro sponsors the Interplast Project.

He once told me he doesn’t build boats so much as to make money or because he likes building boats, but because he likes providing a jobs for indigent Filipinos. That doesn’t sound like much of a business model to me (but then what do I know?). Yet it works for him, and I’m proud not only of what he does, but of what he’s done.

Getting the boat out of the construction shed and into against the Macabalan seawall was quite an endeavor. The move started at 9 PM and I stayed to watch until a bit after midnight. The boat had to be moved out to the seawall so that a crane could pick it up the next day and hoist the boat over the seawall and into the water. The move occurred on the night of Thursday, May 8, 2008.
Full catamaran moving photo gallery from building shed to seawall here.

Video 1 of catamaran moving, about 10 MB

Video 2 of catamaran moving, about 10 MB

Video 3 of catamaran moving, about 10 MB

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 11:05 and is filed under Cagayan de Oro, Philippines Business, Philippines Expat Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.