Larry Graf is at it again. The founder, chief designer and self-described “lead adventurer” of Aspen Power Catamarans is just starting his Aspen Arctic Adventure, cruising some 1,120 miles down the Mackenzie River in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories to the Arctic Ocean. First, he has to trailer his ride, a 34-foot Aspen L107, 1,171 miles from the Aspen factory in Burlington, Washington, to Hay River and the Mackenzie.
The Mackenzie River is the longest river in Canada, and the second largest in North America, after the Mississippi. It flows through a region with few people but lots of forests and tundra; it is the largest river flowing into the Arctic from North America. And it offers a new challenge for Graf, who says, “I have a healthy adventure streak.”
A boat nut, Graf owned 31 boats before he founded Glacier Bay catamarans in 1987. His first adventure was to cruise a trailerable Glacier Bay 726 miles to Bermuda without refueling; he averaged 22 mph in the crossing. He then took two Glacier Bay 2680s with Honda 130-hp outboards 1,400 miles across the Pacific, cruising to remote islands northwest of Hawaii. He also crossed the Bering Strait, cruising to Siberia and back.
Graf left Glacier Bay in 2007 and founded Aspen, where he launched his own design. Like all Aspens, the L107 has an asymmetrical proa hull shape, where the port hull is about 35 percent smaller than the starboard one. In older Aspens, the single diesel engine and all the machinery were in the starboard hull; the idea was that the innovative shape gave the boats more fuel efficiency and a smoother ride in rough water than more conventional cats. The L107 is powered by outboards, with a 200-hp Yamaha on the starboard side and a 70-hp Yamaha on the port side.
Last year, Aspen created a 10,000 mile tour around the U.S., where one of its owners took a 40-foot Aspen around the U.S., from the factory up to Alaska and eventually to his home port of Annapolis. Graf went along for the ride on part of that trip. Now he’ll be driving his own boat on an adventure that few other cruisers have even contemplated. Stay tuned.
http://aspenpowercatamarans.com
