The creation of C³

One of the most unique boats to sail San Francisco Bay in recent years is Charles Ray’s 60-ft C 3 (“C cubed”). Part catboat, part “Batboat,” part performance art, it’s not hard to imagine the Caped Crusader himself might be on the tiller as the boat hisses by.

In fact, C3 is the latest collaboration of two artistic minds: Charles Ray, a world-renowned sculptor, and Bay Area designer Tom Wylie, who has certainly turned out his share of beautiful, functional sailing craft over the years. Ray grew up in Chicago and learned to sail on Lake Michigan on a Sabot his father bought. On his first solo outing, having no idea what he was doing, “I was hooked,” he says. He was 7.

He came west in the 1970s, settling in the L.A. area, where his modernist sculptures built a wide following in the art world, and where he served for almost 30 years as a professor of sculpture at a well-known university. Sailing was his other passion, pursued on a series of ever-larger, faster boats. Although he’s sailed and raced with other people, he also likes the peace and serenity of singlehanding, “Where you don’t have to listen to anybody else critiquing what you’re doing,” he laughs. – Full report