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Race Against Hunger

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By TODD LESKANIC, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 8, 2008

DADE CITY - A startling white 36-foot catamaran represents the fusion of Hans Geissler's business sense and humanitarian heart.

Geissler, 66, left the boat-building industry in 1994 to run Morning Star Fishermen, the Dade City-based charity that promotes fish farming as a solution to world hunger.

His quest to end hunger, however, brought him back to boats a year ago, as he reformed G-Cat Multihulls and opened shop in the Dade City Business Center.

"It's a for-profit company aiding a nonprofit company," Geissler said.

His resurrected company's small staff spent much of last year building the catamaran that now sits inside a 5,000-square-foot warehouse.

The 6,500-pound energy-efficient craft isn't complete, but Geissler already has plans for it. In May, he'll take it on a 1,700-mile trip from St. Petersburg to Nicaragua as part of his Race Against Hunger.

And he'll try to do it on one tank of fuel.

Money raised through sponsors and donations will go to replenish Morning Star's reserves and rebuild the charity's training center. Geissler also hopes the trip will draw attention to the training center Morning Star is building in Nicaragua.

"If you can pull that trip off on one tank of gas," he said, "boating magazines are going to write about it."

Geissler's re-entry into the boat-making industry won't end there. He plans to move to a 15,000-square-foot warehouse in the business center and continue building catamarans. Eventually, he'd like to turn out one or two boats per month.

Some of the profits from sales of those boats will go to Morning Star, the 11-acre fish hatchery and training center outside Dade City, where students learn how to raise tilapia.

In his first foray into boat-making, Geissler built more than 2,000 catamarans he called Beach Catamarans. All were sail-powered and designed for speed.

This time around, Geissler kept the basic structure of the Beach Cat but enlarged the main cabin, added two fuel-efficient Evinrude engines and the latest navigational gadgets. He calls it the G-Force 36.

The boat will make use of solar and wind power, he said. Geissler also is exploring the possibility of having electric engines on board. Such a boat would cost between $300,000 and $350,000, he said.

When asked why he believed the new model would sell, Geissler looked surprised by the question.

"It's green," he said. "Right now, the boating industry is on its back. They're in a deep, deep, deep hole, and it's because of the price of gasoline. With this boat, we're going to get between 1,200 and 1,500 miles of cruising range. That's pretty much unheard of."

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (352) 521-3156 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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