Multihull Sailor

While engaged in some heavy-duty procrastination one afternoon, surfing Google in quiet desperation in order to avoid writing an overdue article, I came across a mention of the once-famous foiler L’Hydroptère. It’s not just multihull aficionados who will remember the big trimaran—ten years ago, through the summer and fall of 2008 and into 2009, she made headlines not just in sailing magazines but in the mainstream press. She was, for quite some time, the fastest sailing craft in the world. Her creator, Alain Thébault, was a friend of legendary ocean racer Eric Tabarly, who eagerly embraced the concept of a big boat that could fly across oceans. Like most visionaries, Thébault endured his share of skepticism right from the time he built his first foiler in 1976. In the early…

When François Gabart sailed his giant trimaran Macif across a line between England’s Lizard Point and Oussant in France on December 17 after 42 days at sea, the 35-year-old Frenchman not only set a new singlehanded round-the-world record, he cemented his place among the great sailors of all time. Gabart is widely recognized as one of the best, if not the best, singlehanded sailors in the world, and it’s an accolade he has worked extremely hard to earn. He started his winning ways at a very young age. At 14 he won the French nationals in the Optimist class, and two years later was the French national champion in the Moth class. By the time he was 20, Gabart was the Tornado Junior World Champion. Two years later he won…

I an Farrier, the man who brought folding trailerable trimarans into the mainstream, passed away last December at the age of 70. The New Zealander spent a half-century building and designing multihulls, and his ingenious folding-ama design led to a whole new trailer-sailing niche. After dropping out of university, Farrier worked long hours at a factory where he learned the organizational skills that would later stand him in good stead. He started out as a keelboat sailor, but at the age of 20 purchased a partially finished 30ft trimaran that he rebuilt over two years. For his maiden voyage he sailed the boat singlehanded up the New Zealand coast during winter, learning valuable lessons about the behaviour of trimarans in galeforce conditions. A stormy voyage to Tonga the same year…

Over the last 10 years the RORC Caribbean 600, a distance race that starts and finishes in Antigua and winds around the Leeward Islands from Guadeloupe in the south to Anguilla in the north, has grown to become a highlight of the island regatta season. It’s hotly contested by serious racing teams, and with changing weather conditions and plenty of islands and reefs to deal with, it’s a real test of navigation skills and crew work as well as outright boat speed. A record 11 multihulls were entered in this year’s race, which kicked off with a couple of days of big winds and waves that took their toll on both the mono and multihull fleets. There were many retirements, none as spectacular as that of the Paul Bieker-designed Fujin,…

COASTAL RALLIES Those of you who haven’t yet sampled the delights of a Down East summer now have a chance to cruise there in company. The Salty Dawg Sailing Association has organized two rallies to the far northeast. The first is the Rally to Maine, scheduled to start from the Chesapeake on July 8 and wind up in Rockland, Maine, on July 18 after stopovers in Dutch Harbor, Rhode Island and Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. After a lobster bake courtesy of the Rockland Yacht Club, participants can then join a mini-cruise around some of the most beautiful spots on the Maine coast or explore on their own. On August 8, the Rally to Nova Scotia leaves Rockland and stops over at Shelburne and Halifax before finishing up at Baddeck on Cape Breton…

LOA 41ft 4in (12.58m) BEAM 23ft 8in (7.20m) DRAFT 4ft 2in (1.25m) DISPLACEMENT 25,355lb (11,500kg) light ship FOUNTAINE PAJOT NEW 42 The French cat powerhouse has been on a roll these last few years, cranking out new models that not only replace their older line but take a step forward in design and user-friendliness. The New 42’s “real” name had not been revealed as we went to press, but we can be sure it will have the same island theme as its predecessors. Renderings of the Berret Racoupeau-designed cat show a handsomely styled package combining scads of room belowdecks with a functional deck and cockpit plan. The three-cabin Maestro version devotes one hull to the owner’s suite, while the four-cabin Quatuor will find its way into many charter fleets. Fountaine…