Weta Trimaran-Sailing Worlds Best Dinghy

[Doug Lord]

Congratulations to the WETA development team-the boat has just been named Sailing Worlds Best Dinghy in the 2010 Boat of the Year Awards!

http://www.sailweta.com/

Specifications of the WETA trimaran

Length (LOA) 4.4 m ~ 14.4 ft
Beam – rigged 3.5 m ~ 11.5 ft
Beam – on trailer 1.7 m ~ 5.6 ft
Weight – main hull 60 kg ~ 132 lbs
Weight – float w/ beam frame 18 kg ~ 40 lbs
Weight – rigged, total Approx. 100 kg ~ 220 lbs
Sail area – main 8.3 m2 ~ 89.4 ft2
Sail area – jib 3.2 m2 ~ 34.5 ft2
Sail area – gennaker 8.0 m2 ~ 86.1 ft2


MATERIALS

Main hull / Float hulls Fibreglass / Foam
Beam frame Carbon
Mast / Prod Carbon
Rudder stock Dotan kick-up rudder more info »
Rudder foil / Centreboard Fibreglass
Hardware Harken
Sails Gaastra


PERFORMANCE

Top recorded speed 18 knots
Rigging time ~ 20 minutes
Crew capacity 200 kg ~ 440 lbs

[Joe Moore]

We've got one of these at our club, it's not the fastest boat by any means but the guy seems to have a lot of fun with it and takes the kids out regularly which I guess is exactly what it was designed for.

[Doug Lord]

It's going to be a real blast to see the next boat from this company-and there will be one sooner or later!

http://www.wetamarine.com/

[Chris Ostlind]

Do recognize that this boat is a simple, nicely thought-out, solution for a variety of sailing interests. The design stands as a tribute to solving problems through effective conceptual design, rather than an overhwleming need to heap piles of uber-tech on the boat in order to make it relevant.

No canting keels, no flying foils, no flying ballast boxes with battery systems that are asking to fail, no park benches... just a really nice boat that scoots along dependably and can be righted easily by the Average Joe.

How beautiful can it get?

[Chris Ostlind]

Originally Posted by Doug Lord

-and there will be one sooner or later!

Not from Weta, but there already is a next boat within this genre. I give you the Collage... http://www.lunadadesign.com/collage.html

The first example of this boat is just about to get underway in New Zealand. You'll be able to follow the build on either my site, or a dedicated blog will appear to document the construction.