14' Singlehanded Trimaran

Actually this kind of tri is not necessarily aimed at hardcore dinghy racers, but more to people who want to have fun without the hassle of capsizing all the time, in short people who would rather be on the water than in the water. There is a category of people who just want to race for the fun of it, without the hassle of having a very technical boat and being dependent on finding a crew to race.

The first sea trials have actually shown that the boat can fly, though it doesn't really show on these two pictures...

 

Astus

Pascal, are you part of the Astus project? I think the boat is tremendous and offers a lot of good sailing. If I had any criticism it would be that the boat might be able to use more beam. But all in all-its a very good looking and well thought out boat.

 

I'm of the opinion that this boat has righting moment to spare, just the way it is designed.

Further, and perhaps one of the most important considerations in this model.... the boat meets the Euro trailering beam limitation nicely and can go directly from trailer to water with an absolutely minimum of hassle getting it ready. That translates to more folks making use of the boat, more possible upgrades to the larger models in the lineup and from a business perspective... the all important factor of customer retention.

It's far less expensive to keep a customer than it is to create a new one from thin air.

 

Want to see how the "Laser with training wheels" performs?

http://www.exaqua.co.uk/astus141_video1.php

Ok, it was just blowing F2-3

 

Having just bought and finally sailed my Weta - I can tell you it fits the following design brief perfectly:

Platform for a family that combines the ability to sail with wife and kids(as young as 2) safely, but enable the old guy to go out and rip it up on the race course.

It's very well designed from a ease of use standpoint. i'd like dual tillers given the dance with the mainsheet behind me, and the jib leads are a bit forward for ease of use singlehanded tacking, but other than that it's 20-30 minutes from trailer to water and go. that's pretty quick. Same time in reverse.

Glass work wasn't perfect, but good enough. It "planes" in 10 knots with my 170 pounds, but does not when loaded with 430 pounds of people(1 dad, 4 ladies). transom sinks a bit at that load.

Real shakedown is next week - a 30 mile downwind/upriver jaunt where we hope for ~20 knots of breeze the whole way.