WHY TRIMARANS?
At the size of the day boat, typically 18, 20 or 22ft it is only with the trimaran that one can combine the speed of the multihull with the comfort and space necessary for day sailing. There is room for storage lockers or modest cabins, enough for a weekend or even a whole holiday!
Once we get up above 10m the catamaran provides more comfort and space but these are not day boats, but cruising cats. Small beach catamarans tend to involve a lot of scrambling about on your hands and knees. And booms tend to be low down to reduce the likelihood of a capsize.
In a trimaran you can sit down comfortably and the boom will still be well clear of your head.
In addition trimarans with centreboards possess greater agility, are easier to tack and they point better upwind than catamarans.
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- Trimarans - are fast yet safe
Trimarans are naturally buoyant and if ever capsized, providing a convenient raft for the crew. Whereas monohulls, with all that heavy ballast, have a tendency to sink leaving no trace and often, no crew!
- Stiffness - or the lack of heeling in side winds, gives multihulls acceleration that is the envy of monohull sailors. Monohulls, in contrast heel right over in gusts spilling all the wind and losing the propulsive power that the wind could have provided.
- Taking the ground - safely is something that boats with single keels do not do. People who know they are going to do this sometimes choose monohulls with lifting keels or bilge keelers (with two keels). But they are still blunt monohulls with ballast and consequently cannot compete with multihulls for speed. Bilge keelers rarely get above 5 knots.
- Trailable trimarans can easily be taken to new places so when somebody asks you, "Where is you home port?" or "your usual cruising ground?" you can answer that you have neither one nor the other or that they change each time you go sailing.
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