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In 1985 a California businessman and
a boat designer from New Zealand civilized
the trimaran.
The concept of the three-hulled, unballasted
sailboat, offering almost unlimited
speed potential along with space in
the center hull for decent accommodations,
was widely admired, but boats with beams
that were two-thirds of their overall
length were considered unfit for conventional
sailing society. They were awkward and
expensive to launch, too wide to be
hauled on a trailer and wouldn’t
fit in a marina slip. Then came Ian
Farrier.
 Farrier,
a Kiwi working as a yacht designer in
Australia, drew plans for a foldable
trimaran—the side hulls, or floats,
could be quickly folded in, resulting
in a multihull with the compact dimensions
of a monohull when not sailing. In Chula
Vista, California, John Walton set up
a plant to produce Farrier’s design
for a 27-foot foldable trimaran to be
marketed as the F-27.
By removing the practicality barrier,
Walton and Farrier gave owners easy
access to the most appealing attribute
of trimarans, their scintillating performance.
Walton’s company, Corsair Marine,
was one of the first in the world to
use vacuum bag composite construction
techniques for production boats.
The technology kept F-27 hulls light,
allowing smaller, easily managed rigs
and overnight accommodations without
compromising performance. And it ensured
that the F-27 would be a rocket. In
a memorable race from Miami to Key Largo
in 1993, two F-27s covered the 44-mile
course in well under three hours, averaging
17.9 and 18.2 knots.
Though F-27s have raced often and with
considerable success, even in such venues
as California to Hawaii and around the
Isle of Wight, the boat and its successors
were marketed not as racers, but as
all-around sport boats. With their easy
handling, resistance to heeling, deep
centerboard for good windward ability
and cruising amenities, these refinements
of multihulls that were once considered
exotic have been embraced as mainstream
family sailboats.
With the F-27, Corsair Marine opened
the door to user-friendly multihulls,
and owners have been streaming through
it ever since. In a 10-year production
run, 453 F-27s were sold. New models
were added to the line—today it
includes 24, 28, 31 and 36-foot boats—and
to date more than 1,800 Corsair trimarans
have been sold worldwide, far more than
any other cruising size multihulls.
It all started with one ingenious idea—that
you could fold up a trimaran.
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