I’ve often written in boat reviews over the years that pretty much any boat sails well in 15 knots of breeze (typically as a word of explanation as to why sail trials done in drifting conditions are as relevant as those done in a small gale). However, it recently occurred to me there is an exception to this rule, and that is aboard a performance trimaran like the Corsair 880.

– Adam Cort from SAIL Magazine

Despite the boat’s go-fast looks, complete with a drop-dead gorgeous tumblehome bow (flared to help keep the spray down underway), there’s standing headroom in the narrow but well-configured galley and saloon, and berth space for as many as five. Make no mistake, the Corsair is a legitimate pocket cruiser (it never ceases to amaze me the kinds of amenities that can be fit into a well-designed trimaran) albeit a pocket cruiser that gets you from one anchorage to the next in record time. Talk about a fun way to go gunkholing!

Corsair trimarans were featured on Coastal Lifestyle Magazine October – November 2021 Issue.

While we typically see monohull craft (sailboats with a single hull) gracefully cruising by on the Gulf, there is a newer generation of leisure and speed sailers flitting atop our crystal-clear waters. These are the multihull boats known as trimarans and catamarans. Trimarans boast a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls, while catamarans have two equal-sized hulls. Both are designed for cruising, relaxation, and excitement.

The Corsair trimaran series redefines sport sailing in comfort and style. Built for speed and stability, they can reach up to 30 mph and host up to 25 feet of open deck space. The nimble trimarans sail faster than catamarans, which are typically built more for comfort with spacious interior design and accommodations. But even with an average speed approaching 10 mph, catamarans will still outpace most monohulls. The amount of open deck space depends on the size of the catamaran.

by Jen Callan – Coastal Lifestyle Magazine

Disclaimer: This article was featured on Coastal Lifestyle Magazine October – November 2021 Issue. Click here to access the full magazine issue.

New Buyers Guide for Trimarans

What is the best trimaran? It is a tough decision to make. Trimarans deliver on a number of “product characteristics” that any marketing team can hang their hat on: speed, stability, versatility, unique trailerability in this case, and perhaps most of all safety. But that doesn’t necessarily tell you which is the best for you and your sailing plans. The truth is that many of our trimarans are multi-purpose vehicles, and so it’s hard to sort out which is a “better cruiser” or which is a “better racer” and so on – because many of them have the same terminology on our website, and fans of particular models on social media tend to use that weapon of choice for everything! Here’s some insight into how we see our own Corsair trimaran models.

Best for young families

Pulse 600

The Corsair Pulse 600 is fast, fun, and sporty-looking. That gives it great appeal with the kids. But it’s also the most easily trailerable – boasting trailer-to-water time of 20 minutes with a little practice. But here’s the thing: in the year’s since launching the Pulse 600 none that we know of have capsized in a normal sailing incident. Sure, someone might have dropped one off a dock – but these boats are stable. And with the greatest buoyancy to weight ratio of any of our tris, it’s virtually unsinkable. So even in the worst case scenario of being hit by another larger vessel, this is the boat to be in. It’s low to the water so men (or anyone) overboard can be retrieved most easily from this model. And it’s low-cost when it comes to ongoing expenses. The sporty looks might get you thinking this is our race boat, and it can be, but not like what’s next…

Read more: Sailing the Pulse 600 was just wicked fun!

Best for Fleet Racing

Corsair 760R

This is the trimaran sailboat to choose when you have a family, or a crew you love to sail with, and racing is the priority. This trimaran IS more tender than a Pulse 600 – let nobody tell you otherwise. But the speeds are legendary and the excitement unmatchable. It’s still virtually unsinkable and is indeed a safe boat all-round. But when choosing a purely family daysailer it’s the Pulse 600 you want. For fleet racing, take the 760R.

View more: Corsair 760R Specifications

Best Inshore

Corsair 760 (Standard)

The Corsair 760 standard version has a cabin, a place for a porta-potty, a small galley, and plenty of shelter when the sun or rain gets too much. This is the perfect island hopper – because it still has the remarkable speeds found on all 24ft variants of Corsair trimarans. But it truly is comfortable when you need a rest. She is also of ideal size for compact to trailer, tough, and astoundingly stable and versatile. These features have earned her the title Multihull of the Year 2018. Read more.

Sailing the Corsair 760 – fast, fun, and easy!

Watch more: 4 Reasons our family LOVE Trimarans

Best Weekender

Corsair 880

The first “big Corsair trimaran” – and so for short stays it’s the Corsair 880 you want. Designed for up to a week aboard, this sailing trimaran has separate cabins, a private heads, and a proper saloon and galley. Headroom is stunning for a 28 (or 29) footer and you get a helming experience much more apt for longer durations than what’s found on the Corsair 760. This feels like a big sailboat and is. With a bit of practice you might launch this in 35-40 minutes. So there is more involved in getting from trailer to water than the trimarans listed above. But the rewards once you’re in the water are night-and day. This is a big step up from the 24ft range.

Read more: Corsair 880 To Be 2021 Best Sport Boat Of The Year By Cruising World

Best Racer/Cruiser racer

Corsair 970

If the Corsair 880 is a Cruiser/Racer, then this is a Racer/Cruiser. The Corsair 970 trimaran is probably on level-pegging with the Corsair 880 on interior comfort. What separates the 970 trimaran is the raised helm options (great visibility and comfort for long periods on the helm) and racing practicality. The interior on this trimaran is more durable and appropriate for racers dragging sails in and out and putting in hard miles on a sailboat. So it does what the 880 trimaran does, but gives the racers more of what they’re looking for. That said, it’s still just 31 feet. So it’s a Category B or C racer/cruiser and qualifies for some offshore races in-between. How about offshore racing? – look to the Corsair 37. But the 970 is one heck of a kick – this sailing trimaran is available in Sport, and Full Carbon construction. So that tells you something about how these boats are used and their capabilities.

Read more: Why The Corsair 970 Is The Perfect Trimaran For You?

Best Offshore Racer

Corsair 37

We see this as the ultimate weapon. Famed for racing and cruising in northern climes, in the tropics and anywhere in between, the Corair 37 trimaran when in the right hands is unbeatable. Is this trimaran designed to fit for families? Probably not. Handling a Corsair 37 is for the experienced, and small children are probably not the kind of distraction you need entering and leaving port in a Corsair 37 – or in changeable weather. With smaller ones, you’d probably take a harder look at the Corsair 880 and 970 first. But if you’re not caught up in the hubbub of childcare this could be the outlet you need!

So I have made my choice of the most suitable trimaran for my sailing needs. Now what?

Trust us, we have received countless queries regardings the lead times for trimarans. Normally the standard lead time for trimaran is 5-6 months. Ohh why is it so long you may ask. It’s because as impressive as they look, the process of building a trimaran often requires extensive and detailed development and designs, as well as high quality tooling and extensive filling, fairing, and checking. Taking the trimaran design for example, we elected for CNC cut beam landings and strut mounts to ensure a sufficient accuracy of those hard-to-shape areas. These components have then been grafted into the traditionally framed plugs with careful precision and measurement. Then 3D scanners are set up to digitize all components and issue an accurate digital file, which we will then use to overlay with the original design. Deviations between them are detected using specialized quality assurance software. With everything in place, we will then finely tune the parts before a final scan to confirms inaccuracies were within tolerance.

Read more

How do we ensure quality in our final design?

How we are using technology to our advantage

So it’s not a flick of your fingers and it is ready on the market tomorrow, or next month. It’s not the case of how we build our Corsair range. Extensive lead times only prove that our trimarans are built to the best quality. However, most of the time it is 5-6 months, but some times there are already plenty of tris sitting on the water ready to go tomorrow. Talk to us early to see what the current situation is on our backlog.

Read more:

How To Set Up A Cosair Trimaran

Folding Corsair trimarans: Legendary ability, unbeatable reliability

5 reasons why the Corsair 760 trimaran is your Multihull of the Year 2018

Sarasota Sailing Squadron

Author: Steve Marsh from The Finish Line

Thanks to the Sarasota Sailing Squadron for accepting the challenge of hosting a Regatta in spite of Covid. The hurdles to host a successful regatta are many and the Squadron met them with aplomb. Part swap meet, sailing clinic, jamboree, and camp cooking tournament, the SBMR never fails to deliver when it comes to mild weather, warm clear water, easy launch/docking, and shore side things to see and do.  While the social events were muted compared to years past (to the relief of barnyard animals and first responders everywhere.  But thanks for keeping the tazers charged anyway, Craig), the racing was just as intense, the venue just as scenic, and the sailors just as salty.

20 Corsair trimarans traveled from near and far to be part of this event.  As promised, the weather machine was set on “shuffle” and divvied out conditions from near calm to “should we reef?”.  Sarasota bay being protected on all sides makes sailing near the upper design limits somewhat predictable which helps expand your performance envelope. Seven races over three days kept sailors on their toes and the chiropractors in business for certain.

Typical of springtime pre-frontal passage in Florida, the first day dawned with a decent land breeze that was destined to quit right around first flag.  It was a lively 3 mile sail to the course from the dock with all the boats making their last adjustments.  Bad time to realize you left the beer cooler on the dock.  Fire that dude.

The race committee tried valiantly to run a race despite all the indications that this would be a drifter with large shifts and holes.  It was great light air sailing all the way to the giant hole at the top mark.  Hat Trick’s private breeze was not received well by the other sailors showing negative vmg.  Mercifully, the PRO announced the race abandoned as the breeze showed signs of backing 120 degrees.  Reaching to C-gate would have been an interesting twist.

A side note about the neat technology on the course this weekend.  The race committee used autonomous turning marks which kept station via GPS and other remote controlled wizardry, making minor adjustments to keep the course windward/leeward at all times.  Definitely nice to see a technical solution to assist mark boats in their challenge to keep the course and lines square.  Race Qs app is a crowd-source regatta tracker which has a lot of cool features.  Load it on your phone, set the start time, and the app does the rest while you’re sailing.  Replays later can be edited to add marks/starts, weather conditions, and group boats by fleet.  Displays can include VMG, SOG and a host of other data.

So, while motoring back to the committee boat to organize for race #2, the little “mark-bots” (think ) were busy scurrying across the bay to set the new course.

Races 2 and 3 were ideal with the seabreeze filling in to a moderate 10-12.  Races were tight, and little mistakes could add up big to those who were caught unawares.  A great first day to sort the boats out.

Saturday was forecast to be rainy and cold (high 60’s) but the PRO pushed on to get some races on the books in case Sunday turned into a blowout per the forecast.  The wind held for the most part in the 10-12 range, but the rain showed up and ended the day after 2 races.  Of course, after all the boats were tied up at the Squadron the clouds broke, the sun shone brightly, and the wind steadied at 14…  Second guessing never works

Sunday could be considered by many as “sporty”.  Clear and cool (upper 50’s to 70 by midday) with winds initially in the 18+ with gusts to 25 range.  Definitely nice to be sailing in protected water in conditions near your design windspeed envelope. If you’re going to build your sailhandling confidence, this is the time and place to do it.  No epic wipeouts or crashes, but there were some difficult spinnaker sets and drops in the conditions.  Races 2 and 3 were conducted in a bit more settled conditions with wind dropping to 10-12 with gusts in the mid-teens. Definitely tests your ability to shift gears to lighter conditions.

Overall, the Corsair course had high and low PHRF classes and the growing and incredible competitive did I mention growing 750 fleet.   In the 750 class, Hat Trick (first time on a race course with excellent prep by the FinishLine ) started with four bullets with Phil Styne brining his winning crew Todd Hudgins from the Nationals win in New England in 2008?  and highly experienced Corsair sailor Tom Reese to do battle with perennial  winner in the class Larry Geller.  Humility (Austin TX), Lucy Gene (Austin TX) and Tri Polar weren’t going to let either of those two hooligans get away with any slacking, and finish positions were traded often during the busy weekend.

The overall Corsair Nationals trophy went to Kathyrn Garlick on C 28r Evolution who sailed most of the last day with a torn main. Second overall was newcomer Alan Moore C 28r. Third was Larry Geller Sprint 750 beating out the 750 class winner Phil Styne with the overall time scoring system.

There were old timers (I have had some Corsair or another for 29 years) and one boat was literally picked up by its new owner the day before the regatta and stopped by on its way to its new home in Wisconsin to put on a good showing.

Sarasota Sailing Squadron as always was a great venue in-spite of missing the big dinner.

There was sponsorship by Corsair and The FinishLine. 

Special Thanks to Jim Bergoin, Billy Black and Mike Cantalana!

Read more:

The Corsair Nationals 2021 – a huge success for the Corsair Trimaran Community

Corsair 880 To Be 2021 Best Sport Boat Of The Year By Cruising World

On 8 December 2020, Corsair is honored to learn the Corsair 880 has been awarded as the Best Sport Boat in the 2021 BOTY competition By Cruising World Magazine.

In the midst of a pandemic, a determined group of builders, brokers and sailors presented Cruising World judges with a fleet of a dozen nominees for seatrials in venues ranging from New England to Florida.

Corsair 880: Best Sport Boat

Simple accommodations and sparkling sailing performance earned this trimaran an Honorable Mention for Best Sportboat.

On a cold November afternoon, we rolled up to the dock at the ancient Cape Cod Shipyard, hard along the waters of the Wareham River Basin, for the concluding sail of our 2021 Boat of the Year campaign aboard the Corsair 880, a 28-foot folding trimaran built in, of all places, Vietnam. It wasn’t on purpose, but you could easily say we saved the best for last. The best sail in our 2021 BOTY sea trials, that is.

 

 

We were joined by Bob Gleason, who’s been peddling fast tris for as long as we can remember, and Dave Reed, the editor of our sister publication, Sailing World: two boys who always can be counted on to press on a bit more sail. In other words, for the task ahead, darn-near perfect companions.

The classic Buzzard’s Bay sea breeze had kicked in, ­appropriately—like, what else is new?—as we powered out of the basin and into the fresh southwesterly. Up went the big, roachy, powerful square-topped mainsail, and out went the self-tending jib. We were sailing.

The Corsair 880 is cool, cool, cool. Comfortable canvas bench seats. A nice little interior with all the basics for pleasant camping-­style cruises. A rotating carbon-fiber spar. A tiller with an extension, and the traveler and mainsheet right at hand. Sails up, daggerboard down. As good as it gets.

We tacked upwind for a while to say we did, got some ­numbers, and then the real fun commenced. First, bye-bye jib; hello Code Zero. Welcome to the realm of double-digit boat speeds, which always feel faster when you’re reaching on a screamer under 30 feet. Greetings, sailing world, indeed.

We swapped the helm back and forth, and took snapshots of one another. Who had the biggest smile? It was a tie. Then the kite went up for the run back to the dock. Heaven on Buzzard’s Bay.

There wasn’t another boat around, and for that matter, there wasn’t another boat in the competition that matched up with the Corsair. But you can be sure as heck we were still going to name it the year’s Best Sportboat. Which we could. So we did.

Source: Herb McCormick, Cruising World