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

“This is the best multihulls racing event in Florida. The regatta was wonderful and very organized. We had a great time racing in the beautiful Sarasota Bay.” – feedback from Tung Nguyen, PHRF Low sailor from Bayshore Gardens Yacht Club.

READ MORE: REAL EXPERIENCES FROM THE EYES OF PARTICIPANTS

On a beautiful, sunny weekend – the first weekend of March, the SBMR hosted one of the best regattas in Florida.  The regatta welcomed 20 Corsair trimarans gathering together in the pristine waters of Sarasota Bay, Florida.  Here is the video recap of the regatta:

In addition to the 20 Corsairs, the SBMR Regatta welcomed some Stiletto, Windrider, Wetas and a variety of other catamarans and trimarans. The event was amazingly sucessful with 40 trimarans registered for 3 days of races.  All COVID-19 safety guidelines were outlined in the “Notice of Race” and all sailors, their crews and the organizers followed the restrictions to the letter of the law – for which we are all grateful.

COVID 19 safety guidelines were outlined in the “Notice of Race” and all sailors, their crews and the organizers well-followed the restrictions.

This year the regatta had our Corsair 880  hull #2 joining the PHRF Low series, sailed by Tula’s Endless Summer and Wright Yachts representative, Scott Wallingford. The competition was rather exciting for Billy and Sierra, who joined the regatta for the first time. They came in 6th in the PHRF race but it felt like a win to the regatta novices.

“We lost every race and blew out our spinnaker but the race committee said we looked like we were having the most fun so we will take that as a win! Lesson learned a boat filled hundreds of pounds of cruising gear for a month long trip isn’t as fast as an empty boat.” – Tula’s Endless Summer

Enjoy the nice shots of the regatta:

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.

Corsair 880 out of Wareham Massachusetts

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