Time to think in new ways with a trimaran, writes Swedish magazine
Catamarans and trimarans are becoming increasingly popular along the Swedish coast. With their high speed potential and shallow draft, it’s understandable writes Anders Jango, an owner of Corsair Marine's 28CR trimaran.
Anders bought the 28CR in May 2009 (Hull # 245) from Ulrich Lindberg from Corsair Sweden. Below is a summary, in English, of his article that appeared in this month's edition of Pa Kryss, Sweden's biggest sailboat cruising magazine which has a circulation of 30,000 copies.
I have been sailing since my teenage years when I began reading about journeys all around the world. However, my focus was not on the oceans but, rather, the homewaters. I had a Tetis 29 ft cruiser which I sailed for over 20 years - while thinking about designing lifting keels to lower the draft.
Finally; I realised that a trimaran was the solution.
Once I had made that discovery, we fell in love with the Corsair 28CR. The 28CR has an interior which met our requirments. The secluded aft cabin really gives privacy; the toilet solution is great; and being able to stand in the galley is an excellent feature of the Corsair 28. The Farrier folding system is also very clever.
When it comes to mooring traditions, we had to adopt a completely new way of thinking. Normally the tradition in the Swedish waters is to have the bow to land and an anchor from the stern. With three hulls, more or less the same length, this causes some problems. Instead we put one of the floats (amas) on shore which requires special fenders and the ideal mooring places are now those with low cliffs normally preferrd by kayaks.
To navigate on shallow waters requires that the rudder and daggerboard are raised which requires some practicing before it can be fully mastered.
The boat has less living space than a monohull of the same length, but on the other hand, there is a lot of living space on the nets and the comfort is excellent. You can easily tack and your cup of coffee will still be standing in the same place as you left it! It’s also very easy to clean the bottom of the boat thanks to the narrow hulls and low draft.
We ordered the largest sails, made of carbonfibre, thanks to recommendation of the sailmaker. At first, we were a bit scared as we were not used to a really powered-up boat, but, actually, we found the C28 very easy to handle.
With some experience in a dinghy, you won’t have any problems adapting to this kind of sailing with acceleration in the puffs instead of leaning. When the speed falls below 10 knots you think that there must be something wrong with the tuning and you will instantly start searching for the cause. The downwind sailing is very different from the way we sailed before. You really have to reach back and forth downwind.
All in all, the main difference from before is the great sailing sensation that the Corsair 28CR offers. Sometimes, approaching a narrow strait, it can even feel too fast. But if we hit something, the daggerboard has been designed to absorb the energy so that the hull is saved. That feels reassuring.
To read the article on the magazine's website (in Swedish), click here.
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Catamarans and trimarans are becoming increasingly popular along the Swedish coast. With their high speed potential and shallow draft, it’s understandable writes Anders Jango, an owner of Corsair Marine's 
