Andrew Fennell had a vision for a fairly minimalist but still somewhat comfortable racing trimaran for a privateer attempt at the Round, Britain and Island Race. He was no stranger to performance trimarans having previously reworked an orphan trimaran into the very capable "Strontium Dog". So the following Q&A is an attempt at telling the whole story and following the ongoing evolution of "Morpheus".
Q) You had a fairly good picture of what you wanted in a racing trimaran, what was the statement of requirements you took to the designers?
A) All carbon trimaran, under 2.5T, 300%+ buoyancy floats, but not square - boa < loa to allow the weight to come off the Main Hull early - this inspired by the Seacart 30. I was after a modernised, 40’ offshore version of the Seacart with similar/scaled up performance. I also wanted more than a cigar to live in (having sailed on an Irens 40’ tri which only had room for 1 person to sleep inside at a time I felt the need for more room for the crew hence aft beam way aft to allow room for the aft double and Daggerboards in the floats to free up Saloon area - also this boat would be sailing on 1 float at times so the float boards and rudders would keep her under control during those times). Finally it had to fit in a 40’ container - that was the limit on the Main Hull beam. In the event we had to ship in 2x40’ containers because the floats were too big to fit in with the Main Hull using the max beam of the container.
Q) Having settled on designer, how did that relationship that brought Morpheus to a completed design proceed?
A) It was tricky. But we got there in the end. The communication between builders and designers was fraught at times.
Q) Sourcing the materials and starting the construction of Morpheus was the next hurdle to climb, how did that pan out?
A) I sourced all the materials myself which was time consuming but ensured I got the best deal - I have to say all the suppliers bar one were exemplary.
Q) A completed platform is one thing how did the boat building process continue from there? It's the work of a whole team to make a boat like this happen?
A) 5 years in and we are still probably only 90% there. Sailing with a regular, fit, young crew has been fantastic and we have learned to push her harder and harder.
Q) It's been a number of years now and Morpheus has performed well on the racing circuit, what would you suggest any new owners going down the path of a custom racing trimaran design take into consideration?
A) It always costs twice as much as you anticipate (if you are an optimist..I mean, pessimists don’t build boats anyway, do they?)
Get the foils designed by a specialist foil designer - it’s worth the extra £s and they will give it the attention it really deserves. That will add maybe 10% to the design cost but will save a mountain of pain and money in the end. We used Hugh Welbourn and what a difference that made.
I tried to keep it simple as possible which saved a few £s in the beginning but cost me dearly later on: I was also scared of it being too complicated to sail. I was wrong. Without a fairly large number of strings on the boat, you just can’t get her playing the right notes!
You need: a J1 J2 and a J3 and they have to be on furlers. No question, you gotta have furlers.
As an addition - if you want to sail in 35+ knots upwind you need a soft luff storm jib (that can attach to the J3 deck eye)..otherwise you can’t sail upwind in 40 knots with 3 reefs in the Main - that’s what did for us on the 1st day of the Fastnet last year. We were fine but couldn’t point as the J3 was too big…
We also put in a 3D eye system for the Foresail sheet leads..i tried to avoid this because it meant lines all over the nets, 4 extra clutches etc etc but - again - the ability to lead foresail sheets on J123 correctly every time transformed the boat’s performance. It’s a must.
Finally. If I did it again I would have the Spar Maker beef up the mast above the hounds to take the loads from a Masthead J0 for upwind/reaching in light airs. We are still under-gassed in the light. Due to the top of the mast deflecting with any kind of load on it we have to be super-careful so we tend to fall behind in those conditions. A MH screecher would make a big difference. We did retro fit MH runners, they help but the mast still takes up an S bend in the puffs - scary. Much simpler to add some modulus up there when the Spar is being built.
A word on Short Handing.
I wanted the boat set up for double handing initially. What I found was that to get her really going she has to be sailed much harder than I thought was necessary at the design stage… In fact she only really goes when the weight is off the Main hull…which by definition is close to the max stability. Then she really shows her stuff. The problem is you can’t sail like that on your own when you have been offshore for a week and you are completely knackered…and double handing just means single handing in shifts. The boat needs 2 fresh people with experience on deck to keep her going at or near her max performance. The big difference with - say - Class 40s is they can sail at their max single handed and if it all goes tits up they just let the sheets fly and wait for the boat to pop back upright again.
We reef much later now than we did at first. Upwind with Full Main and J2 we can see speeds consistently over 16 knots and tack through 90 degrees. There are very few boats that can keep up in those conditions but it requires a high level of alertness and concentration (and experience), keeping the main hull just kissing…
So I gave up on the idea of 2 handed. We sail with 4. As we did when we won the Round Britain race.
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