The trouble with tris… and cats
The impact of catamarans and trimarans onto the recreational sailing scene gathered momentum in the 1960s and 1970s. Names like Arthur Piver, Jim Brown, Derek Kelsall, and to a lesser extent this humble pen pusher achieved various degrees of prominence in those decades and the future looked rosy for cruising multihulls.
The photograph that heads this page was taken in Lowestoft. The occasion was the 1970 two-handed Round Britain and Ireland race when shades. I had designed the boat specifically for offshore use and had stolen the name from the tug that brought Cleopatra’s Needle to London in 1819. It embarrasses me to reveal that portly figure on the foredeck was me, luxuriously padded against the hostile weather. After an obligatory 48-hour stopover, this was to be the start of the final leg to Plymouth where we were to finish tenth amongst 20 finishers. At 26ft 5in we were by far the lightest boat in the fleet. By comparison, first over the line was at 71ft overall while the smallest boat with Mike McMullen and Martin Read on board weighed in at 25ft 6in. We finished 16th, passing through the breakwater into Plymouth Sound in the early hours of the morning.
