After 2 years in the making a new, high performance blue water trimaran has just arrived in South Australia. We caught up with Bob Dunn, the owner, to have a chat.
Hi Bob, can you tell me a bit about the boat?
The boat is a custom design Grainger 12.8m trimaran built on the Gold Coast by Australian Custom Multihull Yachts. It is of all carbon construction with a 19.4m carbon rotating mast. It has been built to ISO Cat A standard and can be equipped to be eligible to compete in AS Cat 1 & 2 races.
Is there anything special about her?
The main thing about her is that the beam and float sizes are very large – this means the boat can be pressed very hard, even in the open ocean. As she has rudders in each hull she can be sailed with as little of the main hull in the water as possible to reduce drag and the bows are wave piercing to reduce pitching. The main point of all this is so the boat sails as much as possible on the water, rather than through it, and to be very stable at sea.
Anything else?
Well there are a couple of other things. Firstly, she is the first blue water racing trimaran to be built in Australia for many years, and probably the highest performance trimaran ever to be built here. The other thing is that she is not just an out and out racer – which is unusual for trimarans of this size. She is quite comfortable inside and can be sailed short handed.
How has the boat been performing so far?
Despite it still being very early days – we only have 2 weeks of sea trials and the 1400NM delivery trip under our belt – we are very happy with the boat. It is rock solid and super stable, with a nice turn of pace. There are still plenty of things to tweak and our sail wardrobe is far from complete, so it will probably take at least a year before we will know the true performance of the boat.
What’s behind the name of the boat?
She is called Venom, the same name as my previous boat. I think a boat with the sort of performance we have needs a name with a bit of bite!
What would you like to achieve with Venom?
The boat is designed to be a line honours contender in blue water distance races, so being competitive in the local offshore series, ORCV events and those further afield such as the Sydney to Gold Coast and Brisbane to Gladstone are some of our aims. Once we are fully ramped up, doing well at the Australian Yachting Championships and at regattas such as Hamilton Island Race week is also high on our priority list. However we need to work our way up to this level by preparing the boat properly and by developing our skills locally to start with.
Our immediate aim is to do well in the King of the Gulf Regatta run by MYASA in February. This year it is also is the Australian Multihull Championships, so we are expecting a strong field. The regatta is a fun and inclusive one, so is always enjoyable.
Following that, we intend to do the Adelaide – Port Lincoln Race. We would love to be one of the first boats over the line at Port Lincoln, but it looks like there will be a really strong field of local and interstate boats, so we would need ideal conditions and for us to be at the top of our game for that to happen.
On top of all this we want to do a bit of cruising around the Gulfs and KI as well as taking our friends out for a bit more relaxing sailing in local waters.
Anything else?
Once the boat has been sorted out and we are comfortable with it, it would be fun to try to set some benchmark times for a few of the popular local passages – Adelaide to Port Vincent immediately comes to mind. My wife and I previously sailed from Nth Haven to Port Vincent in the old Venom (only 8.2m LOA) in 2 1/4 hours, so I think a time of 1 ½ to 1 ¾ hours is achievable in the new boat with the right conditions.
Will Venom be the fastest offshore sailing boat in SA?
Possibly, but there are still plenty of fast boats here with great crews and proven track records. It is a bit premature to be talking about this now. Ask me again in 2 years and we might know then…
What is different now from when you had the old Venom?
The most noticeable thing is how much better integrated and inclusive sailing has become around the world. Sailors now often move between off the beach classes, super maxis, foiling catamarans, displacement yacht match racing, one design sport boats and just about anything else with sails. This is great for the long-term future of sailing as it helps break down some of the old barriers between different types of boats that have prevented sailing from progressing and attracting new people to the sport.
Is there anywhere I can find out more information about Venom?
If you are interested in finding out more about the boat or following our progress, please visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/venomsailing/ or our website at www.venomsaiing.com
