RAPIDO 60
The queen of the oceans
Factsheet
| Length | 18m |
| Persons | 5 |
Description
For real sailors. The Rapido 60 is the fastest cruising trimaran in the world. The Rapido 60 offers a spacious and luxurious experience with safe, innovative performance on the water. Free carbon upgrade – or free shipping to Sydney or Auckland for the 2021 America’s Cup. Offer ends March 31, 2020, terms and conditions apply. The Rapido 60 is considered the ultimate trimaran for ocean cruising in the world and is truly the queen of the oceans. It offers speed, safety, performance – and luxury. The inspiration for the Rapido 60 comes from Paul Koch (co-founder of Rapido Trimarans), who has arguably built more production trimarans than anyone else on the planet. It was designed by world-renowned naval architects Morelli & Melvin Design and Engineering and built by Triac Composites. The foam sandwich and carbon construction provides an extremely strong and rigid structure that is relatively light and can withstand the force of the oceans and provide speed in friendlier conditions. The foam sandwich construction also provides a high level of insulation, making the Rapido cooler when the sun goes down. How tough are the composite materials on the Rapido? A trimaran that crosses the ocean needs to be strong. Very strong. As big as a 60′ trimaran is, it’s just a floating cork on a boundless ocean. Morelli & Melvin have a very strong international reputation, which includes designing entries for the America’s Cup . Their computer models said that the boat was very strong. And so we tested it. We bolted the center hull of the Rapido to the factory building in HCMC. We then brought in two mobile cranes – each taking a diagonal corner of the two outer hulls. With one diagonal corner each, the two cranes began to lift while the trimaran’s center hull remained bolted to the floor, causing it to twist. One ton of lifting pressure… Two tons… Three tons… As the trimaran turned, it began to creak and groan. But the sensitive electronic devices with which we had to measure every movement and rotation remained unphased. Everything was within the design parameters. Seven tons… Eight tons… Nine tons… Enough! The pressure was released and the Rapido bounced back to its original state – completely unaffected by the enormous torsional pressure that had been exerted on it. Computer modeling had accurately predicted the enormous structural strength of the composite materials used in the Rapido. The Rapido was built to conquer the oceans. Rapido is simply the queen of the oceans. An impressive achievement for the Rapido and another milestone for composites.
Interested?
The vision behind the Rapido: Have you ever had a consuming passion for anything? Paul Koch, co-founder of Rapido Triamarans, certainly does. While trimarans may be a niche market, it is a market that he has essentially dedicated his entire professional life to developing. Paul owned and operated OSTAC yachts (Ocean Sailing Trimarans and Catamarans) from 1986 to 2008 and the trimaran company Corsair Marine from 1994 to 2010. A pioneer known for his passion and vision, Paul has pioneered many innovations in the multihull industry. For most of his career, Paul has worked with James Sganzerla, Operations Director of Rapido Trimarans. Together they have built more than 1,500 production trimarans over a period of 60 years. You would think that 1,500 trimarans later, Paul would have felt he had done everything with trimarans. But not so. Paul was convinced that there was a segment missing from the market: a trimaran that was owner-operated, powerful and cruised at sea – and could be safely crewed by two people. Enter the concept for the world’s fastest production cruising trimaran , the Rapido 60. Armed with this concept, Paul turned to his friend Pete Melvin of world-renowned naval architects Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering . Their task was to develop the design and construction for the Rapido 60. The Designers – Morrelli & Melvin: Rapido Trimarans believes that Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering is the best qualified and most professional multihull design / engineering company in the world. Morelli & Melvin don’t just sit in the design office. They actually sail and build boats. Combined with their state of the art engineering work behind America’s Cup campaigns and other world famous projects, we believe they have the perfect balance of technical knowledge and practical experience. They then designed the Rapido 60 (followed by the Rapido 50 and Rapido 40) and gave Paul the plans to start building it.
The builder
The builder – Triac Composites: Triac Composites is the manufacturing arm of Rapido Trimarans. It was established in Vietnam in 2014 by Paul and co-founder Richard Eyre to build the Rapidos. Importantly, Triac is intentionally diversifying its revenue streams by opening up to both general and non-marine marine industries. While Triac Composites are specialists in building sailboats, we are also specialists in working with composites, regardless of the industry in which they are used. Composites are particularly well suited to the marine industry as they are lightweight, super strong, non-corrosive in salty environments and can be molded into virtually any shape. These properties are in high demand throughout the marine sector in general, as well as in other industries. Accordingly, as Triac Composites’ production capacity (e.g. Kuka Robot, autoclave, CNC machine, manpower, etc.) has increased, our order book has become very diverse and robust. Triac Composites has an international management team and technical staff. We employ nearly 100 people locally – many of whom have been with Paul since he opened a composites manufacturing facility in Vietnam in 2006.
The Designers – Morrelli & Melvin: Rapido Trimarans believes that Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering is the best qualified and most professional multihull design / engineering company in the world. Morelli & Melvin don’t just sit in the design office. They actually sail and build boats. Combined with their state of the art engineering work behind America’s Cup campaigns and other world famous projects, we believe they have the perfect balance of technical knowledge and practical experience. They then designed the Rapido 60 (followed by the Rapido 50 and Rapido 40) and gave Paul the plans to start building it.
The designers
More information
The vision behind the Rapido: Have you ever had a consuming passion for anything? Paul Koch, co-founder of Rapido Triamarans, certainly does. While trimarans may be a niche market, it is a market that he has essentially dedicated his entire professional life to developing. Paul owned and operated OSTAC yachts (Ocean Sailing Trimarans and Catamarans) from 1986 to 2008 and the trimaran company Corsair Marine from 1994 to 2010. A pioneer known for his passion and vision, Paul has pioneered many innovations in the multihull industry. For most of his career, Paul has worked with James Sganzerla, Operations Director of Rapido Trimarans. Together they have built more than 1,500 production trimarans over a period of 60 years. You would think that 1,500 trimarans later, Paul would have felt he had done everything with trimarans. But not so. Paul was convinced that there was a segment missing from the market: a trimaran that was owner-operated, powerful and cruised at sea – and could be safely crewed by two people. Enter the concept for the world’s fastest production cruising trimaran, the Rapido 60. Armed with this concept, Paul turned to his friend Pete Melvin of world-renowned naval architects Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering . Their task was to develop the design and construction for the Rapido 60. The designers – Morrelli & Melvin: Rapido Trimarans believes that Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering is the best qualified and most professional multihull design / engineering company in the world. Morelli & Melvin don’t just sit in the design office. They actually sail and build boats. Combined with their state of the art engineering work behind America’s Cup campaigns and other world famous projects, we believe they have the perfect balance of technical knowledge and practical experience. They then designed the Rapido 60 (followed by the Rapido 50 and Rapido 40) and gave Paul the plans to start building it.