Come Fly...
with the SPORT
The deep monocoque design is a little more evident in this photo! The 'deep' main hull allows the beams to be mounted higher to avoid wave strike. It's drier and offers better headroom without compromising design ethics.
This is the flat bottom of the Airplay Series. It's as flat as a water ski and works in a similar fashion. The faster you go the more it 'lifts'. It lifts you go faster! Flat on the main hull also means it stays upright when you park it on the beach! NOTE: the rocker profile on the main hull really kicks up in the back of the boat. This shape sucks the transom of the boat down a bit when you're running fast. As it 'sucks' it down, the front of the boat can lift so that it's easier to drive downwind!
Sport Dimensions
LOA: 9.20m (30’ 2”)
Beam: 6.88m (22’ 7”)
Beam folded: 2.50m (8' 2")
Draft (hull only): 0.46m (1' 6")
Mast length: 12.5m (41')
Dry Weight: 1,345kg (2965 lbs)
Hull: E-Glass Vinylester with foam core
Recommended
Outboard: 9hp
Tohatsu Mainsail: 37.8 sqm 406 sq tf
Jib: 21.37 sqm 230 sq ft
Code zero: 39.3 sqm 423 sq ft
Asymmetric: 90 sqm 968 sq ft
It took two southern hemisphere men and one from the 'north' to get the AIRPLAY Trimaran series to see the light of day. Ian Farrier pioneered the folding trimaran. It was quite sometime ago when the Farrier's hit the water for the first time and it proved to be a success due to the easy portability.
In the modern world trimarans are the record breakers, but what works for them on the water works against them in the marina. A wide beam allows a powerful platform but marina's charge excess for the added beam. However, if you can fold then you really have the best of both world's.
Ian Farrier's designs have become legendary thanks to what they offer in versatility. But the advent of the modern record-setting trimaran highlighted the need for more performance shapes in hulls, floats, rigs and beams. And so what was envisioned was a more modern interpretation of a performance folding trimaran, one that looked more racey, offered scintillating performance and yet could be packed up a towed on a road trailer by an average car.
Accomplishing that is no easy task and goes a long way to proving the genius of Ian Farrier's original thought. First of all, the modern trimaran needs enough buoyancy in the floats to support the entire sailing platform and sailing loads. Then the float has to be able to fold snuggly against the side of the main hull so that it can fit flat on a trailer. Then the floats have to be able to be manually pushed into position for sailing. Finding the right combination of float buoyancy and practicality is tricky business.
Airplay's design brief was for a truly modern folding trimaran. One that would be as captivating to sail as it was practical to own. Thirty feet was chosen as the best length as being the maximum you would want to put on a trailer and tow it yourself. At thirty feet you have enough space for a comfortable interior and a waterline long enough to get you upwind at a good pace.
Here's where the market splits. Some sailors want pure performance. Others want good performance combined with comfort enough for a family to enjoy sailing together and weekends away.
Soon it became obvious that it was two different platforms and so the RAW went to the racing edge while the SPORT series went to the second group of sailors that enjoy a dual purpose machine.
SPORT gets a bigger wider cabin that sits on the same hull shapes as the RAW Rocket.
SPORT+ adds an aft cabin for even more sleeping accommodations in the already cavernous interior.
But since AIRPLAY make the full carbon infused RAW Rocket, why not add RAW's weaponry to the SPORT series? This makes the HYBRID and includes RAW's carbon rig and even full carbon construction on the SPORT. Best of both worlds? You bet!
The original concept of the Airplay series was developed in a collaboration between Tony Grainger and Corsair Trimarans. At that stage, Corsair were looking to replace their existing C31 with a new model. Two years of work between the Corsair factory and Grainger Designs resulted in a corporate decision to "not go ahead". So Tony Grainger scooped up the last two years of his life into his arms and walked away.
Will it prove to be a decisive point in the history of folding trimarans? Only time will tell.