Skipper’s View

exciting news that Sailing Today and Yachts & Yachting will continue as one magazine from now on. Thank you for all your positive feedback – sailing is a broad church and there are many good things that come from looking at the sport multihull. I recall that at the tender age of 10 or so, I decided that I was going to be a yacht designer. In these early days I experimented with wooden models of varied hull forms and sailed them on a nearby pond - slowly. That was until I stumbled on some balsa and a book all about Tony Bullimore's trimaran Apricot. Suddenly model boat sailing was transformed by boats that made me sprint around the pond to intercept. Later the neighbour's dog ate my two balsa trimarans and clearly, psychologically, i haven't quite recovered. Later still I became a sailing instructor and was able to give clients a choice between Hobie Cats or Lasers for their lessons. Every time I would pray for the Hobie as it was joyous and exhilarating. By this time it was thoroughly lodged in my head that multihulls were essentially all about the fun. It was only when I test sailed my first cruising multihull for this magazine that I realised that there was something else to multihulls. Because, of course multihulls can supply accommodation more roomy than many London apartments. Unfortunate;ly, some of these early boats handled with all the poise of said apartment. Yet things are definitely changing and, these days, cruising multihulls can deliver rides