BOAT FEATURE
WORLD FAMOUS SAILING LA VAGABONDE
UPGRADES TO RAPIDO 60
The world’s most exciting sailing news is the long awaited decision that Sailing La Vagabonde will sail the world’s oceans aboard a Rapido 60.
R
apido is filling a segment in the market that is missing: a trimaran that is owner-operated, powerful, ocean-cruising, and can be safely crewed by two. The concept for the world’s fastest production cruising trimaran is designed by world-acclaimed naval architects, Morrelli & Melvin. SLV comprises an Australian couple, Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu and their two young children. Each week, they bring their adventures to our phones, desktops and iPads via their YouTube videos. They began documenting their evolving journey on YouTube back in 2014 with a single-hull vessel. After a time, they upgraded to a twin-hull vessel. For the last 18-24 months, the couple have been researching which boat would become the future of their sailing story, and would proudly wear the title Sailing La Vagabonde III. With the extraordinary reach and exposure of Sailing La Vagabonde, perhaps the Rapido represents the future of sailing. Riley and Elayna explain why and how the Rapido 60, a three-hulled 6o’ (18m) trimaran, met their criteria. The Rapido sails unbelievably well, which is the main thrust behind all of their decision-making. When they tested the boat in New Zealand, it was clear the boat was going to sail well. The test confirmed the boat was beautiful and very well made. Initially, they were worried about the amount of space on board. However, once they were on board, this concern was perfectly fine. Riley describes the fore cabin as being “massive” with a “huge” bed. When you’re standing in the saloon, it’s actually a huge room. During the test sail, the couple were convinced the boat could move at lightning speed. With just one hand on the helm, they were travelling under sail, maintaining speed at 25.7 knots. Even at that fast speed, it was only slightly heeling over. A Rapido trimaran only gets a heel of up to 15 degrees, this is important as they both want to travel safely while at a good pace. They said that when they were travelling at 20 knots, it felt like they were only going at 10 knots, and it also felt like they had so much more power sitting in reserve. One thing that was really important with the trimaran was that Riley will have the ability to sail it single-handed, when Elayna cares for the two children on the boat. The Rapido trimarans are stable boats that do not heel, ideal for long distances, short sprints and the passage between. They are ideal for discovering places that others cannot venture to when you sneak up alongside a secluded beach or glide over a reef. The draft of the Rapido 60 is just 0.75m with the rudder and daggerboard retracted. Having the flexibility to power up and sail away from bad weather systems is paramount. The Rapido can be sailed short-handed with centralised systems, Karver reefing hooks, self-tacking furling jibs, furling reacher and
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JAN - MARCH 2022
