BOATS AT THE CLUB This is another in the series of articles aimed at providing you with an insight into new boats and other boats of interest at the Club. Contact Pat Catley through the Club if you are interested in having your boat featured here.
In early December 2019 a new vessel sailed quietly into Marina East at the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia and was met by a welcoming party from the Multihull Yacht Association of South Australia. The vessel they met was no ordinary vessel. This was a vessel aimed to surprise and excite. She is a trimaran named Venom and is unique in every way. Her owner, Bob Dunn, is delighted with his new boat which will give his crew breathtaking thrills and spectators some wow moments. Venom is a 12.8m T42 Grainger custom design trimaran. She was designed to be a performance blue water cruiser/racer and built to provide the highest possible stability and performance without consideration of rating rules. She is expected to be one of the fastest offshore yachts in Australia and hopes for line honours in most of the races she enters. She has a beam of 10.4 metres, (34 feet) that provides stability and the ability to push the boat hard in any conditions. This means the rest of the boat has to be super strong to withstand the loads.
Why the name Venom? Bob feels that a boat of this calibre needed something with a bit of bite to make your heart race and your body tingle. Under motor or sail she can cover 250-300 nautical miles a day in most conditions and completed the 1400NM trip from the Gold Coast to North Haven with ease though it was just a bit wet around Backstairs Passage. Bob Dunn has been sailing for 52 years starting when he was just five years old. He sailed many small boats: Optimist, Sabot, Mirror, Soling and a J24 plus trailer sailers and small keelboats. Bob first sailed on a trimaran in 1988 and since then has had two boats, Escapade, a 35 foot Nicol design and Venom, a 28 foot folding Grainger design and he has won a few Australian Offshore Multihull and shorthanded titles. His intention is to enjoy sailing and hopefully attract more people, especially young people, to participate in sailing. He’d like to be first across the line as often as possible and hopes to sail from North Haven to Port Vincent in under two hours. However, his main ambition is to have fun.
It took almost two years of construction before Venom was completed and ready for sea trials. She was built by Australian Custom Multihull Yachts on the Gold Coast and construction is of all infused carbon over a divinycell core. She has a 19.4m carbon mast that rotates to help optimise the airflow around the mainsail and de-power the sail if not rotated. Combined with her 200% buoyancy floats and wide beam, she can be pressed hard safely. The highest quality materials were used for Venom’s construction while Ben Kelly of North Sails made the sails. The design allows for rudders in each hull so she can be sailed with the main hull lifting out of the water to reduce drag and, as a safety back up, Venom is intended to be sailed as much as possible on the water rather than through it. Wave piercing float bows reduce pitching and the main hull has a beam-length ratio of 11.1 with the under surfacing being flat to encourage planing. The sail inventory will eventually consist of an upwind screecher, three jibs, a masthead A3 kite and a Code Zero. Venom can be sailed short or single handed when cruising but when racing has a crew of five to seven. She is powered by a 25HP 4 stroke outboard that is fully retractable to reduce drag. Solar panels provide electrical autonomy and lithium batteries minimise weight. The cockpit and raised area around the companionway provide reasonable protection for the crew. Below deck there is full standing headroom, up to six bunks with mattresses, a navigation station, small galley, head/shower as well as excellent ventilation and lighting.
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Thank you Bob for the vast information you have given me for this article and I wish you speedy sailing and happy days ahead. More information about Venom is available from the boat’s website: www.venomsailing.com and Facebook page: www.facebook.com/venomsailing/
Pat Catley
