Thought I would share an experience I had while evacuated from LA for Hurricane Gustav. I stayed in Gulf Breeze, FL and while there had the opportunity to sail Cliff Farrah's new Weta trimaran (www.wetamarine.com) at FWYC.

The Weta trimaran is a 14' FG/foam/epoxy platform with a carbon mast, carbon bowsprit, carbon beam tubes, carbon rudder and daggerboard, full battened boomless mylar mainsail, mylar jib, and a roller furling spinnaker/screacher. The main and jib are combined around 100 ft2 and the screacher is 60 ft2. The overall weight of the boat is 200 lbs.

I was pessimistic in my expectations of this boat so the actual sailing experience was a big surprise. The best sailing experience is when it is fun and easy. This boat does both extremely well and feels quite "sophisticated". I sailed with my girlfriend on the boat in 6-14 knots of wind on two afternoons. Our combined crew weight was around 265 lbs. In over 8 knots of wind, the center hull (which is very skiff like) started to plane upwind. The boat appears to have a tacking angle around 95 degrees. We had a Velocitek GPS on board and in 10-12 knots, we were doing 8-9 knots upwind. Downwind with the screacher, we were seeing 9-11 knots, our top speed for the two days was 15 knots. The builder advertises a maximum crew carrying capacity of 400 lbs. I would think it could be raced competitively in the range of 240-300 lbs which potentially makes it a great teenager, guy/girl, parent/kid, or spouses boat.

You can sail seated on the trampoline with your feet in the center hull **** or if you want to avoid the spray, move out to the weather ama. You don't have to hike. The epoxy construction makes the boat very stiff (I saw no appreciable flexing). The finish quality was excellent. Some of the running rigging was a bit lame but it could be easily and cheaply upgraded by the owner. The total cost of the package with a launching dolly and yard cover is right at $10K.

The boat can be sailed/raced double- or singlehanded. In New Zealand where it was introduced, they race both single- and doublehanded fleets separate.

The Portsmouth rating is 81.2 singlehanded and 87.2 doublehanded. That's pretty quick for a 14' overall length boat and faster in comparison to the majority of monohull dinghies raced in my area. Some might think it would feel too small for two adults at that length but it does not seem that way at all and I think that is because the trimaran width makes it feel bigger.

My girlfriend and I are really too light for a doublehanded beach catamaran. She has a desire to race some type of doublehanded dinghy and this boat seems much more fun (and easier to sai) than a Snipe, V-15, or JY-15. The price seems like a great value considering the carbon content and the epoxy construction. We may be very interested in getting one.

The boat currently has only one distributor in the US and they are selling each one they bring in so far.