Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu, YouTube stars with their two children Lenny and Darwin, are leaving their Outremer home to pursue their adventures aboard a Rapido 60. With 1.76 million subscribers on their channel, it’s an understatement to say that this is a huge publicity coup for the manufacturer, that has been somewhat lacking in terms of communication until now. It’s also an opportunity to (re) discover this specialist that works in a very specific niche, that of large folding or dismantlable trimarans.
The Rapido Trimarans team of Paul Koch and Richard Eyre, founders of the shipyard, has several decades of experience in the construction of various types of multihulls, including subcontracting. Their primary aim is to produce light and modular craft - folding floats and using carbon construction - which contributes to the creation of a successful concept. Without forgetting, of course, the performance and stability of a successful trimaran. “The whole Rapido trimaran concept came about because we felt the world needed a larger, more roomy, cruising trimaran with good living space that delivered great performance,” explained Paul. In fact, the current production of folding trimarans stalls at the 40-foot mark, with the Corsair 37 and the Dragonfly 40.

The Triac Composites site in Hoh Chi Minh City is home to an impressive Kuka milling robot.
Rapido boss Paul Koch, a very tall Australian, demonstrating the headroom in the new 40.
The Soai Rap River is the sea road for trade in Hoh Chi Minh City.

Rapido… the name says it all

Over the years, I’ve watched the steady development of what is one of the few cruiser-racer trimaran designs. Back in 2016 I recall racing against Rapido 60 Hull #01 at the King’s Cup in Thailand and being impressed. During that regatta, the R60 overtook the TP52 fleet on a hard beat clocking 16 knots speed. The four crew were relaxing on the nets while the 16-person crew on the TP52 were on the rail! In another race, an IRC 1 monohull tried to luff the R60 up and failed. So, the pointing abilities of the R60 is right up there with racing monohulls.

When mentioning multihull design, the prolific names of Morelli and Melvin often appears. They applied the latest technology in designing all three Rapido models including their use of computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis, and velocity prediction programs. “The innovation in design comes with the layout of the main hull and reaching the balance between beam, draught and trim to carry the accommodation without too much compromise on performance,” said Pete Melvin. 

YouTubers Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu out on sea trials on a Rapido 60.

Foldable and dismantlable

Rapido overcomes the main issue faced by trimarans - berthing - by using folding amas on the 40 and 50. Separately, the Rapido 60 has a unique and innovative design that enables the beams to be readily unplugged for shipping. The folding ...