For several months now we have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Rapier 550. Broadblue entrusted the design to Darren Newton (and Nick Bailey) who also undertook the build, at the Multimarine yard. This fact, combined with a very advanced specification, has all the makings of an exceptional project. We set off for Portsmouth (UK) for a two-day test, including the famous Round the Island Race (round the Isle of Wight), with more than 1,500 boats on the startline.
Practical information
- The builder : Broadblue Catamarans
- The spec sheet
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Broadblue, re-emerging ambition!
England is part of a very close-knit club of countries pioneering the rediscovery of multihulls. Pat Patterson (Heavenly Twins), Tom Lack (Catalac), the Prout brothers (Snowgoose), James Wharram then Derek Kelsall and Nigel Irens have been the standard-bearers for this adventure, which has cleared the way for many architectural styles in both racing and cruising. By the late nineties this was starting to fizzle out a little, leading to a crisis: most of these “English cats” were running out of steam in the commercial world. Despite…
