The History of Trimarans, PCI, Telstar and Tony Smith

[Ron]

Written by Will, from the 1st issue of the newsletter -

An Industry is Born

Given the opportunity to provide a short article in this inaugural Telstar Owners Association newsletter, we thought it would be of interest to owners to learn about the modern history of production trimarans and the origins of the Telstar in particular. The intention is to provide a series of articles spanning several newsletters that will culminate in an article detailing how the Telstar 28 came into production with an eye toward multihull history.

Most trimaran enthusiasts are aware of Arthur Piver who is known as the “father of the modern trimaran.” Piver was a WWII fighter pilot, amateur sailor, and print-shop owner in Sausalito, California. In the 1950’s and 60’s Piver designed and built a series of simple three-hulled sailboats constructed from plywood. Around 1960, Piver single-handedly sailed one of his 30’ designs from Swansee, Massachusetts to the Azores and on to Plymouth, England. This trip went a long way to proving the inherent sea worthiness of Piver’s designs and trimarans in general.

Nearly as soon as Piver set foot on land at Plymouth, Nobby Clarke, a car salesman from Cox Automobiles (soon to become Cox Marine), shook Piver’s hand and struck a deal to build and sell Piver Trimarans throughout Europe. The cruising multihull industry was thus born.

Not content to just sell completed boats, Piver sold plan drawings for a range of plywood trimarans ranging from the 16’ Frolic to the 65’ Empress. Piver firmly believed that any practical person with some common sense and diligence could build a trimaran capable of sailing around the world. The do-it-yourself concept and Piver designs were immensely popular and inspired thousands of novices to build and sail their own trimarans - each one tweaked with whatever the owner though important and worthwhile.

At the ripe old age of 19, Tony Smith bought a set of Piver Trimaran plans and proceeded to build a 24’ Nugget trimaran in a shed in East Anglia, England. Throughout the Winter of 1964, Tony completed the boat and single-handedly sailed the boat 500 miles from the east coast of England to west coast of France and back. With the knowledge associated with building the boat and experience of sailing the design, Tony was invited to join with Eric Willis of Cox Marine in the first two-handed, 2000 mile Round Britain Race in 1966. Smith and his partner managed to finish 4th out of a fleet of 36 boats.

Within a year, Tony took to designing his own 26’ trimaran with the intention of racing in the 1968 single-handed Transatlantic. The race required that each skipper have a minimum of 500 miles of single-handed sailing just to qualify. Tony’s first design, dubbed the Endeavor, consisted of plywood construction and was designed to self-right and self-steer. “It’s interesting to look back and consider all that has happened following the simple act of putting pen to paper and designing a trimaran,” says Tony.

Despite all the construction, sailing, and extensive preparations, Tony did not end up racing in the 1968 Transatlantic. He had a little idea about trimarans... about which we’ll tell you in the next issue.

[Ron]

From the never published 2nd issue of the newsletter, as written by Will -

THEORY BEHIND ORIGINAL TELSTAR HULL SHAPES

In 1969 Tony Smith was 25 years old and had built two 25 ft trimarans and raced 3000 miles round Britain in a 33 ft trimaran. Smith had developed a vast store of knowledge about trimarans and their behavior in varying sea states. As Tony describes, “I was ready to make the next quantum leap in design.” Up to that point, most trimarans had been built using flat sheets of plywood which had been the latest technology developed after the war. Fiberglass was only beginning to make its way into boat building.

Tony’s design criteria for a 26’ trimaran included 4 person accommodation, standing head room, load carrying, maneuverability, good looks and speed. Of course, Smith was also out to create a more reliable design as the early plywood trimarans had a terrible reputation for falling apart. Using fiberglass technology, Smith could now make a round hull that has the least wetted surface making for a faster boat.
To go to windward it is necessary to have bows that do not get stopped as they plough into a wave. The early Telstar had wave piercing bows. The bows were as high as possible so that all three hulls would not hit a wave at the same time during a tack which would bringing the boat to a dead stop. The sides of the outrigger were vertical to minimize the deck area with the keels semi circular. The Telstar bow would cut through waves unlike the early plywood trimarans that were a “V” shape with a large deck. These trimarans would have a large reserve of buoyancy at the deck that would stop the boat dead when it hit the wave or at the least create a hobby horse effect.

Telstar had outriggers that were almost the same length as the main hull. In this way it was possible to raise the gunwale for style so that the side profile of the boat looked good even with 6 ft head room in the cabin of the main hull. Even today if one were to raise the cabin on any other 27 ft trimaran to get 6ft head room, the boat would look ungainly with unshapely design lines.

The side profile of the keel of the outrigger was shaped to keep only the middle in the water at rest and would immerse the whole length of the outrigger when sailing as the wind increased, at the same time lifting the windward outrigger out of the water. The transoms are narrow to reduce drag as the whole outrigger is immersed in stronger winds. The forward part of the outrigger keel is at a 5 deg dead rise to create dynamic lift at speed.

From information supplied by the amateur yacht research society Smith deduced that the main hull had to be 8 to 1 length to beam ratio to get as much load carrying with a semi circular hull section below water. The outriggers needed to be at least 12 to 1 length to beam ratio. The 8 to 1 ratio hull was similar to a planning dinghy with a hull limitation that it could plane over with minimum wetted surface. The 12 to 1 ratio outrigger hull had no hull limitation. Wetted surface at low speed was the enemy which was why Smith tried to get the outrigger out of the water at slows speed.

To tack quickly the hulls have to turn in the water. The original plywood hulls had a V bottom that could not rotate in the water, just like the flat sided original Hobi catamaran which also would not tack. A hull with a semi-circular hull below water can allow water to move sideways under the bow in one direction and the flat keel in the other direction and will therefore spin easily. If the outer hull only have the center section in the water and all shapes are rounded them again the boat can tack easily.

Throughout this early phase of design, Smith was living with his parents. He pinned up designs all over the house showing different drawings of Telstar. “I believed that if it looked right it probably was,” says Smith of his early designs.
Smith built the prototype Telstar in his parent’s garage. The “shop” even included an oven to shape ridged foam for the foam sandwich construction to produce the necessary shapes. Smith did not want to accept a compromise shape because of material constraints. The first Telstar was built solid at 15 ft beam.

The first sail of Telstar was “unbelievable.” Almost immediately it reached 15 knots. It was faster than any racing cat, tacked like a dinghy and went to windward better than any mono hull. The accommodation was better than any 26 ft Folk-boat which was a very popular mono hull at the time.

Telstar was a true revolution - winning every race and it was pure fun to sail. Of course the first boat was very light being built of foam sandwich construction. That was one of the reasons it went like a scolded cat. A year later, Smith built the first set of fiberglass molds and went into production.