Trimaran

A trimaran is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Trimarans are most commonly sail-driven yachts designed for recreation or racing, but there are a few trimaran ferries and warships.

The name "trimaran" is a 20th-century word concocted from "Tri" and "(Cata)maran". It is thought to have been invented by Victor Tchetchet, a pioneering, Ukrainian-born modern multihull designer.

The first trimarans were built by indigenous Polynesians and other Pacific islanders almost 4,000 years ago, and some of the current US terminology is derived from them. Sailing catamarans and trimarans gained popularity during the 1960s and 1970s.

Amateur development of the modern sailing trimaran started in 1945 with the efforts of Victor Tchetchet, a Ukrainian émigré to the US, who built two trimarans made of marine plywood, which were about 24 feet long. He is credited with coining the term, "trimaran." In the 1950s and 60s, Arthur Piver designed and built plywood kit trimarans, which were adopted by other homebuilders, but were heavy and not sea-kindly by modern standards. Some of these achieved ocean crossings, nonetheless. Other designers followed, including Jim Brown, Ed Horstman, John Marples, Jay Kantola, Chris White, Norman Cross, Derek Kelsall and Richard Newick, thus bringing the trimaran cruiser to new levels of performance and safety.

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