Ian Farrier first started sailing multihulls virtually by accident, being a twenty year old New Zealand engineering student and monohull sailor, looking for a keelboat to do some offshore cruising.Ian Farrier, a visionary multihull designer best known for his folding trailerable trimarans, died at age 70 on December 10, 2017.
Nothing suitable was available, but then an unfinished 30-foot trimaran was advertised, and this was purchased after some research. After two years of hard work and rebuilding, his first multihull was launched in 1969.
It was not a perfect multihull, but it was reasonably fast and forgiving. However, some design limitations were apparent, and confidence was lacking for a long ocean voyage, so he jumped ship to a 38-foot keelboat bound for Tonga. The contrast in comfort, handling and safety aspects observed during this trip convinced him that a well-designed multihull was the way to go.
In 1972 he arrived in Brisbane, Australia, where the growing popularity of the monohull trailer sailer was noted while crewing on a local trimaran. A trailerable trimaran appeared to have many advantages over trailerable monohulls, so he decided to look at what could be done. Read more.
