The Vision behind the Rapido

Have you ever had a consuming passion for anything?

Co founder of Rapido Triamarans, Paul Koch, certainly does.

While trimarans may be a niche market, it is a market that he has essentially devoted his whole working life to developing.

Paul owned and operated OSTAC (Ocean Sailing Trimarans and Catamarans) Yachts from 1986 to 2008 and then the trimaran company, Corsair Marine from 1994 to 2010. Pioneer Paul, renowned for his passion and vision, has been credited with driving many innovations in the multihull industry – especially in building production trimarans.

But Paul had always been convinced that there was a missing segment in the sailing market: an ocean-cruising trimaran that was owner-operated, powerful enough to accelerate out of any potential trouble – and could be safely crewed by two. Enter the concept for the world’s fastest production cruising trimaran, the Rapido 60. Armed with the concept, Paul approached his friend, Pete Melvin, from world-acclaimed naval architects, Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering. Their brief was to develop the design and engineering for the Rapido 60.

The Mission

Rapido is committed “To build the world’s best ocean-cruising trimarans".

The Designers – Morrelli & Melvin

Rapido Trimarans believes Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering is the best qualified and most professional multihull design/engineering company in the world (for a glimpse of the technology they use, click here).

Morelli & Melvin don’t just sit in the design office. They actually sail and build boats.

Combined with their developmental work on cutting edge technology behind America’s Cup campaigns and other world famous projects, we believe they have the perfect balance of technical knowledge and hands-on experience.

Morrelli & Melvin also make use of the latest technology to develop the most efficient designs that include:

• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
• Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
• Velocity Prediction Program (VPP)

To read more about this sophisticated technology, click here.

The Builder – Triac Composites

Triac Composites is the manufacturing arm of Rapido Trimarans.

It was established in Vietnam in 2014 by Paul and co founder, Richard Eyre to build the Rapidos. Importantly, Triac would deliberately diversify its revenue stream by opening itself up to the marine industry more generally as well as non marine.

While Triac Composites are specialists in building sailing boats it is also true that we are specialists in working with composites, irrespective of the industry in which they are used.

Composites are especially well suited to the marine industry because they are light, super strong, non corrosive in salty environments and can be moulded into virtually any shape. These qualities are highly sought after throughout the marine sector more generally as well as other industries.

Accordingly, as Triac Composites’ production capability has increased (eg Kuka Robot, autoclave, CNC machine, labour etc), our order book has become quite varied and robust.

Examples of our composite work includes:

1. Composite plugs and molds
2. Composite superstructures for European ferries
3. Outsourced composite boats (commercial and leisure)
4. Mining equipment
5. Architectural facades
6. Train interiors

Triac Composites has an international management team and technical staff. We employ nearly 100 local staff – many of whom have been with Paul since he first opened a composites manufacturing plant in Vietnam back in 2006.

Holiday in Vietnam and visit factory

Prior to Covid-19, Vietnam had been enjoying stellar growth in its international tourism sector. In 2019, more than 18 million visitors travelled to Vietnam which set a new record.

In January 2020, Google named one of the towns in Vietnam (Danang) as 2020’s Top Trending Travel Destination.

What we are finding is that a number of our international clients would like to visit our factory in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam – and then go for a little holiday in this fantastic country.

Our modern factory (40 minutes from HCMC’s District 1), facilities, equipment and talented staff have impressed each of our visitors.

Visas for Vietnam
Please note, many nationalities will need a visa to enter Vietnam which must be organised in advance. For further information, please visit the Government’s e visa portal.