For sailors driven by pure performance, the transition to family cruising can often feel like a massive compromise. If you’ve spent years racing and managing a serious offshore program, or “campaigning,” as it’s known in the racing world, aboard a stripped-down Class 40 monohull (used for shorthanded offshore and coastal racing), the prospect of slow, heavy cruising monohulls or sluggish, boxy catamarans isn’t just uninspiring… it’s a dealbreaker.

So, how do you balance the need for impressive performance and offshore safety with the comfort required for family adventures?

We recently sat down with our newest future owner of the Rapido 50 (Hull #04). As an experienced offshore racer who has spent years on the limit, he shared his unfiltered journey from “offshore camping” to discovering the ultimate sweet spot in performance cruising, the Rapido 50, a platform already globally celebrated as Multihull of the Year and winner of the Australian Multihull Championships.

Below are our questions and his answers.

[Video below: file footage of Rapido 50 #02 sailing “faster thnan the wind”.]

The Q&A: Leaving “Offshore Camping” Behind

What do you currently sail?

I campaigned a Class 40 for many years. Recently, I downsized to a Corsair, which was the first multihull I’ve ever owned. But it set the hook.

How did you find out about Rapido?

Rapido came up during the process of looking for options that balance speed, sea kindliness, and a platform that can support family adventures. Class 40s fit the first two but definitely not the last!

As we looked into the different options and continued our due diligence, it became apparent that Rapido fitted the niche quite well. Not only does it have a proven track record in competition, it also has sufficient amenities to be a real upgrade from the off-shore camping we were used to.

Why the Rapido 50?

(We looked at the whole range.) The Rapido 40 would be a good fit if we were doing mostly coastal and regional racing – but our idea is to cross oceans. At the other end, the Rapido 60 looks great as well, but it’s likely to be more than what we need. The Rapido 50 strikes the right mix of size for safety and comfort offshore as well as simplicity for sailing short-handed.

The classic debate: Monohull, Catamaran, or Trimaran?

I’ve always been intrigued by multihulls and figured that if we got one, it would be a trimaran and not a cat. I am happy to swap the luxury of accommodation that cats provide for the speed, safety, comfort at sea, and pointing ability of a trimaran.

In terms of another monohull, it was hard to consider going slower and still having to live with a heel of 15-20 degrees for days on end.

I keep hearing about coffee mugs that stay in one place on trimarans… I’m looking forward to that experience!

What are your sailing plans with your new R50?

Reality keeps getting in the way of sailing. Both my partner and I have jobs, and I have kids at home so we wanted to figure out a way to get 10 gallons into a 5 gallon bucket.

Our hope is to cruise around Thailand and then head to Cape Town, put the boat away and go back to work. We will then return to round the Cape and head west and north (crossing the Equator). We’ll have to make a decision at that point – left turn through the Panama Canal and into the South Pacific – which is a dream – or up into the Caribbean and maybe over to Europe…

Our hope is that our wives and kids will join us in all these different places for some local sailing, exploring, diving, and adventures.

Editor’s Note: Embracing the pure racing ethos of his Class 40 background, the owner has opted for fixed beams on Hull #04 instead of the standard folding system. Since he plans to bypass marinas in favor of pure blue-water cruising, this customization reduces both weight and complexity. Hull #04 is the first fixed-beam Rapido 50.

How will you spend the next 18 months preparing for the arrival of the boat?

We have some work to do customizing the deck layout and sail plan as well as the electronics.

Beyond that we’ll be doing quite a bit of weather work figuring out passages and will probably go to the yard in Vietnam (Triac Composites) a couple of times during construction. In the meantime, we’ll try to not spend too much time dreaming about 300+ mile days in the tropics…

3D Virtual Tour, Rapido 50

Click on picture to play. Note panoramic visibility in the saloon.

Validation of a Passion: The Concept behind Rapido

Dreaming of big sailing days in the tropics without sacrificing family comfort is a tall order. But for Rapido co-founder Paul Koch, hearing a seasoned offshore campaigner map out this exact dream is the ultimate validation of a lifelong passion.

Years ago, when Paul and his co founder Richard Eyre first set out to design and build a new breed of larger cruising trimarans, they did so to solve this exact performance-versus-comfort dilemma. The mission was clear-cut, as shown in the quote below from 2021:

“The whole Rapido trimaran concept came about because we felt the world needed a larger, roomier, cruising trimaran with good living space that delivered great performance.”

— Paul Koch, Co-Founder of Rapido Trimarans (via Boating New Zealand magazine)

We are incredibly proud to welcome our newest owners and their families to the Rapido fold. With delivery set for the end of 2027, this will be a steady, highly deliberate build. We cannot wait to watch this historic Rapido 50 take shape at our yard in Vietnam. Eventually, we will watch her fly across the Indian Ocean, into the Atlantic – and then to the South Pacific. Or Europe. Or elsewhere.