Reichel/Pugh Design No. 288, 45' Performance Cruising Trimaran Trinity, is a custom trimaran completely designed in-house, constructed at New Zealand Yachting Developments, with an interior plan by R/P and styling and furniture detailing by superyacht masters Design Unlimited. A thoughtful adaptive design filled with beautifully integrated accessibility features to enable single-handed cruising and racing. A hydraulic mainsheet, furling main and jib and powered winches provide safe and barrier-free sail handling. She launched December 2022, was trialed by the owner Terri Nelson in Waitemata Harbour, Auckland at Christmastime and is scheduled to deliver home to Southern California February 2023.
Owner Terri Nelson fell for sailing on a 14-foot Hobie cat and went on to develop her blue water skills during yearly trips to the Caribbean and South Pacific for over a decade.
"I became enamored by the art of sailing,"
Terri explains. In reflecting on the impetus of her new trimaran, “eventually, I transitioned from crutches to a wheelchair and it became more difficult to 'monkey around' on a boat or board. Parenting became my next pleasure and a new wonderful chapter opened ashore.
Sailing, however, never left the back of my mind and I began to dream about building a wheelchair accessible boat.”
Years later a chance meeting led Terri to the Reichel/Pugh office, and after a smooth initial meeting the project “felt like it was meant to be.”
“When she came to us, neither one of us had any idea what this boat would look like,” recalls Jim Pugh of Reichel/Pugh. “But it evolved from discussions with her about her past sailing – her experience was on monohulls – and we sort of discussed and sketched up some different concepts. A trimaran offered good feel and sensation while being very stable and sailing at low angles of heel, which is pretty important.”
Access all areas
Trinity is constructed in carbon and foam core to achieve an open structural layout and maximize the useable space for the owner and guests. The entire main deck is accessible including a forward seating cockpit ahead the main saloon.
The helming and sailing controls are also designed to be entirely accessible to Nelson from her wheelchair, with multiple helming positions: two outboard helm stations, and a third inside forward.
Push button powered operation of the doors, hatches and blinds are integrated into a C-zone system along with the other systems onboard.
“Everything is push button. And everything else is [controlled] on an iPad – so the hatches open and close, right down to the screens and the shades.”
One of the key accessibility goals was for Nelson to be able to board the yacht on her own. Hull topside doors aft open to create an adjustable height boarding platform and ramp for access to and from the dock. “Getting off and on is really important, and I want to do it myself. I told them, ‘Make it so that I can go by myself.’ I won’t, I know that – mainly because I can’t dock her. Though I even looked into fenders that kind of go in and out of the hull, but really, you still need somebody else to tie up.”
Besides the access ramp there is also a lowering platform on the transom that Nelson can swim from, cunningly disguised as an aft cockpit seat, and bearing no resemblance to a conventional swimming pool hoist. “The middle of the rear of the boat has the teak seat. You sit on it and it will lower into the water or lower me into the dinghy – but you wouldn’t know that,” she says.
“After sea trials my daughter and I flew to New Zealand and when I first saw the new trimaran, I was speechless. She was beautiful,” Terri reflects.” Every aspect was designed and built for me! Once sailing, the feeling behind the helm was exhilarating.”
https://www.reichel-pugh.com/,https://www.sailworldcruising.com/,https://www.yachtingworld.com/
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