FIRST TEST CORSAIR 880

Building on the success of the legendary F-27, the all-new Corsair 880 represents the state of the art in sporty, trailable trimarans

- David Harding

Some boat tests are more memorable than others. Sometimes it's the boat, sometimes the weather and sometimes a combination of the two. When I tested the Corsair 880, it was definitely a combination of the two. Our choice of day was limited for several reasons, so we could only choose what looked to be the best on offer. The forecast up until 12 hours ahead was for 12-14 knots of wind and plenty of sun, as had been predicted for several days. In the morning it changed to include the possibility of a few showers.

The first part of my drive east to Southampton was through torrential rain spreading in from the west. I eventually got ahead of it, and the first 45 minutes or so of our sail, before the rain caught up, was in the dry. Then the sky turned black, the wind kicked in and the heavens opened, staying open for the next three hours.

While it was still dry and not too wild, we made the most of it. Robert Barker, the owner of Threee (there’s a reason for the third ‘e’), gave me the helm as we unfurled the Code Zero (screecher) and set off down Southampton Water with about 12 knots of wind on the beam. The breeze picked up as we went and a few gusts came through, topping out at about 16-17 knots. We had to sail as high as we could to make it all the way down to the Solent without having to furl the Code Zero back in and harden up under plain sail, so the apparent wind was well forward of the beam. I kept an eye open upwind for the gusts, and the boat leapt ahead as they hit.