Golden Multi Roz

A Dozen Were Expected, but in the End, They Were Only Four...

The number of boats expected to attend this get-together back in mid-September was well into double figures. The prevailing wind round here is slightly north of west and should have made for an easy passage for the majority of the boats coming round from south Brittany. However, as is so often the case in this neck of the woods, the weather had other ideas. With northeasterlies forecast the week before and southwesterlies the week after, it would have meant a pretty unpleasant trip in both directions. So, with the weather conspiring against them, ultimately just four multihulls made it to the event, Bamatasi, Fleet, Nemo and Perros Guirec.

The Golden Oldies Multihull Association Commitment

Racing multihulls are somewhat of a paradox. They begin life with pomp and ceremony, often sacrifice and always hard work. Their grace and fame quickly capture the public imagination as they become sporting legends. Though as time goes on, technological advances lead to new and more exciting trimarans and catamarans for fans to focus on, so what happens next? What becomes of that previous generation? Are they like cruising multihulls that get handed down over the years to owners without the budget to buy a new or more recent model? Well, it’s not quite the same, and this is where the Golden Oldies Multihulls Association has its origins. This is a community made up of people who are passionate about multihulls that have marked the history of yachting or that illustrate an important step in naval architecture. The Association’s mission is to find, save, restore and sail these exceptional multihulls that raced in decades past. It has no commercial purpose, and its members are all volunteers. They’re keen to point out that despite their heritage, these craft are not meant to be restored to concours condition and kept as museum pieces, but rather, to be used as they were intended.

Three Days of Festivities Ashore and on the Water

The Golden Multi Roz took place over the course of three days, the first of which, the Friday, was out on the water. With only three boats taking part in the racing, it was always going to be more of a friendly, Corinthian-style regatta than a fiercely contested race. But a good time was had by all, and that’s exactly what this is all about. The Saturday saw all the multihulls alongside in the marina, giving the public an opportunity to meet the skippers and crews, discover the boats themselves, learning about their history as well as the work of the Association. And throughout the whole of September, there was an exhibition of photos and videos of these pioneering boats and the people who sailed them, held at Perros Guirec’s tourism office. There was also a display of models at the harbormaster’s office.

It’s reassuring to see the efforts of the Golden Oldies Association in saving and maintaining this part of our maritime heritage, though the boats that attended the Golden Multi Roz were all on a human scale – boats that can be handled, hauled out, repaired, etc. by us ordinary sailors and by regular boatyards. But what of today’s racing multihulls, the foilers and the Ultims, that seem so futuristic to us now – what will have come of them in 30 or 40 years’ time? Let’s hope that the Association will be there carrying on the good work. And having great fun doing it too!

The Multihulls of the Multi Roz: Three Newick-designed Trimarans and a pirogue

Perros-Guirec: On Course for the Route du Rhum!

Golden Oldies member Thierry Roger aboard his trimaran.

Perros-Guirec is always ready to eat up the miles!

Nemo: In Aluminium and Composite

A little further along on the pontoons was Nemo, a 38-foot Newick trimaran owned by a Franco-British couple, Matt Theobold and his partner Enora. The central hull is aluminum, while the floats are composite. They bought her in near-wreck condition in 2019 after she was found abandoned in a field in the south of France. The new owners simply couldn’t resist, and just three days after buying her, she was afloat and under way back to the UK. Matt and Enora have been racing her while gradually undertaking renovations. This task is perhaps not as daunting for the couple as it might be for the rest of us, Matt being the boatyard manager at the Multihull Centre (near Plymouth, UK), home to the renowned Dazcat brand. He spent most of his childhood around the yard and has multihulls in his blood, and Nemo, Matt and Enora are now a regular feature at all the multihull gatherings in the south-west of England. In contrast to the other boats attending, conditions for their passages across the Channel to and from the Golden Multi Roz were near perfect, their homeport close to Plymouth being almost due north of Perros-Guirec.

Naval Architect: Dick Newick
Restored: since 2019
Length: 36’1” (11 m)
Beam: 26’3” (8 m)
Displacement: 9,900 lbs (4,490 kg)

Nemo had sailed across the English Channel to attend the event.

Matt and Enora aboard their Newick- designed trimaran.

Fleet: Newick’s #79 Design Already Had Foils!

The weather was fine for the dockside visits. The unique gull-wing design of the connecting arms, typical of Dick Newick, is particularly striking.

Sure, they look a bit rustic, but they’re definitely foils…

Bamatasi: Samoan Fishing Pirogue

Bamatasi: like a dragonfly in the port of Perros-Guirec.

The Samoan pirogue designed and built by Christian Campi.