NEEL 50

We might as well say it straight away: the Neel bears absolutely no resemblance to the other multihulls aboard which I have had the opportunity to sail until now. It offers more than one distinctive feature. Firstly, it is a trimaran. Everyone knows that trimarans are generally dedicated to performance and racing, rather than cruising, even if there are some notable exceptions; Multihulls World readers are very familiar with Callisto, the Morel family’s trimaran, which a few years ago sailed round the world at top speed. Paille en Queue is a nice Briand design, dedicated to cruising. But the true ancestor of the Neel was of course Architeuthis, Gérard Pesty’s boat (see box). The Neel has a very clear ambition, to offer trimaran lovers the advantages of a cat, namely its liveability, whilst conserving the seakeeping qualities of the trimaran, its ability to sail to windward and at the same time offer the very pleasant impression at the helm of sailing a boat which heels slightly, an impression specific to boats with one hull (monohulls, and trimarans with one hull and two floats), as against the two hulls of a catamaran. More than one person has been surprised by its volumes: see...