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.

Not knowing her capabilities I was reluctant to give her full throttle initially, but she proved so planted in the water that she quickly inspired confidence and we sailed high, fast and fully powered up. Our speed in the lulls rarely dropped into single figures. Much of the time we were making an easy 13-15 knots, topping out at 18 knots in one gust. This was with a crew of just two, neither of us having to exert ourselves unduly.

As I have said before in the context of sporty trimarans, the speed-to-effort ratio (and the ratio of speed to crew numbers) is pretty good. When you sail from the top of Southampton Water, getting down to the Solent can be a long and rather tedious slog. On a boat like this, it can actually be fun.

Following the logic

If you’re familiar with sporty trimarans, you will be aware of their strengths and limitations. Despite their increasing popularity, however, I always feel as though I have to explain a little about their general nature because they still seem to be overlooked – or, perhaps, looked at askance – by many sailors.

The fact that my first Atlantic crossing was two-handed on a 30ft folding trimaran (and we had to endure three days of gale in Biscay along the way) makes me sympathetic to their cause.

Fast foldable tris like the Corsairs can do a lot more than you might imagine, as demonstrated by the Norwegian team that completed a circumnavigation in the Arctic Circle. The speed of the Corsair 31 allowed them to take in the north-east and north-west passages in one season. Its shallow draught and light weight also meant they could haul it up on the ice if crushing became a threat.

If you’re after performance, look no further. One of the boats I have most enjoyed testing is the Corsair Dash 750 (now the 760), a well-sailed example of which zipped around the course in every race of a major UK regatta faster than a full-on 42ft racing monohull campaigned by a professional crew.

Want to sail across an ocean? At least two transatlantics have been completed by the Farrier F-27, the boat that gave birth to the Farrier and Corsair ranges. One F-27 arrived in Hawaii at the end of the TransPac race from California having averaged over 8 knots. Other F-27s have posted impressive results in the TransPac, one of them – sailed singlehanded – hot on the heels of a 40ft monohull.

When Rodney Pattison was the UK Farrier dealer, he campaigned his F-27 with much success – as you might expect of a double Olympic gold medallist. I have raced an F-27 against him, and he made it go very fast. These examples merely give a flavour of how capable and versatile sporty trimarans can be.

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Of course they’re smaller than a typical monohull down below, and fitted out to save weight. You have to sail them sensibly because they’re powerful boats, yet they’re easy to handle on the whole and disinclined to bite. If you’re prepared to explore their potential, you can cover a lot of miles and have an enormous amount of fun.

Gently does it

An important feature of light, fast trimarans is that you don’t have to push them in order to achieve good speeds. We were hardly exploring the limits as we cruised down Southampton Water at 18 knots. The boat felt rock solid, and Mark Jarvis of Multihull World, who was driving the motorboat from which I later took the photos, said the leeward float maintained a very comfortable amount of freeboard.

The floats of today’s trimarans are appreciably larger in relation to the main hull than was the case on boats designed 10 or 20 years ago. The volume of buoyancy has increased for extra righting moment and, importantly, it has moved forward to guard against nose-diving in heavy downwind conditions.

A more recent trend is reverse rake to the stem, in this case on all three hulls. A number of trimarans have reverse bows on the floats but, until the Dragonfly 36 hits the water early in 2025, the Corsair 880 will be almost alone in featuring triple-reverse rake.

Whether or not you approve of this particular development, it seems to work on the Corsair. Robert has encountered far livelier conditions than we had on our test, most notably in the 2023 Round the Island Race. He was carrying full sail as the wind increased to 30 knots on the approach to the Needles.

Waves of well over 10ft (3m) added to the general interest – as those of us who were there will testify – but, with the rig de-powered and the heaviest crew member assigned to ballast duty on the windward hull, everything was fine, including the critical bear-away.

Efficiency plus

By comparison, we had a pretty gentle time in the Solent – rain notwithstanding. The nearest weather station, at Hill Head, recorded gusts of up to 27 knots, though the strength and direction probably differed in locations 100 yards apart.

They were so variable that it was hard to set the boat up for what we had at any given moment before the wind picked up or decreased by 10 knots or headed or lifted us 30 degrees.

What I did establish is that the Corsair was very much at ease. With one slab in the main (tucked in after we rolled away and lowered the Code Zero), we made upwind at between 7.5 and 9.5 knots, with the apparent wind speed typically in the low to mid 20s and the apparent wind angle hovering at around 35°.

Wind and tide together kept the water flatter than it might have been, but there was still a chop for the boat to slice her way through. She handled it with minimal pitching and no slamming. The motion was comfortable and very little spray seemed to find its way aft, even if it was hard at times to tell whether the water lashing us was fresh or salt.

When you look at the Corsair 880, it’s easy to see why she’s a quick boat. While the main hull has more beam and freeboard than that of her predecessor, the 28 (which, in turn, replaced the original F-27), she’s a light boat, weighing just 3,400lb (1,630kg). Like all today’s Corsairs, she has a rotating carbon wing mast and, for simplicity and minimal drag, a daggerboard rather than a centreboard. It’s raked well aft, reducing the risk of damage if you hit something.

The light weight and fold-in floats (rotating about horizontal pins) mean that, with a folded beam of 8ft 2in (2.50m) she’s no wider or heavier on her trailer than a typical 24ft monohull (though the sides of the floats become immersed and will grow weed if she’s left folded in a marina).

Under sail, she will run rings around many monohulls 10ft longer. Her rating of around 1.244 puts her on a par with grand prix race boats such as the Fast 40s and GP42s, which draw in the region of 10ft (3m), cost their original owners a lot of money and sail with a crew of 10 or more.

Boats like the Corsair are a very efficient way of covering the ground quickly and easily. In some conditions they won’t be as fast as a larger racing monohull, while in others they will disappear over the horizon.

A Farrier 32 posted the sixth-fastest time in the 2023 Round the Island (5hrs 15 mins), behind a Volvo 70, a notably quick GP42, a Carkeek 45, a 72ft mini-maxi and a TP52. It was faster than a Ker 46, and well over an hour ahead of the first Cape 31.

Of greater interest to some prospective owners, perhaps, are features like the helm position, where you’re provided with a stainless steel-framed canvas seat each side. From here you control the tiller with its extension, and the 8:1 mainsheet on its full-width traveller. You need the purchase to achieve enough leech tension upwind.

Sail handling is pretty straightforward. As standard, the mainsail has a bolt-rope and is designed for round-the-boom reefing, whereas Robert fitted a mast track and roller cars, together with slab reefing led to the cockpit.

A self-tacking jib simplifies manoeuvres, and tacking was positive, even in a seaway.

One especially welcome feature is the excellent balance from the deep rudder blade that drops down through its cassette stock and, therefore, can be used partially raised in shallow water. The boat is nicely balanced and so is the blade itself, resulting in a responsive and finger-light helm at all speeds.

Keep it simple

Loading up a light and sprightly tri will take the edge off its performance, which is one reason why Robert chose to keep things simple on Threee in terms of systems and creature comforts. He principally uses the boat for day-sailing, having owned plenty of other boats for different types of sailing (and motor boating), including crossing oceans.

Accordingly, he has stuck to the spirit stove and pumped (rather than pressurised) water. There’s still a reasonable amount of stowage for general gear, however. A deck hatch in each float opens up a compartment capable of swallowing a good number of warps and fenders, and there’s a half-depth locker each side beneath the cockpit seats. On the transom is the outboard – in our case, a 9.9hp with electric tilt.

Heading below decks, you find an interior that, while it might not woo those seeking cavernous luxury, is roomier than we have seen on many earlier-generation trimarans of similar size.

You find standing headroom in the saloon with seating each side (useable as a berth to port), separated at the forward end by the angled daggerboard case. Aft to starboard is the simple galley and, behind the companionway steps, a long and narrow double (if you’re friendly) berth. Forward of the main bulkhead is the (plumbed in) heads and a V-berth in the bow.

Given the width of the forward and aft berths, they might be viewed as singles, depending on your proclivities. Trim is minimal in the interests of weight and simplicity, but you have everything you need for a reasonably comfortable few nights at the very least.

Corsair 880 specifications

Price as tested: £198,000 inc VAT
LOA: 8.80m / 28ft 8in
Beam: 6.80m / 22ft 3in
Beam folded: 2.50m / 8ft 2in
Draught (daggerboard down): 1.60m / 5ft 3in
Draught (daggerboard up): 0.45m / 1ft 5in
Weight (unladen): 1,660kg / 3,659lb
Displacement/length: 69.30ft
Sail area (main & jib): 51.50m2 / 554.30sq ft
SA/D ratio: 37.30
Water: 34L / 7.5 gal
Engine: Outboard 6-10hp
RCD category: B
Designer: Corsair Marine
Builder: Corsair Marine

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