The following “beach trimaran” is currently for sale (at the time of this writing) in Sanguinet, France. You can see the posting for it here.
I’ve directly linked the following pics of the boat to their location on that website. Thank you to John L. for sending me the link to this boat and sharing it with us.
I cannot imagine a solo sailor wanting to sail a beach cat instead of this. Yes, we’re biased ;-)
Perhaps one of our readers can provide more details about this particular model. The following is a translation of the sparse info on the sales page:
Beach trimaran: Hop
Multihull sailboats
Description
Trimaran Hop:
From designer Pascal Mourgue, 1987. Documentation.
Complete, good general condition, trailer
Small, light boat, fast, easy to assemble and disassemble.
Firm price
Sanguinet (France)
The overall look/styling is gorgeous, so much so that you have to wonder if it might have been prioritized over function to some degree…that’s not a knock on the boat or designer, it just has the look of something designed by someone with a very keen and idealistic eye towards style…sure enough, Pascal Mourgue is both an industrial designer and fine art sculptor whose designs blur the lines between the two and the boat has been recognized for its beauty-
“Working as an industrial designer for the last 25 years, he has built his career outside the media spotlight. His products, ever more numerous and ever more international in their reach, reflect a constant desire for modernity and simplicity. He accords as much importance to functionality and aesthetics as to the profitability of his products.
He also works as a sculptor and has put on a number of exhibitions of his pieces worldwide (exhibitions entitled “La Mémoire de l’Eau” (the memory of water) and “Brûlures de Terre” (scorched earth)).”
1983 : First prize in the Bloomingale/VIA competition for the ARC chaise longue.
HOP trimaran selected as one of the 25 “Objects of the 1980s”. Exhibited at the Pompidou Centre, the Musée de la Marine and the Salon des Arts Décoratifs.
1986 : “Janus de l’Industrie” award from IFDI for the Hop trimaran.
https://www.fermob.com/en/Discover-Fermob/Designers/Pascal-Mourgue
Like all good industrial designers he’s also well aware of the market sentiment and biases expressed regarding this type of sport sailing and approaches the design as a solution to a problem-
Lightweight, knockdown, sport trimaran
“The invention is more particularly directed to such trimarans which are relatively light in weight and suitable for pleasure boating in coastal waters while requiring unquestionable athletic skills and physical efforts on the part of the user.
Experience has shown that the overall bulkiness of this type of sailboat and in general all flying dutchman type sailboats has been a limitation to their development. For example, numerous potential users such as those who have acquired experience through wind-surfing have given up on owning their own sailboat because of the constraints of transport and storage in the off-season, or dry docking, necessary for such a sailboat.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a trimaran which due to its ease of transport and storage is particularly satisfactory for such a category of potential users.”
https://patents.google.com/patent/US4664049A/en
some detailed pics of a restoration here-
http://jolie.brise.mini.monsite-orange.fr/page5/index.html
The hull shapes and structure have the look of a miniaturized 70’s-80’s era offshore maxi tri, especially Eric Tabarly’s Pen Duick IV (see #17)-
https://www.yachtingworld.com/extraordinary-boats/hall-of-fame-50-boats-changed-sailing-99989/3
-even if it’s not cutting edge by today’s standards it’s still sexy.
Hey, GREAT info Ian!
Many thanks for taking time to share it.