So, after crossing the Tasman Sea (between New Zealand and Australia) in a Rapido 60 Trimaran, what would the owners, Janice Knowles and Dougall Love, want to change?
That's what Skiperelli Mac asked on 22 September 2018 - see below.
Beneath Skiperelli Mac's question is Dougall's and Janice's reply. And it seems that their Rapido 60, "Romanza", met their expectations.
Question by Skiperelli Mac
Love the boat and really appreciate you sharing the experience on Romanza as well. This is my dream boat and hopefully, one day, I will be able to acquire one as well.
To the owners Dougall and Janice and / or crew, just wondering how have you found the off shore cruising in reality now, with crossing the Tasman Sea etc, with regards to space and placement of items, stability and auto helm options etc?
Is there anything you would do differently now if you designed the new Rapido 60?
Reply from Romanza's owners, Janice and Duugall
Hi Skiperelli Mac.
The Tasman crossing on Romanza was very easy and even though we went with a crew of six for our first passage, bed spaces worked well with hot bunking during the night watches.
There was more than enough storage room.
We stowed a lot of the dry food in plastic storage boxes under the salon settee and restocked the pantry as needed from there.
The fridge and freezer managed our fresh and frozen food perfectly and we found the induction cooking ideal and fast.
We stowed much of the cruising gear, spares, etc. in the ‘hold’ under the cockpit, again using plastic storage boxes on the shelves we had installed.
We also have our washing machine there, which performed perfectly.
We did stow our deflated dinghy in one of the floats, but otherwise these just stored sails and sheets.
We added (removable) clears around the wheelhouse for the passage and these proved outstanding at creating a warm and comfortable helm station for night watches.
Most of the time we steered by autohelm as it just made life simple. We had no issues with this at all and with 360 amp hours of battery at 24v, solar panels and a Genset as well as the engine, we didn’t ever suffer with low batteries.
The boat was stable, comfortable most of the time and felt very safe.
Much of the sailing time was on full main and jib or Gennaker.
We didn’t experience heavy weather as we routed carefully, and we did spend a lot of time motoring across a big high.
We had a lot of input into the interior layout and finish (of Romanza) and there’s little that we would change as everything worked pretty much as imagined. Some things worked out exceptionally well, like the salon table setup and the chart table.
We love the simplicity of Romanza’s layout and enjoyed the effortless runs of 230+ miles per day.
A great first passage!
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