From Factory Floor to Finish Line: What Rapido’s Racing Success Says About Triac’s Build Quality
- Editor, Triac Composites
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Recent months have been an exciting period for Rapido Trimarans on the international racing scene as per below:
A Rapido 53XS completed and won the ARC Rally across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to the Caribbean in December, 2025
A Rapido 50 claimed top honours at the 2026 Australian Multihull Championships in January
The new Rapido 40 Racer launched at the 2026 Royal Langkawi International Regatta (Malaysia), immediately entering competitive racing and providing valuable real-world feedback
And now, half way through the 2026 Caribbean Multihull Challenge in St Maarten, a Rapido 40 sits at the top of the leaderboard
For sailing enthusiasts, these are great racing stories.
For Triac Composites, the builder of every Rapido, they represent something equally important: real-world validation of advanced composite construction under demanding use.
Racing as Practical Validation
Whether offshore or inshore, racing places boats under loads and usage patterns well beyond normal cruising.
High speeds, repeated impact with waves, torsional loads, rig loads, and continuous operation over many hours provide a very practical test environment for any composite structure.
It’s an environment where design, materials, and build quality all have to work together consistently.
Turning Design Into Reliable Structure
Triac’s role is to take Rapido’s high-performance designs and translate them into physical structures through careful composite construction.
This involves:
Controlled laminate schedules
Careful material selection
Skilled composite workmanship
Process control and quality checks throughout the build
The outcome is a structure that is light, strong, and capable of handling demanding real-world use.
Just as importantly, racing provides feedback. Boats are refined. Details are improved. Lessons are applied to future builds.
This is part of the continuous improvement cycle that is inherent in high-performance composite manufacturing.
Why This Matters Beyond Sailing
Many visitors to Triac’s website are not sailors. They come from marine, defence, industrial, or specialist composite sectors.
But the principle is transferable.
A composite structure that performs well in competitive racing is a visible example of the standards, processes, and workmanship applied inside our factory.
The same team, methods, and attention to detail are applied across all projects, regardless of whether the end product is a racing trimaran, a marine component, or an industrial composite part.
Real-World Performance, Real-World Learning
Racing success is encouraging, but equally valuable is the feedback that comes from putting structures into demanding service.
This feedback loop helps refine construction methods, details, and finishing processes over time.
It is one of the reasons why high-performance marine projects are such a useful proving ground for composite manufacturing.
A Quiet Demonstration of Capability
All Rapido trimarans are built at Triac’s facility in Vietnam.
Their presence and performance on the global stage is a quiet but meaningful demonstration of the level of composite manufacturing capability taking place here every day.
For Triac’s clients, it offers reassurance that the structures we build are informed not only by engineering and process control, but also by real-world experience under demanding conditions.
Related links
Design, engineering and construction of smaller vessels for safety, performance and the e propulsion future, The Report by the Institute of Marine Surveying, December 2025
Cutting Edge Technology for Multihull Design, Zuzana Prochazka, Sail Magazine, March 2023