Trimaran promotion

madforsailing speaks to rally driver turned trimaran owner Peter Bryant about the RTI race and his new boat

He says he is still learning about sailing. "Onshore, I deal with the strategy. Offshore I am more proactive ballast..."

While much development has happened in the 60ft trimaran class in France over the last decade, the pace of progress has been less rapid in the smaller racing multihull classes. "She's 15 years old and still competitive. It's about owning your own boat and having fun without having to spend mega-bucks."

Although the boat was originally by leading trimarans designers van Peteghem/Prevost, among the crew on Saturday will be multihull designer John Shuttleworth. Over the next months Shuttleworth will be helping Bryant and skipper Alaistair Wood develop the boat. One area they will be looking at in particular is the boat's foils.

The ProVu sponsorship is certain to run for two years, Bryant says, but could be longer. He is soon to announce a race program which may well include the Royal Western Yacht Club's reincarnated TwoStar, two handed to Bermuda, although he says he won't be sailing.

At present ProVu is based in Saxon Yard on Southampton's Itchen River, but with a 110ft cat and a 60ft tri to contender with it is unlikely the team will better their standing from last year.