A multihull is a ship or boat with more than one hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull.
A wave-piercing boat hull has a very fine bow, with reduced buoyancy in the forward portions. When a wave is encountered, the lack of buoyancy means the hull pierces through the water rather than riding over the top, resulting in a smoother ride than traditional designs, and in diminished mechanical stress on the vessel and crew. It also reduces a boat's wave-making resistance.
Hydroptère is an experimental sailing hydrofoil trimaran designed by French yachtsman Alain Thébault and VPLP design. Its multihull hydrofoil design allows the sail-powered vessel to reach high speeds on water. The design is based on experience from a range of hydrofoil sailcraft that Thébault built in cooperation with Éric Tabarly since the 1990s. On 5 October 2008 she reached a record speed of 52.86 knots, however this was over a shorter distance than the 500m necessary to qualify for an official world record. On 21 December 2008, the Hydroptère briefly reached 56.3 knots near Fos-sur-Mer, but capsized and turtled shortly thereafter.
The Astus 14.1 is a 14 ft (4.18m) trimaran dinghy aimed at recreational sailing and racing. The trimaran design is unusual for a boat of this size but is said to combine the features of other types of design: pointing ability of a monohull dinghy, reaching ability of a catamaran, and planing ability of a skiff. The stability provided by the floats makes the boat accessible to beginners and single-handed racers.
ORMA 60 is a class of sailing trimarans administered by the Ocean Racing Multihull Association (ORMA) that created in 1996 by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) within the sport of sailing. The boats were built to a box rule that permitted 60 feet length and beam and a 100-foot mast.
USA-17 is a sloop rigged racing trimaran built by the American sailing team BMW Oracle Racing to challenge for the 2010 America's Cup. Designed by VPLP Yacht Design with consultation from Franck Cammas and his Groupama multi-hull sailing team, BOR90 is very light for her size being constructed almost entirely out of carbon fiber and epoxy resin, and exhibits very high performance being able to sail at 2.0 to 2.5 times the true wind speed. From the actual performance of the boat during the 2010 America's Cup races, it can be seen that she could achieve a velocity made good upwind of over twice the wind speed and downwind of over 2.5 times the wind speed. She can apparently sail at 20 degrees off the apparent wind. The boat sails so fast downwind that the apparent wind she generates is only 5-6 degrees different from that when she is racing upwind; that is, the boat is always sailing upwind with respect to the apparent wind. An explanation of this phenomenon can be found in the article on sailing faster than the wind.
IDEC SPORT is a racing sailing trimaran designed for transoceanic record-setting. She is one of the world's fastest ocean-going sailing vessels and the current holder of the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigation of the world. She was originally skippered by French yachtsman Franck Cammas, with a crew of ten and sponsored by the French insurance company Groupama. She is currently skippered by Françis Joyon.
Banque Populaire V is an offshore-racing trimaran and Team Banque Populaire's fifth boat designed to set oceanic records. She was launched on 4 October 2008 in Nantes, France.
VPLP design is a French-based naval architectural firm founded by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, responsible for designing some of the world's most innovative racing boats. Their designs presently hold many of the World Speed Sailing records.
North Sea Boats is an international boat building company specialized in building craft for military, law enforcement, SAR, commercial, and high performance applications. The company has presence in Sweden, Singapore and Indonesia, with its headquarters located at Banyuwangi East Java Indonesia. North Sea Boats was founded in 2003 by John and Lizza Lundin as a trading name for PT. Lundin Industry Invest.
The Weta 4.4 Trimaran is a 4.4 metre sailing dinghy conceived and developed in New Zealand from 2001-2006 by Roger and Chris Kitchen and others with design by TC Design's Tim Clissold.
Marc Van Peteghem is a French naval architect, co-founder of VPLP a French based naval architectural firm, since 1983.
Diam 24 is a 7.24-metre (23.8 ft) trimaran sailboat class designed by VPLP and built by Vianney Ancelin that has been used in the Tour de France à la voile.
Guillaume Verdier is a French naval architect noted for his designs of high performance sailboats.
Douce France is a 138 feet luxury sailing catamaran design by VPLP design and built by Alumarine in Brittany (France). At its launch in 1998, she was the largest sailing cat ever built and won most innovative Sailing Yacht 1999 - Showboats Design Awards. It was built at Alu Marine also underwent a refit in 2009 and 2015. The exterior and interior design was done overall by Peteghem & Lauriot Prevost. The vessel is known for a panoramic window interior lounge, one of the areas along with the teak wood aft deck, upper level cockpit, and the interior cabins in the twin hulls.
Hemisphere is the largest sailing catamaran and the largest sailing private yacht catamaran in the World since 2011. She is 145 feet (44.2 m) long and built by boat builder Pendennis (UK). The vessel has won five different industry awards, including for the interior finishing. In suitable weather Hemisphere goes 13 knots, with a top sailing speed of 20 knots. VPLP collaborated with Michael Leach Design for the interior design, and the yacht has over 1300 square feet of deck space. Some of the deck spaces include areas including the wheelhouse, flybridge, and salon.
