Multihulls World Magazine article
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CRUISING The Toro 34 is essentially a dayboat, capable of racing in the Heineken regatta one day and then taking a family out cruising or ideally tripping, the next. Is it possible to race and cruise with the same multihull? It was with this idea in mind that the Design Catamaran team signed up for the famous Heineken Regatta, and then made the most of their Toro 34 to head off on a family cruise... Text and photos: Augustin Desmeules and Sylvain Carignan t was on a clear December evening, with 30cm of snow on the ground and a temperature of -20°C, that this idea was born. The team from Design Catamaran were having their monthly meeting at La Cage Aux Sports bistro in Repentigny, Quebec. The main aim of these meetings is to iron out any important issues, but there's always time in the "après-meeting" to relax among friends. It was during this second part of the evening that Bobby made his suggestion: We should stick the Toro in a container and go and race in the Heineken Regatta in St. Martin! Were we up for it? It didn't take long for Bob to convince us, as we are all seasoned racers! Beers in hand, we agreed to do it. Firstly, the Toro 34 needed to go into the shipyard for a full service, and to be made race-ready and have reef points and some electronics fitted. We had got a month and a half before the container was due to leave. After that, some of the crew were due to go and take delivery of the boat. As the arrival wasn't expected before February 15th, we had three weeks to take the boat out to sea and to make any adjustments. The rest of the plan involved Sylvain taking his family cruising, along with Augustin the Design Catamaran engineer, in the week following the regatta. What more could we ask? FIRST RACE DAY Our base in St. Martin is in the lagoon. We needed to go under the swing bridge to get to the sea and make it to the start line, which we did using the motor. Due to hold ups with the container ship, the boat had only arrived in St. Martin three days earlier. Despite this, we were ready to go and couldn't wait to go into battle. We hoisted the sail and..."Stop!" A halyard was stuck in a spreader. Olivier tugged at it to try and free it, but the halyard disappeared inside the mast! Unfortunately there was no knot at the end of the halyard! We were due to set off in 60 minutes. The swing bridge had

closed: there was no time to get back to the marina and get our tools. We needed to find a solution as quickly as possible! We hailed a passing inflatable to help us go and get our bosun’s chair from the marina. Ten minutes later, we were harnessing Christian on so that he could go up to the top of the mast and pass the halyard from the outside of the mast. From up above we could hear swearing: Hoisted up on the halyard of the Code 0, he was still 1m50 short of the top of the mast. On the edge of despair, but still not prepared to give in so early, we suggested to Christian that he attach...

catamaran, a boat designed by none other than Gino Morelli, who is also part of their crew for this regatta. Broad reaching in a 1.5m swell and 18 knots of wind was a memorable experience. With its big volumes and solid build, the Toro was like a rocket in the testing conditions. We were all euphoric, and we consolidated our position with second place. We were covered in the spray that the boat throwing up, and it was clear that the boat is capable of more. WE WERE CATCHING UP WITH THE TWO MULTIHULLS, BUT THE FORMULA 40 KEPT AHEAD... left the mainsail partly open, the Toro accelerated and...

boat, a sculpted beast, made for high performance and extreme sensations. However, thanks to the volume of the hulls, and its simple rigging, we would be able to maneuver easily and would be able to sleep comfortably. Of course, knocking up a five course meal would be out of the question: sandwiches would be the order of the day, and in the evening we could moor in the bays where there are restaurants close by. So we set off, on a pleasant tropical morning, with a plan to visit the island of Tintamarre, a nature reserve just a few nautical miles from St-Martin. On board were Sylvain the CEO...

islands visible too on the not too distant horizon. Saint Barts, is just 10 miles to the east, as well as St.Kitts, Statia and Saba. Going around the south eastern extremity of the island, Tintamarre came into view, as well as Anguilla further to the north. What a fantastic playground! In the light breeze, we hoisted the Code 0 and started to move a bit more swiftly, even though with only the mainsail and jib being used we were sailing almost twice as quickly as the Outremer that had been chartered by friends who were accompanying us. We covered the 13 nautical miles that separated us from...

whipped up every fifteen minutes and which lasted for a minute or so. It was probably down to the temperature fluctuations and the fact that the cove was surrounded by mountains. Our last sailing day was the longest, with a 15 nautical mile trip. As the wind was stronger than on the previous days, we set off with a reef in the mainsail. The rough sea was splashing against the boat, and we were rewarded with the wonderful spectacle of two humpback whales passing between SaintMartin and Anguilla. We gybed downwind at over 14 knots without any effort at all. The last part of the trip saw us...