Trumpeter 1970

Without doubt this 44ft Toria development was a strikingly beautiful boat she suffered some teething problems in the 1970 race with leaking hulls and Kelsall followed her to the stop overs where she was seen hauled out and the designer's crew hard at work with fibre glass. Critics said she was two lightly built and there were stories that in the hot sun her decks were soft and sqidgy. Kelsall denied this. Sailed by her owner and veteran multihull designer Bob Harris, she came third behind the 71 foot Ocean Spirit of Robin Knox Johnstone and the venerable Prout 36 Snowgoose. Weld sailed her back to the USA and raced her there sucessfully but broke one of the aluminium connecting tubes just as Nick Keig would do in the similarly built 37 foot Three Legs of Mann. In 1972 she sailed back to Plymouth and Weld sailed her in the OSTAR finishing well down the field after blowing out her mainsail and snapping the centreboard. Following that he went to Dick Newick for a massive trimaran called Gulfstreamer. Even after many races and two transatlantics to race in the 1974 RBR this tri was capsized in 1976. Trumpeter was modified later with the GRP box beans structure Kelsall adopted for FT and later trimarans. At over 56 years old she is still sailing today in Tahiti.