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To some extent every boat starts with a dream
or inspiration. The inspiration for Trinovante
came one sparkling September day in Lisbon during
1983. John Shores, Trinovante's designer,
was walking down the steep city streets towards
the river when the Portuguese Schooner Creoula
unexpectedly came into view, riding to her moorings
just 100ft from the river bank.
Trinovante was inspired by Creoula that day but
is not in any way a copy or a miniature version
of her. The design brief was simply for a three
masted traditionally rigged schooner of less than
24m long with a maximum draught of six feet and
a cargo hold forward. She needed to be strong,
seaworthy and easy to handle by a small crew but
with the option able to carry lots of sail with
a stronger crew. She also had to be economical
to build and maintain.
John spent a year working on the design before
the keel was laid in Wivenhoe in Essex, a village
on the banks of the river Colne. Wivenhoe is a
village with a long history of shipbuilding, fishing
and sailing. The last big sailing vessel built
there was the Jubilee Sailing Trusts ship
the Lord Nelson , launched in 1986.
Trinovate was launched in 1994 and has now become
a familiar sight sailing around her home waters
of the Thames estuary and further afield.
Design wise she has exceeded expectations and
the only major change has been the conversion
of the forward hold into comfortable accommodation
for the crew. |
