Morpheus is a Shuttle 39 high performance, carbon fibre trimaran, designed by Isle of Wight based Shuttleworth Design, for offshore sailing and fast cruising. Launched in June 2018 by owner Andrew Fennell, this exciting, new yacht has just arrived at Fox’s Marina & Boatyard and will be undergoing sea trials this summer. Fox’s Senior Rigger, Simon Whitehouse, has been involved with her build from the early stages and a number of departments at Fox’s, including Fox’s Rigging and Fox’s Electronics, are now preparing her for launch day.
Her 18.6m canting and rotating wing mast supports a total sail area of 190m2 and the entire vessel is engineered for full carbon/foam construction to achieve an exceptionally light weight of 2200kg. The outrigger volume is close to 300% of the displacement providing increased reserve buoyancy and an optimised hull shape for flying the main hull.
The deck layout has been designed for shorthanded sailing and the beam configuration maximises interior accommodation, boasting a comfortable double cabin aft, galley, navigation station and saloon with twin berths mid-ships and a cosy double berth in the forepeak.
At just under 12m in length she is exempt from some of the more stringent ISAF offshore sailing regulations and can also fit inside two standard 40ft shipping containers for ease of transportation.
Owner, Andrew Fennell, told us what motivated him to commission the Shuttle 39 trimaran, Morpheus:
“I did the two-handed Round Britain Race in 2010 in my previous trimaran ‘Strontium Dog’ coming 4th in class. It was an incredible experience and I vowed that one day I would build a faster boat and go for line honours! Designer, John Shuttleworth, has a long history of building race winning trimarans and he had a hand in the redesign of my previous boat so it felt natural to approach him again when I decided to build Morpheus. John hadn’t had a race boat commission for over a decade and he was keen to draw a whole new design incorporating all the latest advances in multihull design (except lifting foils which were beyond our budget.)
Together with his son Orion – who had a big hand in the aesthetics – they got their heads together and came up with what you see today. The brief was simple: to design the lightest and fastest carbon trimaran possible, giving no quarter to racing rules. I was looking for the most exhilarating sailing experience available ie. sensation, not silverware. That said we will get involved in offshore racing with plans to cover the Fastnet, Round Britain and the longer RORC races that allow multihulls, I just don’t expect to win any on handicap! In between racing, believe it or not, we will be fast cruising with my young family (Sophie 11 and Ethan 9) – having a French wife helps – she understands the desire to build and sail in outlandish boats!”
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