Trinovante was designed and built by John and Su, her current owners, for the purpose of long distance sailing with guest crew. Trinovante is British registered and she is UK Marine and Coast Guard Agency coded for Category 1 and carries all the required safety equipment.
Trinovante is big enough for you to feel the thrill and excitement of sailing on a Tall Ship whilst still being small enough to take you to those out of the way places most larger vessels can only dream of.
With a small crew and experienced owners you get lots of personal attention and before long you will find you are sailing Trinovante as if you had always known how to do it.
The three masted gaff rig is an absolute joy to sail and the rig is easy to get to grips with. Whether you are an experienced sailor or a complete beginner this is a boat that simply invites you to get involved.
The possibilities for different sail combinations are many and all the sails are a manageable size. You can view the sail plan here.
Length Overall
23.9m 80ft
Length On Deck
21m 70ft
Year Built
1994
Vessel Type / Rig
3 Masted Gaff Rigged Schooner
Guest Berths
8
Crew Berths
2
Trinovante has been designed and fine tuned over many years to get you actively sailing the ship. It is a highly personalised sailing experience with the emphasis on sailing.
Su and John’s enthusiasm for sailing Trinovante will capture your heart and soul. It is not a luxury sit back and watch other people do the work, it is thoroughly ‘hands on’, a very social experience we all need post covid.
She is simple to sail but with loads of options for sail trim all of which you will accomplish by the end of the voyage. This is learning to sail at its best.
Below Decks
Trinovante is comfy and functional, not luxurious but friendly and very well organised. Good sized bunks an interesting library and plenty of opportunities to get to know your fellow crew members.
Su and John are the owners and skippers of Trinovante. Having built the boat and run her since 2005 as a sailing holiday charter vessel.
Classic Sailing has for a long time admired the way they run Trinovante and her hands on sailing style. They are a very outgoing social team and they are incredibly good at making your voyage a successful enjoyable experience.
She has now sailed over 40,000 miles. In the last few years, Trinovante has been sailing ’round Britain Voyages’, exploring the fjords and islands of Norway, competing in the Tall Ships races and visiting countries around the Baltic.
If you are wondering about the name Trinovante, the Trinovantes were the pre-Roman Celtic tribe who lived in Essex where Trinovante was built.
Creoula the inspiration for Trinovante
Back in 1983 John Shores, Trinovante’s designer and skipper, was walking down a steep Lisbon streets towards the river Tejo. When a new vista opened up showing the Portuguese Schooner Creoula on her moorings only a couple of hundred feet from the shore.
That’s John decided he wanted a schooner.
Though the inspiration was Creoula, Trinovante has been designed to be less than 24m long, robust, seaworthy and easy to handle by a small crew but with the ability to carry lots of sail with a stronger crew. Trinovante has been designed and fine tuned over many years to get you actively sailing the ship. It is a highly personalised sailing experience with the emphasis on sailing.
Su and John’s enthusiasm for sailing Trinovante will capture your heart and soul. It is not a luxury sit back and watch other people do the work, it is thoroughly ‘hands on’, a very social experience we all need post covid.
She is simple to sail but with loads of options for sail trim all of which you will accomplish by the end of the voyage.
Trinovante also had to be economical to build and maintain.
It took John about a year working on the design before the keel was laid in Wivenhoe in Essex, a small village on the banks of the River Colne with a long history of shipbuilding, fishing and sailing.
