Telstar

Tony Smith launched the prototype for his GRP sandwich construction, trailerable trimaran, Telstar, in 1970. This was several years before Ian Farrier introduced a similar concept in Australia with his first plywood trailerable sports tri, the Trailertri. Since these pioneer days the concept of a lightweight trailerable multi that is good for both racing and cruising has proved immensely popular. Around 350 Telstars were built between 1970 and 1981, when Tony Smith set up Performance Cruising in Maryland and moved production from the UK to the US. Dramatically, a fire destroyed the Telstar moulds and the company focused on building the more sedate Gemini catamaran series of family cruisers, bringing a great deal of success.

However, Tony Smith remained interested in the market of sports trimarans. Performance Cruising announced the revival of the Telstar brand by launching the prototype Telstar 28 in November 2002, heralding the end of a 21-year hiatus in production of the series. The new Telstar is a completly new design with an entirely different folding system developed by the designer. The price of the Telstar is considerably less than that of boats from other major manufacturers with comparable features.