Rob Densem, the general manager for Farrier Marine wrote on Sunday: “It is with a heavy heart that I tell you Ian Farrier passed away in San Francisco on his way back from the USA yesterday. We are in deep shock as we come to terms with the huge loss of our captain, and our focus is on Ian’s immediate family and the Farrier Marine team.”

“Ian was a visionary, a multihull genius, an all-round nice guy who leaves behind a huge legacy to the sailing world,” said Densem. “Farrier Marine Limited is a strong business with a three-year order book for the revolutionary F-22 sailboat. Despite dealing with our grief, it is very much ‘business as usual’ at the factory today. It is our job now to carry on the Farrier legacy and ensure his vision is carried out.”

A multihull designer professionally since 1973, Ian Farrier’s hometown was Christchurch, New Zealand, but he and his family moved to Chula Vista (San Diego) in 1984, setting up Corsair Marine, and that’s where the F-27 took shape. Ian left Corsair in 1991, moving to Bellevue, WA (near Seattle). Farrier and Corsair continued their association with a licensing agreement until 2000. Farrier Marine is located in Christchurch, NZ, with a US office in Plano, TX.

A spokesman for the Bay Area Multihull Association noted that “The introduction of the Corsair 27 was largely responsible for growth in BAMA racing in the late ’80s early ’90s. Initially BAMA was primarily a support group for multihull builders, many of whom built their own boats and then went cruising, reducing the ranks of membership. With the Corsair 27 introduction there was need for a local multihull racing organization which was already in place with BAMA.”

After Ian Farrier created the Corsair line, it attracted the backing of John Walton, son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Despite a net worth of many billions of dollars John was a hands-on guy and, in the early days, John came to San Francisco Bay with an F-27 and contacted Latitude 38 to see if we could help do a photo shoot for the F-27 brochure. We were lucky to spend the day with John Walton on our photo boat .38 Special trying to keep up with and shoot the F-27.

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On a recent trip to Southeast Asia, we spent a few days on the small island of Koh Rong Sanloem, about 12 miles to the east of Sihanoukville in the southern part of Cambodia. Despite classic tropical sailing conditions, there appears to be a distinct shortage of sailing activity. The 120+ mile coastline of Cambodia is wedged in between Thailand and Vietnam and includes about 30 offshore islands. The tropical Koh Rong Sanloem has a number of sandy coves with small cabin beach resorts and ideal trade-wind sailing conditions from early November to the end of May.

If you’re inclined to escape the ‘real world’ and find a tropical location to set up a windsurfing or beach cat sailing school, this might be the place. The winds blew on the beach every day at a steady 15 knots, and we were told these were the typical conditions every day this time of year. It was too bad that we couldn’t find anything to take sailing. We did come across one lonely Hobie, but found it was privately owned and unavailable for rent. After a three-quarter-mile walk across the roadless island, we did see one other ~50-ft monohull anchored well offshore from the gently shoaling ‘Lazy Beach’.

Of course US history in the region doesn’t exactly bring up the best of memories, and current politics in the area remain very complicated. Just last week, the US imposed travel restrictions on senior Cambodian diplomats due to their backsliding toward dictatorship. But you wouldn’t notice that while sailing the coast. There was no shortage of travelers from Europe, Australia, New Zealand and a handful from the US. Searching Google, we did find a couple of one-boat charter operators — Yachting Cambodia and Sail Cambodia — that offer day or weeklong skippered or bareboat opportunities. But opportunities to sail on your own are limited. So we’re wondering if anyone has some insights on cruising the Cambodian coast and the Gulf of Thailand.

With an excellent dinner for four costing about $40 with drinks and cold, local beer for a dollar, much of Cambodia is a bargain. We’d love to get there again on a boat, or with a rack full of windsurfers or beach cats available. Either way, if you don’t mind time in the air to find time on the water, Cambodia just might be the next place for your ‘off the beaten path’ sailing opportunity.