Fram's Building and Sailing Pages

Building and sailing an Ian Farrier F-39 trimaran

Home » About » About frams name
Last updated: 2026-01-17

The name FRAM links my F-39 trimaran to the legendary Norwegian polar ship—forward-looking, seaworthy, and stronger than appearances suggest.

Origin of the name FRAM

The name of my F-39 trimaran is FRAM. Yes indeed, named after the famous 39-metre Norwegian polar ship FRAM—partly as a witticism to all who believe that a fast, lightweight trimaran cannot also be strong and seaworthy.

“Round and slippery as an eel” is another parallel. The polar ship FRAM was designed to withstand ice pressure by rising upward as the ice closed in. Not that the F-39 is comparable in that sense—far from it—but the trimaran translates a similar principle into speed by lifting above the water.

Weight is certainly not a similarity; quite the opposite. Still, walking over her deck in the Fram Museum in Oslo, deeply impressed by her construction and her voyages, I suddenly realised that FRAM is an appropriate name for my new boat.

In Norwegian, FRAM means “forward”. That perfectly reflects both the philosophy behind this building project—I do not believe in lines of retreat—and the fast sailing qualities of the F-39. And besides that, FRAM is easy to pronounce and clearly understood worldwide over VHF radio.

The Norwegian polar ship FRAM
The Norwegian polar ship “FRAM”

The polar ship FRAM was designed and built by Colin Archer and was, before the Titanic, the most famous ship in the world.

Here is the story of the polar ship FRAM.

My sources for the story in the link above include the movie Heart of Ice, the Fram Museum, and publications such as Norwegian Maritime Explorers and Expeditions, The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea, and the Universum Encyclopedia.

But FRAM is not only “the Fram”. Here you will find much more.

Painting of the polar ship FRAM
Painting of the polar ship “FRAM”