YachtOnLine

Aethalia Epoca Race in Elba Island

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:00:00 GMT

The Aethalia Epoca Race in Marciana Marina (Elba Island, Italy) ended Sunday 20 June. With the Alto Tirreno Depatment Races, they were a part of Challenge Luigi Durand de La Penne, organised by AIVE. The winner are: Naif, Kipawa, Lona II

Patinia, a pilot boat born to sail

Tue, 25 May 2010 22:00:00 GMT

The Nineteen Seventies - after graduating, Renato Marengo from Milan, born in 1936, started work for Capelli & Marengo, his family's FIAT dealership. He spent his leisure time on a wooden Bermuda seagoing motorboat built by the Posillipo yard. One August Bank Holiday he left Porto Santo Stefano with his girlfriend and set course for the island of Montecristo, blissfully unaware of what was to come. On reaching their destination they put in at Cala Scirocco and la Maestra, then set off for...

Liberty 74, the fruit of passion

Tue, 18 May 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Her lines echo the classic shape of the American Gold Coast yachts, a type whose exceptional open-air and interior space, seafaring qualities and unmistakable profile is attracting more and more fans - especially when the yacht is the product of craftsmen and yards that can enhance an already attractive offer with the quality of careful, even passionate work. One example is the Liberty 74, the flagship of Turkey's Egemar yard's fleet. Founded in 1983 and based in Tuzla, a maritime hub for...

Lill-Yrsa, Skerry Cruiser from 1931

Mon, 10 May 2010 22:00:00 GMT

From the chill Scandinavian seas to the temperate waters of Versilia - the 30-square-metre skerry Lill-Yrsa was restored recently by the GNI-Gruppo Nautico Italiano of Viareggio, a company founded in 1989 by Marcello Porciani that's worked on a number of prestigious craft, including Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's yacht. The year-long project restored Lill-Yrsa to her original condition, and she immediately made a fine show at her post-refit debut during the 5th rally held by the...

Red Pirate gets back to life

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

February 1998, the night of Shrove Tuesday. Red Pirate, stripped of anything that could be carried away, was moored on the River Magra near La Spezia. Intruders boarded her and broke in. The motoryacht, under surveillance only during the day in winter, became the target for mindless vandalism. A cigarette or candle fell onto the latex mattress and set fire to it. The fire brigade arrived, and although it took hold on Red Pirate they managed to stop it spreading to neighbouring yachts. The...

Zeelander, 14 metre of soft lines

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

She’s been called a “small superyacht” and it took four and half years - over 250,000 man hours - to design, build and modify her. She’s called Zeelander (another word for Dutchman or woman) and the yard of the same name in Holland made her using the same materials and criteria they employ for their superyachts, a sector that forms the jewel in the crown of the local marine construction industry. Her styling was handled by the famous designer Cor D. Rover, winner of...

Royal Speed 30, a classic from Ukraine

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

Kherson, southern Ukraine. The mouth of the River Dnieper on the northern coast of the Black Sea is the site of the Lagoon Royal Shipbuilding Company yard, with around a hundred employees. For around ten years it’s been building exclusively wooden sail and motor boats up to 25 metres long in a strictly “new classic” style. This region has a well-established ship-building tradition - the city of Kherson, founded towards the end of the eighteenth century by empress Catherine II,...

686 Lido Edizione Dino Feltrinelli limited edition

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

Mio, Tuo, Suo, El Ninin, Rumba, Tango, Estroso, Lupo and Miss Garda - the series of boats piloted by noted ace Dino Feltrinelli. These names will once again be seen on the nine examples of the 686 Lido Dino Feltrinelli Edition produced in a strictly limited edition by the Austrian yard Frauscher Boats, a tribute to the great powerboat champion. His grandchildren, brothers Mauro, Sergio and Dino, are the current owners of the Feltrinelli yard in Gargnagno (www.nauticafeltrinelli.it) on Lake...

The sea and the Belle Epoque

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

Is it the economic crisis that’s inspired this nostalgia for times of opulence and happiness? There’s no doubt that the coming summer will be dominated by memories of a distant, more optimistic period - the Belle Epoque. The climax will be a busy September in the principality of Monaco, one of the glitzy settings for the good life of those years and a cradle of yachting. I think, then, it’s right for this magazine to commemorate the era, as it’s inspired by maritime...

Viareggio's sails: a history told in miniature

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

The Viareggio yards now producing yachts acclaimed throughout the world can be regarded as the direct successors of the glorious sail tradition that took root in the town in the early nineteenth century. In 1819, Maria Luisa de Bourbon, duchess of Lucca, commissioned the construction of a large shipyard on the Burlamacca canal. This led to the development of many others, some of which still exist, and generations of master carpenters, caulkers, owners, skippers and crew, all renowned for their...

The Benetti's Delfino born again

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

“On the Dolphin…just like in your villa!” That was the advertising slogan used in 1962 in specialist nautical magazines to present the new motoryacht series launched by the F.lli Benetti yard in Viareggio. It was the dawn of the swinging sixties - the Russians had taken the lead in the space race by sending Yuri Gagarin into orbit, the Beatles and Bob Dylan were launching their stellar careers and JFK had just entered the White House. Meanwhile, against the backdrop of...

In Monaco the centenary of the Tuiga

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

1909. Don Luis Salabert was one of Spain’s great nobles - the seventeenth duke of Medinaceli, sixteenth duke of Feria… I’ll spare you his other forty-five titles! He was a person of rank in the Spanish court and was a loyal follower of his king. When the king wanted to create a fleet of yachts, the duke of Medinaceli took on the task, even though he didn’t share the royal passion for sailing. Medinaceli preferred big game hunting, so he gave his new racer the name of...

Eilean: on the sea again

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

Eilean, the 22-metre Bermudian ketch, designed and built in 1936 by the legendary Scottish boatyard Fife, has been returned to her original splendour after more than two and a half years of extensive restoration work. On October 22nd 2009, in a ceremony at the Sezione Velica of the Italian Navy in La Spezia, Eilean was handed over by the Francesco del Carlo boatyard to Officine Panerai, Italian manufacturers of high-end watches, already official sponsor of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge,...

Krogen Express, Twenties economy

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

Designed to combine comfort, high performance, reduced consumption and timeless styling, the Krogen Express motoryacht originated in the U.S. and has recently begun to be imported into Europe by Marboats. The Lavagna-based company has decided to add this brand to other famous American names like Ocean Yachts and Back Cove that it has been offering for some time now. They are designed by an American stylist of Norwegian origin, Kurt Krogen, who drew inspiration from the Fast Commuters used...

The Leone di Caprera is reborn

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

An old man gets off the train in Livorno. He has journeyed throughout the night to see a boat that’s been restored to life, and is now lying at the Molo Mediceo quay. He strokes it, as if it were full of beautiful memories. The stage for the ceremony is set - nearby, four panels recount the boat’s history and the stages of its restoration. The story began in 1880, when Captain Vincenzo Fondacaro from Bagnara Calabra, along with Orlando Grassoni from Ancona and Pietro Troccoli from...

The Piccola S. Rita is back

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

The story of a restoration is often linked to the person who decides to undertake the challenge. It’s certainly true for the 36-year-old Paolo Mattesi, from Turin, who has restored a lateen-sail Alghero spagnoletta from 1941 to full sailing condition. Mattesi, a former financial consultant, has always had a close relationship with the water - he has explored archipelagos from the Caribbean to Mauritius, sails from Croatia to the Balearic islands and has a great passion for wooden craft....

Paraggina 10, born elegance

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

The most recent model from the Giorgio Mussini & C. yard, based in Rapallo with offices at the historic Calata Marconi in Portofino, Liguria, offers yet more proof of the health of a nautical company that made its name with the successful Utility Portofino series. Construction of these elegant wooden launches, between 6.60 and 7.48 metres long, began in 1982 on the initiative of Giorgio Mussini, a true Portofino native born in 1939 and son of a skipper. At the age of ten he was already...

Royal Huisman, a 125 years history

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

The Royal Huisman yard in Holland isn’t your run of the mill concern - not just because it produces yachts with matchless lines, finishings, performance and technology, but also because it has belonged to the same family since it was founded 125 years ago. The family has overseen the yard’s development while maintaining a unique continuity of purpose. Now a book has been published to celebrate this anniversary, and it has provided the photos illustrating this article. The...

The historic heritage of the crafts

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

Photographs of vintage craft aren’t just interesting from a historical point of view, they’re also portraits of true works of art and engineering skill, whether they depict transatlantic liners or warships. What encourages many enthusiasts to collect them may be the feeling of taking part in a great enterprise, where luxury, the elegance of the ships or the power of their weapons often proved to be quickly overtaken by obsolescence or historical events. But that takes nothing away...

Paolucci as a charter in the Mediterranean sea

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT

A blazoned chef for the preparation of food, a butler ready to fulfil any wish, a personal trainer to stay fit, yoga sessions for the soul, a professional masseur to indulge in relax, qualified hostesses and referenced baby sitters, a highly professional crew trained to easily glide over the water of the Mediterranean sea and live at the fullest the Paolucci dream. These are a few of the services offered on board the Lady of the Seas: the Paolucci Motor Yacht. The ship is entirely made of wood...