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Sleek as ever


The collaboration between Felci Yacht Design and Cantiere del Pardo has a long history. It is now 15 years since Umberto Felci designed the GS70, the Italian yard’s custom flagship produced for a German customer. In 2002, in collaboration with Rolf Vrolijk, we also designed both the GS45 Cruiser and the successful GS44 Performance Cruiser, which kick- started a string of similar designs that for many years dominated IMS racing, winning several European titles. After the GS45, in 2003 we designed the GS50, working with French designer Patrick Roseò. So after so many years we were pleased to return to work with Cantiere del Pardo, this time with another great studio, Nauta Design. Our task involved the naval architecture of the new Grand Soleil 58 Performance, a fast-cruiser designed and built to the highest production standards.


46 SEAHORSE


Umberto Felci’s new Grand Soleil 58 design does a nice job delivering performance plus contemporary styling typical of a much larger yacht Clearly


We tried to create an efficient hull that was able to accomplish the difficult task of sailing fast but that was also easy, safe, comfortable to handle and, last but not least, with generous internal volume. When we approach a project for a so-called fast-cruiser yacht we have to first look at the compromises that will always be necessary in a multi-purpose boat of this type. This is a matter of sensitivity, balance and a good feel for the client’s objectives more than just a matter of numbers and science.


In the intervening years since we last worked with this yard we have designed several yachts of a similar concept from 45 to 80ft. I think we have sharpened our abilities in this sector but you must still remain flexible as each client has his own priorities. I like to imagine that the ‘race’ or ‘speed’ factors sit on one side of the equation and ‘cruising’ or ‘comfort’ factors on the other. In


working very well together, Umberto Felci, Nauta Design and the Cantiere del Pardo


shipyard have come up with a stylish new 58-footer that does a pretty passable


impression of a much larger contemporary yacht… those famous words Wally-Style even spring to mind. Nobody is calling €860,000 cheap, but take a look at the cost of some similar sized rivals…


fact, the understanding of what a client really wants is sometimes the hardest part of the process. If the race capabilities are central to a project, then more effort will be put into hull and appendage refinement. If an elegant, comfortable cruiser is the goal then other factors take on at least equal importance. But you also know that most customers want the same dream in every area; we are often asked to deliver maximum speed together with maximum comfort! And this was rather the case with the GS58... our brief was for the fastest and most stylish and most comfortable yacht of its type… To define the hull shape we began with a study of our CFD database looking at the potential differences in performances between chined and rounded hulls, analysed by equalising the main hull parameters including volume, LCB position and especially equalising


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