Above: the Frers-designed Vitters-built 150-footer Unfurled – the eighth yacht of that name – is one of the most successful yachts on the modern superyacht circuit. For a yacht of this size an unusually high emphasis was put on sailing performance when she was designed in 2015; relatively light at 250 tonnes, that big rig stands out dramatically when it is seen alongside some of her more conservative rivals. Left: 2018 Argentario Classics Week and Germán and Mani Frers are joined on Fjord III by four-time Olympic windsurfing medallist Alessandra Sensini. Fjord III was designed by Germán Frers Snr in 1949 and she is one of the many Frers designs drawn by three generations of the same family that grace the numerous classic regattas in the Adriatic and Mediterranean
at the forefront of developing an entirely different new type of large yacht. The now common concept of super-big, super-fast, no-rule day boats owes much to the com- mission in 1987 by Gianni Agnelli of the Frers-designed Extra Beat. Freed of the restraints of rating rules on the one hand and the normal rigours of cruising yacht design, Extra Beat gave full reign to the Frers talent for drawing beautiful yachts. Near-flush decks, low freeboard and simplicity of line became the hallmarks of a whole new gener- ation of sailboats. It arguably inspired Luca Bassani to create Wally Yachts and, of course, to use Germán’s eye for beauty, combined with engineering and naval archi- tecture skills, to co-design some of the greatest yachts in the Wally range. Perhaps the ultimate expression of this new style of Frers superyacht came in 1995
42 SEAHORSE
when Agnelli commissioned an even more radical day boat called Stealth. Built light in composite in the UK by Bill Green and Ian King, this was a 93ft, no-holds-barred inshore/offshore speed machine capable, in the right conditions, of sustained speeds of 30kt. Appropriately with an all-black livery, Stealth redefined what was possible with huge amounts of imagination, com- bined with burgeoning advances in con- struction techniques. Frers once again at the forefront of yacht design but still main- taining his innate sense of style. Across the three generations the Frers
family have now created over 1,300 designs – a dynasty that began in the 1920s when Germán Frers Snr drew his first yacht, Fjord, an ocean-going 30ft double- ender inspired by Colin Archer. Equally, however, another key inspiration for the
founder of Frers Yacht Design was young Dutch designer EG van de Stadt, whose innovative hard-chine light-displacement ocean racers, suitable for home construc- tion, also appealed to the Argentinean boatbuilder and naval architect. One such design, the 25ft Light Crest, first brought the Frers name to the attention of the Euro- pean market when it won a Yachting World design competition and became a key part of a series of home-building plans promoted by Yachting World in the 1960s. It’s one of those idiosyncrasies that while
design paths cross often at regattas, rule measurement conferences and boat shows, allowing for professional friendships to develop, I rarely had the opportunity to meet and talk to Germán but I, like many in our sport, appreciated the eye he has for beautifully proportioned yachts. An eye no better summed up than in the unique bond it has created between father and son. The ability to ‘read’ and draw a shear line, singu- larly a line that defines a boat, which Mani Frers shares with his father as no other. q
FABIO TACCOLA
STUART PEARCE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122
