Heart of the (interesting) action
Based in Nembro in northern Italy, Persico is not a normal boatyard… and they certainly do not turn out normal boats
There’s a lot happening at Persico Marine right now. The renowned Italian shipyard, which ranks among the world’s leading builders of high- end racing yachts and large, high- performance luxury sailing cruisers, has a wide range of ground-breaking projects on the go.
The latest news is from Persico’s racing yacht production facility at Nembro in Lombardy, where two America’s Cup projects are under way. In addition to building the boats for the Italian challenger team Luna Rossa, Persico is also developing the hydrofoil arms that will be used by all of the teams in the forthcoming Cup. An interesting Imoca 60 is also taking shape at Nembro and various structural components including foils, beams and rudders are being produced for the 100ft Ultim Class trimarans Gitanaand Sodébo. Meanwhile, a 145ft Wally superyacht is now in build at Persico’s performance cruiser shipyard in Massa-Carrara following the launch in September 2018 of the Umberto Felci-designed P65, a remarkable and radical cruiser-racer that redefines the genre.
New manufacturing processes Persico has developed some new composite manufacturing processes that take advantage of the ways in which machines and infrastructure have evolved over the last decade.
66 SEAHORSE
The rest of the industry has noticed Persico producing exceptionally high- quality parts with remarkably fast delivery times and at keenly competitive prices.
These new processes play an important role in the construction of the Ultim class trimaran foils and even more so in the manufacture of the foil arms for America’s Cup yachts. The first prototype foil arm was recently completed and used to test every aspect of the engineering and build processes to the limit. For the engineers, builders and clients involved in the project, being able to test a major structural component to destruction was a rare opportunity. The extensive test programme was conducted in collaboration with Luna Rossa, with representatives from all other active America’s Cup teams. The behaviour of the foil arm was monitored with state-of-the-art procedures and hi-tech equipment, including fibre optics, acoustic emissions tests over its entire surface, and ultrasound testing. By cross-referencing three concurrent sets of real-time data, it was possible to precisely diagnose the foil arm’s behaviour under load. To run these tests, Persico designed and built a huge machine capable of exerting the massive load necessary to test the foil arm to the point of failure. This testing rig is now available for other clients to use.
Above: in addition to building the hulls for the Italian team Luna Rossa, Persico is developing the hydrofoil arms that will be used by all of the teams competing in the next America’s Cup in 2021. The first prototype foil arm was recently produced using a new manufactur- ing process developed specially by Persico. And then it was tested to
destruction... Imoca 60
Persico has been working on one 60ft racing yacht for more than 18 months and there is excitement in the yard at the news that it will now be completed – and all the hard work will not be wasted. Originally conceived as a prototype for the Volvo Super 60 one-design fleet, it has now evolved into a singlehanded offshore racer for the French solo skipper Thomas Ruyant. The boat will be put to the test in Imoca class racing in the run-up to next year’s Transat Jacques Vabre and the following year’s Vendée Globe. The second-generation foiling Imocas, like this one, have taken a big step forward in design terms from the first generation and we’re now seeing them almost fully flying on their foils. No doubt we will soon see records broken once again.
Ultim Sodébo
Over the past year Persico has been working closely with Team Sodébo, supplying the aft beam and foils for their new Ultim trimaran, which will be skippered by Thomas Coville. The aft beam is a very sophisticated component with complex geometry and it is built in high-modulus carbon fibre to create an elegant, ultra- lightweight structure. The tooling presented an interesting challenge due to the beam’s serpentine shape, which required intensive use of five-
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