The Class 40 AllaGrande Pirelli seen up close. This is how it will navigate

The countdown for Ambrogio Beccaria and the Class 40 AllaGrande Pirelli has begun. The Milanese skipper is ready to depart from Genoa for the long transfer that will take him to Saint Malo in the fall, from where the Route du Rhum will start on Nov. 6.

The Class 40 AllaGrande Pirelli, designed by Gianluca Guelfi and Fabio D’Angeli, will first sail to Lisbon as a crew, then it will be time to tackle the Route du Rhum qualification solo: 1,200 miles, 200 of which are mandatory upwind with a Force 7.

Having completed the qualification Beccaria will move to Lorient where he will finish his preparation before moving to Saint Malo for the start of the solo transatlantic, the debut race of the Class 40 AllaGrande Pirelli. We went to the Italian Yacht Club to see the boat up close and discover its secrets.

Class 40 Alla Grande Pirelli – in search of “bite”

As Ambrogio Beccaria told us, “boats with a scow bow have the problem of tending to be leaning due to their geometries, we have worked a lot on this, to try to have a boat that is instead neutral or rather gilt.” Hence the need to tilt the drift blade as far aft as possible, and to seek a center of thrust on the sails that can make the boat bearish.

Class 40 Alla Grande – preparation in Genoa

After the August launch at San Giorgio Marine. Where the boat was built Ambrogio Beccaria and his team continued with the preparation in Genoa. The first outings were necessary to test the sails and refine the on-board electronics, break-in in short. “We haven’t encountered much wind at this stage of preparation so there is little data yet, what I can say is that with 15 knots the boat is a train traveling on a track,” Ambrose said. “However, I’m looking forward to tough conditions, 35 knots, because that’s what we thought some of the solutions of this boat are for, when in short, sailing becomes more complex.”

Special features of the design include the choice of a steerable bowsprit, which for Ambrose is a reminder of the Mini 650. The Class 40 AllaGrande will be the only one in the fleet to have this solution. A choice that made the construction of the boat more complex but on which the skipper relies heavily. “At the Mini Transat I found that part of the speed advantage I had was dictated by the fact that I used bowsprit adjustments much more than others, and I am convinced that they can work on the Class 40 as well.” AtGrande Pirelli navigates, the countdown has begun.

Mauro Giuffrè