A show within a show: the new My Song debuts at Les Voiles de Saint Tropez

Les Voiles de Saint Tropez is a spectacle. The world’s most beautiful boats, both modern and classic, gather on the French Riviera every year. But this year there is a show within a show. Our queen is her, Pier Luigi Loro Piana’s new My Song, 40 meters of elegance. And here above is a photo of the 130-footer finally making its “public” debut.

For the design Loro Piana turned to the pair who had already’ made its previous boat. the peculiarity of this maxi yacht, like all of Pigi’s boats, is that they are used for both cruising and racing (winning!). It seems easy to combine these two characteristics, but few until now have really succeeded. And that is what makes the work of those who made it difficult.

HULL AND DECK
The water lines are by California studio Reichel Pugh, everything else is the work of Milan-based Nauta Design. The construction was entrusted to Finland’s Baltic Yachts. This 40-meter maxi sailboat, Nauta’s largest ever, is a concentration of innovation and style. It is 39.62 long and 8.52 wide at maximum beam, weighs only (!) 120 tons and has a retractable keel that weighs 30 tons going from a minimum draft of 4.80 m to 7.00 m. The highly sophisticated construction is composite with abundant use of carbon. Propulsion is provided by a Cat 8.7 engine of 8,700 cc displacement with 6 in-line cylinders, the propulsion has a retractable system inside the hull.

RECORD NUMBERS
The impressive sail plan with a 530-square-meter mainsail, 380-square-meter genoa and 1,300-square-meter gennaker allows for thrilling performance worthy of a multihull. On paper, the new My Song reaches a speed of 16.5 knots in displacement sailing; in sail planing it can reach 28 knots. Other record-breaking numbers: the fuel tank has a capacity of 7,000 liters with a range of more than 450 hours of sailing (more than 18 days!) and has 2,400 liters of water on board, which combined with the desalinator makes the My Song, in theory, a boat that can sail without ever stopping in a port.

TURN THE WORLD “EASY”
To see, we can assure you, it is beautiful. Among the special features we could see from looking at it from the dock: the huge aft deck and a gunwale (band leader) 30 cm high and just as wide that serves both as a foothold when the boat is heeled and as a seat when sailing or when the boat is stationary. We have not been aboard the boat, but the design, which we peeked at, calls for the forward area all for the owner with an office space. It is a symptom that in the owner’s idea there is a desire to make long, very long sailings. With such a boat sailing around the world will be like riding a bicycle from home to the office in Milan.