Seven boats that made us fall in love from 1974 to 1988

There are boats that, for one reason or another, kidnap our hearts. They are not necessarily the most beautiful or the fastest, but they are the ones that have a “little something extra.” We selected seven models that made the history of Italian sailing (and beyond) from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s. Do you remember them?

Bravo

The first boat in the long and successful Brava series, armed by Pasquale Landolfi, took home gold at the Fastnet in 1983. No Italian crew had made it until then; Brava, a design by Andrea Vallicelli built by the Minneford shipyard, won in both real time and plywood.

Grand Soleil 34

When Cantiere del Pardo of Bologna came on the market in 1974, it decided to commission the French designers of Group Finot for a hull that, while remaining faithful to the nautical design of those years, could rely on a rationalized and intelligent deck. The GS 34 was born, of which 290 examples were made until 1983. The first modern boat, reliable in cruising and able to provide satisfaction in racing as well, 37 years after its launch it still retains great market value.

Gryphon

The ubiquitous Bruce Farr, who in the late 1970s had defected from the design studied for the IOR system, enjoys designing Open. For the thirty-first Centomiglia, in ’81, he churned out Grifo and Farrneticante, two 14.2-meter free class with an extremely deep but very light fixed keel. The absolute novelty, however, consists in the presence of the terraces (clearly inspired by the Australian 18 Feet) Grifo is entrusted to Flavio Scala, Farrneticante to Luciano Lievi: they will come first and second.

Longobard

Bruce Farr sealed the design in 1988, ending the monopoly of Frers-designed hulls in the triangle maxi sphere: in ’89 Longobarda, an 80-footer built using carbon fiber, Kevlar and nomex at Ambrosini shipyards, won the Maxi World Championship. The lead ballast that forms the bottom of the hull is one of the secrets of Longobarda’s success. A real revolution in sailing.

Marisa

It was one of the surprises of the 1987 season, becoming a springboard for the young designer Luca Brenta: Marisa was one of the first boats made of hybrid Kevlar-carbon prepreg fabrics and Nomex core. It was built in the Crosato shipyard in Roncade, near Treviso.

Police Car

During the 1979 Admiral’s Cup, during a stern with more than 30 knots of air, while others overpowered Police Car proceeded untamed. The Australian-flagged boat, designed by British architect Ed Dubois, wins the historic regatta: instead of designing a small, over-sailed boat in the Kiwi and North American style, Dubois chooses to lengthen the waterline, enhance the stern sections and reduce the sail plan, influencing future generations of designers.

Ziggurat

Built between 1976 until the late 1980s by the Cpr shipyard in Fiumicino, it was Andrea Vallicelli’s first successful project: in racing half tonner hard to beat, in cruising faithful companion equipped with with as many as 7 berths against a hull of 9.16 meters!