The first flying Mini Maxi will be 19 meters long, make 40 knots and be Italian

Bravo, Roberto Lacorte! The entrepreneur from Pisa who is passionate about sailing could not have chosen a better time, the public’s attention catalyzed by the America’s Cup flying boats, to launch his new, futuristic project.

We are talking about a 19-meter equipped with state-of-the-art foils that will make it fly at 40 knots and named FlyingNikka (an obvious reference to SuperNikka, the Vismara Mills 62 with which Lacorte won so much on the race courses). This will be the world’s first Mini Maxi with foils. An “evolved” and adapted for long sailing version of the AC75s we are learning about at the America’s Cup.

“We have been working on the project for a long time, with Mark Millsand the sailors with whom I shared so many victories with SuperNikka and the Persico 69F circuit,” Lacorte explains. “Now we know which path to take precisely and we are ready. I can count on an outstanding group that is making a vital contribution to the realization of FlyingNikka. And that’s the most important aspect, when you embark on such a venture, out of your comfort zone, which might also seem a little crazy“.

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Alessio Razeto, Team Manager and Head of the Sails Project, Lorenzo Bressani, Enrico Zennaro, Andrea Fornaro and Lorenzo de Felice are the five experienced and titled sailors who together with Lacorte himself, the boat’s Commander Fabrizio Turini and the design team set up by Mark Mills and by the project manager Micky Costa, they will work closely on the development of FlyingNikka’s innovative design until the launch day, scheduled for the summer of 2022.

THE SECRETS OF FLYINGNIKKA

“We’re going to take a lot of cues from the AC75 and put them together into a package that is easier to use, more economical, and able to navigate a wider range of conditions,” explains Mark Mills. “Designing such a boat is very challenging, so we assembled a team of specialists, a 10-man group with experience on 3 of the 4 America’s Cup teams racing in Auckland.

Our partners in KND research and development will provide the analytical tools to evaluate the new design topography, with aerodynamic input from North Sails specialists, while Pure Engineering will provide the technical expertise to produce the lightest and most reliable platform possible. The first six months of preliminary design work focused on the validity of the basic idea, using the dynamic Gomboc simulator developed by Team New Zealand and the North Sails VPP to evaluate various foil configurations and geometries, in flight and in displacement mode.

Led by its founder Giovanni Belgrano, Pure developed a completely new wing articulation solution to reduce foil cost and improve reliability for a design operating outside the specific weather conditions of the America’s Cup.”

“Our vision for design,” Mills enthusiastically continues, “is a simple and robust platform capable of having all the necessary requirements to participate in traditional offshore regattas, starting with certification related to the Offshore Special Regulations. FlyingNikka’s hull shape will be different from the AC75s because. contact with the water surface will be greater. Management of the foils and all on-board hydraulic systems will involve only 5 people, allowing the helmsman to concentrate on navigation without having to directly control the height of the flight.

We are currently focusing on the development and optimization of geometry and design systems. Over the next three months we will finalize the hull and deck configuration before construction begins. Shipyard selection is at an advanced stage, led by experienced project manager Micky Costa, who plays a crucial role in the project, as he is the liaison between designers, builder, and crew, to succeed in making a reliable, simple, and effective boat“.

The boat will be able to race with an ORC rating certificate thanks to the close cooperation with the Offshore Racing Congress in defining the VPP related to full foil boats – the first technical details of which will be revealed in the coming months, as well as the name of the builder shipyard and all members of the design team.

THE EXPERIENCE ON PERCH 69F

Meanwhile, the crew will be busy again in the Persico 69F circuit with the two “small” FlyingNikka 47 and 74, as confirmed by Team Manager Alessio Razeto. “We will have to defend the first and second places won this year. And continue to accumulate specific experience on foils, an ever-changing world that needs to be followed daily and on which there is still much to learn. Our experience on Perch 69F“, continues Razeto, “has been very important at this early stage in the conception of the new project, because the contribution of boat people is crucial. And ours is a sailing team of the highest caliber“.

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