“We sailed on a boat with a round bow in the Mediterranean.”

There is one prototype that dominated much of the Arci 650, the regatta in the Tuscan archipelago reserved for the Mini 650 class, which was run these days. The boat is Eight Cube (888 is its number, which can be read “eight cubed”) entrusted to the hands of young ocean sailor Matteo Sericano and helmsman/tactician Francesco Bertone. 888 finished the regatta in first place among the prototypes, but that is not what we want to tell you about today.

This is not a “conventional” Mini 650, but one of those carbon “monsters” that transalpine countries flaunt with some pride and that seems tailor-made to anger old-fashioned sailors, mainly for three reasons: has a round bow, is designed to have foils, and is green! (click here)

Outside Italy you see a lot of them, but here in our country, when they arrive they are seen as a bit of an alien. Jokes such as “you can’t tell stern and bow apart” are wasted, and on the dock quite a few people stop to look at the shape of these boats with some skepticism.

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Assuming that it would take months and months to familiarize ourselves with all the adjustments of this bolide, we will make do with a Genoa-Livorno transfer where we tested for ourselves what it is like to sail with a round bow in the Mediterranean, aboard Eight Cube, to try to convey some of the feelings we experienced on board.

Let’s start with the most obvious question: why make a round bow? 888 is a Mini 650 designed for the Mini Transat, a race across the Atlantic Ocean from France to the Caribbean, and in the Ocean, the wave is not like in the Mediterranean, steep and short, but the exact opposite. In these navigations there are no waves to “cut,” so such a bow helps because it also provides more stability.

What if it sails here with us?

Even here in our country, a round bow boat is still a thoroughbred, especially at the portals. Eight Cube is constructed entirely of carbon, has a canting keel, and has side daggerboards. With this mix, starting from Genoa with 20-22 knots from the north, we sailed some 30 miles at over 12 knots average with only a jib and a hand of reefing to the mainsail ( the transfer was energy-saving in view of the regatta).

Currently the boat is not foiling, but with the wind at her back she glides like a charm even on the swell of the Ligurian tramontana. Now imagine it on the big slack with the big spi. In this configuration in the first part of the Arci 650, the boat averaged over 16 knots, without the foils, breaking away from most of the fleet.

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When there is little wind upwind and the wave rises?

If at the carriers it is all “quiet,” upwind with the Mediterranean wave how do you sail? If you know how to make it carry, this boat does not disappoint. Undoubtedly, the transition on the short wave is definitely more complicated than on a hull with a V-shaped bow, but if you “get” the rhythm and some familiarity, even a round bow can be successful. The fact remains that, with little wind and wave, the boat suffers much more than its “sisters” with a V-shaped bow.

Beppe Boniventi