Gemini, Azzurra and the last IOR, 10 years of cult signed Vallicelli

Speaking of IOR, contextualizing to the domestic scene, that of Studio Vallicelli is a name that needs little introduction.
In the last article, From Ziggurat to Brava, 5 Years of Cult IOR by Master Vallicelli, we saw its rise and success phase, so it is now time for a brief excursus on its golden years, up to the last IOR.
Here, then, are the great cults (one-offs) signed by the iconic studio, 10 years of masterpieces launched from 1982 to 1992, when the new rule, the IMS, came into full swing, The International Measurement Rule.

Vallicelli, the master of the Italian (and other) IOR

From the great successes of the early years, marked by prototypes such as.
Ziggurat,
Gattone, and Argento Vivo, to cult hits such as Filo da Torcere, Brava, and Blu Show, Studio Vallicelli has had an explosive career in just under a decade, soon establishing itself on the local and international scene.
Win after win and huge design contributions thus soon made it one of the great landmarks of the period, leading the Studio to commissions that were nothing short of exceptional, resulting in projects that have remained in the memories and hearts of so many.
In this article, as much as possible, we will see to explore among the most distinctive of these, focusing, once again, exclusively on one-off hulls (for 5 series cults signed by the Studio, HERE is an article you might be interested in).

• For the previous article:

Dallo Ziggurat al Brava, 5 anni di Cult IOR del maestro Vallicelli

Two cults in “blue”

After the great successes of Filo da Torcere, Blu Show, and Brava, commissions for the studio became increasingly important.
The first among them came from the Navy in 1982, then looking for a school boat for its Sports Group.
Soon done, the Gemini (13.7 m), built in laminated laminate by De Cesari and based on lessons learned with Brava and Primadonna, lessons well learned and which would lead Gemini, as early as 1983, to break the Giraglia record, with just 28 hours.
She is not, however, to be the great Vallicelli cult of the early 1980s. It will be another hull, like her celeste but not IOR, that will steal hearts: Azzurra.

Short jump back in time. It was 1981 when the Vallicelli studio received the commission for Azzurra, the first Italian 12 Meters International Tonnage destined to compete in the challenge for the America’s Cup: Newport 1983.
The Cup of Records, as we all know, the first American defeat ever, the miracle of Australia II, Bill Lexcen’s masterpiece.

As per the rules, challengers can only use national research and manufacturing facilities, so Azzurra was born at the naval tanks in Rome (INSEAN) and was tested through three 1:4 scale models for several months.
The result is a combination of what emerged from previous studies and experience and the designers’ intuition.
It is a less traditional 12 Meters than previous standards, with reduced buoyancy, lighter and less sail.
In compensation, the stern sections are wider, the drift fin is much more streamlined than the average present at Newport, with very sharp profile entry angles and flatter center sections.
She will prove to be a particularly fast hull, even beating, on one occasion, the incredible Australia II, but losing in the semifinals to the British Victory, due to a breakdown that will put her out of action.
In 1984, however, she would record 2nd place at the 12 Metre World Championship in Porto Cervo (if you would like to learn more, the Vallicelli Yacht Design book of 2020, published by Skira, contains exceptional drawings and information).

Vallicelli – A new generation

After Azzurra, and after previous successes that emerged with the various 40-footers, the firm’s design line changes.
Enterprise (15.40 m) is the first witness to this.
Designed for a French owner, this is a 50-footer devoted to pure racing.
Compared to Brava (now a reference point), it features less acute semi-angles and softer progressions, making the lines more streamlined and less influenced by the extremes of the IOR canon.
The deck also changes, retaining some of the classic styles but incorporating new solutions.
Among them, the deckhouse is also different, flatter, more tapered, almost a stylization of its predecessors.
A new design phase opens. In return, Enterprise would be a success, winning the 1984 Cowes-Dynard and the North American Championship in 1985.

In the same year asEnterprise, another classic saw the light of day, Brava 30.5. The IOR, in fact, changed rating for One Tonners in 1983, raising it from 27.5 to 30.5 (to encourage her participation in team regattas-Sardinia & Admiral’s), and Landolfi commissioned a second Brava, a new generation One Tonner.
More harmonious and all-round than its predecessor, this one is made of laminated (hull) and composite (deck).
It will be the swan song for wood-built hulls.

Toward the 1990s.

Azzurra, though not bringing Italy to the America’s Cup, nevertheless ignites the fever for the jug.
The next edition (1987), therefore, would see the Syndicate back on the water: they were born Azzurra II (1985) e Azzurra III (1986).
In the first case, the hull is not entirely different from the first, with even wider stern sections and lower forward momentum.
The second, on the other hand, is even shorter, with important innovations related to design, entirely assisted by new digital technologies.
The major revolutions, however, are all daughters of the Lexcen keel developed for Australia II: Azzurra II will in fact have Butterfly Wing drifts, Azzurra III, on the other hand, Delta Winglets; solutions aimed at providing that lift coefficient capable of giving an extra boost in post-maneuver and heeled-boat accelerations (a much more complex issue in reality, but this is not the place to address it properly).

In addition to the two Azzurras, 1986 saw four other hulls that became famous.
The first is Springbok (15.08 m), a 50-footer based on Enterprise’s lessons, but “less wet” and with greater ratio of sail sup. to displacement. Built in San Diego to Sandwich planking, she would be helmed by none other than Dennis Conner, winning both the Onion Patch and the 1986 Bermuda Race.
Inspired by Springbrook‘s design choices for a Turkish ownership, she was then born Sirena, another 50-footer, this time destined for the 1988 Sardinia Cup.

Returning instead to the One Tonner world, also in 1986 two other racing hulls were born: Brava Les Copains, for Landolfi, and Merope, for the Navy.
The design choices between the two are not particularly dissimilar, with streamlined hulls and great attention to appendages and their aspect-ratio, all solutions that the end of the decade leading to become a trend, bringing us closer to the future IMS.
Very high performance hulls, but too all-round, will not achieve the huge results hoped for, earning, however, first and second place, both, at the 1986 and 1987 Italian Championships.

With the design of the large one-offs that followed, the IOR canon was waning, and the projects themselves demonstrate this.
In 1990, in fact, the following was born Brancaleone Open (10.67 m), designed on the parameters of the Open Category 10.67 class, basically based on a single limit, length, in addition to safety parameters.
The IOR, in fact, having become too extreme, with the end of the decade experiences a period of “crisis,” with several owners coming out facing different experiences.
Another example, in tone, is offered thus Stradivaria (12.55), designed in 1992, by then at the dawn of the IMS, but under an additional regulation, the free class raced with on Lake Garda.
It is a fractional-rigged hull with a contained wetted surface, without exaggeration.
She would win the Centomiglia del Garda in 1992, 1993 and 1994, marking the approach that the firm later adopted for open classes. After that, the IMS and a whole new world ..