How to sail without a mainsail: we tested the DolceVela 48

DolceVela is not only a new idea of rigging, but also another way of sailing, and boat making. We tested the new “invention” of AV yachting by Alessandro Vismara.

Dolcevela 48, our test

The biggest mistake? Stopping at appearances. Sure, taking the mainsail and boom off a cruising sailboat is no small feat. To understand the idea behind DolceVela, however, you need to go beyond that, you need a “holistic” approach, an often overused buzzword that is needed this time. One must look at this project as a whole, not stop at the analysis of a single, albeit obvious, element.

“The idea is to propose a new way of sailing.” tells me Alessandro Vismara, a.k.a. AV Yachting and the one who set in motion this attempt at a “Copernican rigging revolution,” where it is no longer mainsail and boom at the center of it all. And his name already says a lot: ” Sweet-sailing, thus a “softer, easier, more efficient” way of sailing, but also a way of designing barch,e building“.

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This fifteen-footer is then run by only two bow sails, a genoa and an overlapping foresail, 100 m and 50 m respectively, and furled on PBO anti-twist stays (thus without the classic aluminum extruded staysail). Sheets and furler are then deferred on two three-speed Antal electric winches. The result, in the end, is very easy “power” management, of the sail area: directly from the cockpit and within “fingertip” reach of the helmsman.

Around its owner

The project was born first of all from the desire of a highly experienced owner, Angelo Bruni (on his fifth boat signed Vismara) to have a boat tailored around his needs ,but it is also the result of the collaboration of many other heads and “hands” that know the sailing world very well: in addition to Alessandro Vismara, Cantiere RiNautica, Alessandro Degl’Innocenti and the young and promising designer Otto Villani.

“On board everything is very easy – Angelo Bruni explains to me – even for an owner who is no longer as young as I am. Handling it, in all conditions, is really very simple “. The concept is immediately clear to me, even as I leave the dock, even before this new rig begins to do its work: the engines are in fact two, two 60-hp Suzuki outboards, invisible, housed in two stern lockers. “A solution that makes mooring more agile., he tells me this time Otto Vilani, with a monohull that can be handled like a catamaran. In addition, the engines can be raised to reduce drag in the water, and the “holes” in the hull can be closed with wooden panels “.

As soon as we get out of the harbor, however, I touch instead the first consequence of having adopted this rig: we open the sails, without having to set bow to wind, without doing the first thing they taught us in sailing school. No boom flapping, no noise, no halyard to snag on the mainsail. The watchword, once again, simplicity.

Sweet, even the construction

No plastic, no carbon DolceVela 48 is made of wood, Douglas and Red Cedar to be precise, impregnated with Bio epoxy resins, reinforced with flax fibers. “The wood makes it fragrant, more sound absorbent, thermally insulated, more comfortable because of how it is able to “breathe” moisture, absorbing it when it is in excess e releasing it when it is drier“, Mentor Shimai of RiNautica tells me passionately. “Wood construction is also environmentally friendly, born on 3D modeling and laser cutting. It avoids the use of the mold, an element that is always disposable in the long run, which is necessary instead for fiberglass or carbon fiber construction, reducing production and disposal costs.”

Dolcevela 48, sailing

A beautiful day in front of Punta Ala, but unfortunately with little wind: 6/7 knots on flat water. Certainly not ideal conditions to thoroughly test DolceVela under canvas. An idea we got anyway and, guess what… everything is very simple. Of having sails we almost forget. The deck plan is well organized (the mast has two large quartered spreaders and no backstay) and the boat, despite the very light breeze ,got on its rails and started to sail, almost by itself.

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Having the mast moved far aft results in a cockpit that is not very large but at the same level and in direct continuity with the dinette, separated only by two sliding and retractable glass doors. The central salon can then enjoy the brightness given by the large windows on the deckhouse. The end result is thus a pleasant, gentle, cancellation of the distance between the inside and the outside to navigate immersed in the seascape.

by Luca Sordelli

Data Sheet

Lung. ft: 14.85 m
Maximum beam: 4.40 m
Displacement: 12,000 kg
Fishing: 2.40 m
Serb. water: 600 l
Serb. fuel: 400 l
Engines: 2 x 60 hp outboard Suzuki
Sup.vel. genoa: 100 sqm
Sup.vel. self-tacking jib: 50 sqm
AV Yachting Project – Otto Villani