Classic Boat Cult | Chimera, rediscovering a super-prototype IOR

1985, Galetti Shipyard, Lake Garda.
From the will of Bruno Calandriello and Franco Bardi comes to life a super-prototype. The signature is that of Philippe Briand, the boat will be a One Tonner, a Category II conceived along the lines of Passion II, previously signed by the Frenchman and winner of the One Ton Cup ’84, that of Trinité-sur-Mer. It is the beginning of a story that will become very complex to reconstruct: it is born Chimera…

Classic Boat Cult | Chimera, rediscovering a super-prototype IOR

2022, Adriatic: Sergio Marchetti and Francesco Perlati are looking for a boat to buy together, and Chimera stands out among the options available to them.
The potential is obvious and, catching hints of an important pedigree, the game is soon played. Without being fully aware of it, they become owners of a piece of history. A history, however, all to be discovered and, at their disposal, a single detail: a possible relative victory the 1986 One Ton Cup… From there on, it’s a very long step, but a spark of interest is sparked and an investigation gets underway that turns into a real investigative process. Online searches, specialized books, former shipowners, crews, and boating circles, it all adds up and everything helps. Thus, making use of every available aid, navigating through archives, scanned ORC certificates, yellowed pages and testimonies gleaned from every nook and cranny and wharf, Chimera’s history is dusted off and with her that of sailing. Thus comes to life a jigsaw puzzle of ownership changes, refits, victories and human adventures, a unicum reassembled piece by piece-a restoration of memory to which, in parallel, the concrete one also moves.

Rediscovering an IOR

As Sergio himself tells us, if approaching Chimera happened almost by accident, quite another was reconstructing its history, initially based on imprecise hints and terse notes.

“The first searches on the net returned little or nothing but a few generic references to Palma. Then I began to focus on Cantiere Galetti, where the boat came from: an important Garda name, linked to the world of racing.”

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A book about the construction site, then making contact with Carlo Galetti himself – something stirs. It is the beginning of an arduous and passionate reconstruction that, thanks to testimonies and archives, from the years of construction and launching, stumblingly manages to trace back to the present day. And it is from this first piece that, slowly, the story unfolds before Sergio, from the first owner, Professor Bruno Calandriello, to participation in the first regattas, to the big names and changes of ownership: Calandriello and Bardi, then Turizio, and then Capociuchi and Panissidi and, finally, Bigoni.
Each name is tracked down patiently, weaving the web of the boat’s life through phone calls, documents and fortuitous coincidences-such as the old ORC certificate left in the correspondence, headed to a mis-remembered name and recovered thanks to new technologies. An answer piece to that incomplete sentence of Bigoni’s “I bought her from a Roman”: Gaetano Panissidi. Hence, the various conjunctions, the subsequent purchase of Capociuchi, the modernization of the hull…

Each of the owners contributes a valuable piece as the timeline is composed: from the birth with Galetti, to Sergio and Francesco. A story traced among a thousand coincidences and discoveries and that does not limit itself to an inventory of ownership but, on the contrary, restores vitality to an object, making it the creator of a collective narrative, a shared memory and testimony to a broader history. A story that began in 1985, at the Galetti Shipyard on Lake Garda.

Chimera, I-10507

1985, Lake Garda.From the will of Bruno Calandriello and Franco Bardi, a super-prototype comes to life. The signature is that of Philippe Briand, the boat is Chimera, One Tonner who will debut in a phenomenal second place in Giraglia, just 4 minutes in real behind Capricorn.

In 1986 came the Zegna Trophy and, more important for Chimera, the Blue Ribbon, where the boat would earn second place, just behind Merope, but ahead of Brava Les Copain e Lady B, third and fourth respectively.
“[…] this is the most innovative design available to the Italian IOR fleet at this time. The results confirm this: it came second in the ranking of ‘racer’ in the second class, just a whisker away from victory.” Giornale della Vela, 1986_
The premises are good and, having updated the boat, preparations are made for the One Ton Cup.

Palma de Mallorca, One Ton Cup, 1986. Chimera wins one event, but the overall result is not the best. Dominating the event, in fact, is Denmark, with Andelstanken to take the top step of the podium, crowning an excellent performance by the entire Danish faction present, immediately trailed by the Spanish maxi-presence, with no less than 6 hulls. Beating for the Italians.

At this point, however, there are selections for the Sardinia Cup, then valid for theAdmiral’s. Here, however, tragedy strikes. Chimera breaks, the mast is cracked, and the game stalls. Calandriello sells.
It’s 1987 and ownership passes to Turizio.
The big breakthrough comes in ’90, however, when the boat changes ownership again and passes into Capociuchi’s hands: 36 months in the yard see a new hull come out, now with forward crash box, modified stern and updated interior for solo racing. Engine and propulsion also change, as well as larger tanks and ballast are added. But the profound change touches the mast, replaced with that of Air (formerly Container), and the bulb, now replaced with a new torpedo. She will race in this configuration until ’99.
In 2000 comes, however, Panissidi ownership changes and Chimera returns a crew hull.

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Newly suited for long homegrown, sticks, Chimera arrives in 2000 with no more ballast and new equipment, including some sails even inherited from Brava Q8, as well as the rudder blade from Shardana II. It will be a short season, however, because in 2005 ownership changes hands once again and, now Bigoni, focuses on improving habitability and comfort, preserving Chimera until 2022, when, finally, Francesco and Sergio arrive and decide to bring her back among the buoys.

Chimera, 2022-2025

Returning a forty-year-old hull to the water, making it competitive, however, requires more than historical reconstruction. That is why, in addition to this, Sergio and Francesco have thus added painstaking work, a second restoration, aimed, however, at Chimera’s most concrete front: hull, rig and equipment. With philological respect for the original IOR soul, a radical job is thus started right from the start: electrical and hydraulic systems are redone from scratch, the structures are completely overhauled, the rigging is refitted, the rudder and bulb are overhauled, the hull treated, and the deck equipment, such as the safety systems, are thus updated to modern standards.

At this stage, from the very first months, the value of technical expertise and historical memories also proves essential for the refit, creating a constant dialogue with the boat’s historical protagonists and reference figures in the sailing world. From crew members to sailing gurus, Chimera thus takes shape in both directions, moving from the technical to the practical, with Francesco and Sergio assisted by friends and loved ones, and thus transforming the boat into a broader place of learning and authentic shared and cross-cutting experiences.

From the race courses to the refit, from friendships to the support of the many involved, Chimera’s story thus also becomes a personal journey-a journey of training, as well as of restitution of memory and expertise-and lands in a larger project, that of creating a book of it, a gesture halfway between the genealogy of a hull and the broader narrative of that great cauldron of excellence that was sailing in Italy and which, Chimera like so many other boats, can still tell and revive.

Ownership would like to thank all the people who participated in the dual process of ‘rebuilding’ Chimera: “all the clubs who shared dusty documents, the previous owners, the masters like Galetti and Fabbroni, the friends who shared the yard, those who gave us a voice like Laura Doria, and the sponsors, who believed in this project. Thanks also to the Journal of Sailing for making its historical archives available for research.”

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