Thirty years ago, no large yacht could be sailed solo. Yacht builder Fabio Perini and his team changed that when they came up with a revolutionary sail handling system that would storm the yachting world. In the process, they also created an iconic company, Perini Navi, to build such yachts from a base in Viareggio in Tuscany, Italy. Their commissions included the world’s largest sailboat, the Maltese Falcon, which spectacularly embodies Perini Navi’s gift for innovation and its contemporary spirit. The 88-metre Maltese Falcon revamped the classic clipper design into a new class of sailing ship for the 21st century. Its DynaRig sail system is a case in point — three free-standing carbon fibre masts, each with six yardarms, deploy 15 sails that billow out into 2,400 square metres of wind-catching surfaces. The sails are trimmed by rotating the entire mast. When not needed, the sails furl back into the mast itself. This and more is managed by the computerised Perini Navi Sail Control system, which manoeuvres for unmatched performance and safety. Perini Navi yachts are famous for their interiors as well. The Maltese Falcon’s interiors were styled by award-winning architect Ken Freivokh. Although huge, just 12 guests get to enjoy the uncompromising comfort of its five staterooms on the lower deck, and one passage cabin on the upper deck. The passage cabin has a private cockpit, a protected sunbathing area and direct access to the wheelhouse.

 

However, the Perini Navi name had begun to shine in the league of fine luxury yacht builders long before the Maltese Falcon came along in 2006. After establishing itself in 1983, Perini Navi quickly became the first shipyard in the world capable of producing large yachts that could be sailed by a small crew. The innovations continued with revolutionary ideas like swinging keels for improved stability, weight-control mechanisms to improve speed performance, new sail materials and automatic winches driven by electronically controlled electric motors. This, Perini Navi could do because it had grown to acquire the skills and facilities to design, develop and build its own yachts — indeed, it is the only shipyard in the world with such complete qualities .

 

The masts for its yachts, for example, are built in-house and put through rigorous tests to ensure they can handle the stresses of automatic hoisting and lowering of the sails. The sails themselves are also tested to make certain they can retain much their original shape under stress in order to maintain their efficiency. Sails lighter in weight, stronger and more resistant against ultra-violet degradation have also come about in Perini Navi’s pursuit of performance excellence. Its technologically advanced sailing systems are well-known in the international sailing fraternity, as are its cutting-edge exterior designs and reputation for quality.

 

For all these technological and design breakthroughs, Perini Navi has also found itself acclaimed for the interiors of its yachts, as beautiful and elegant within as without, and for being as luxuriously liveable at sea as at dock. These high standards have set new benchmarks in the yachting world for large sailing vessels of 40 metres and longer.

 

These were qualities and skills cultivated as the company grew. In 1987, Perini Navi added a new yard in Turkey, the Perini Istanbul Yildiz Gemi. The yard had been in existence since 1971, but under Perini Navi’s business philosophy and standards, it was transformed into one of the finest shipyards in the Mediterranean. And in the early 1990s, Perini Navi acquired Picchiotti, a 17th century Italian shipyard with a reputation for its pioneering attitude and quality builds. It turned out a variety of craft, from wooden sailboats to metal Italian Navy vessels to racing hulls, before it began to earn recognition for fine motor yachts, such as the 15-metre Esperia in 1905. From motor yachts, it went on to build the first motor cruisers such as the 14.5- metre Giannutri and the Mistral. The famous 36.5-metre Kon Tiki of 1947 was also a Picchiotti build.

 

Indeed, 2010 marks a new chapter in the Perini Navi story. To this point, it has always been about large sailing craft. This year, it is finally embracing motor yachts with the historic Picchiotti brand, centred at the Picchiotti shipyard in La Spezia (the former Cantieri Naalli Beconcini shipyard). The Perini Navi Group is re-organising itself for this change — large sailing yachts will continue under the Perini Navi brand, but its motor yachts will take on the Picchiotti name.

 

Under Picchiotti, Vitruvius Ltd and French naval architect Philippe Briand are already working together on the Vitruvius Yacht line — a new series of motor yachts ranging from 44 to 73 metres. It takes its name from Roman architect Vitruvius Pollio, the first to describe the perfect proportions in architecture, and the man who inspired Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawing of Vitruvian Man, the perfect man.

 

. The Perini Navi pedigree shows in Vitruvius yachts. Design shines in the hydrodynamic aluminium hulls with a fine vertical stern that cuts through the waves and limits pitching. The lightness of the hull also dramatically helps to reduce the weight of the vessel. Similar craft of this size, traditionally built with steel, weigh about 50 per cent more. All this means lower fuel consumption — about 25 per cent less than a similar vessel, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions.

 

The first Picchiotti motor yacht is already out the water with the launch of the 50-metre Exuma, an exploration vessel that continues to expand the Perini Navi Group’s new horizons in luxury yachting.