1ISSUE NINE

Heart & Soul

T R U T H • O P I N I O N K N O W L E D G E • I D E A S & S U P E R Y A C H T O W N E R I N S I G H T

ISSUE FIFTEENDEC 2014

JOIN THE CLUBA look at the Rolex Swan Cup and what being part of ClubSwan is all about.

NO REGRETSEx-owner Stanley Bey offers advice and words of caution on ownership.

COMMERCIAL CUESSouthern Cross III’s owner discusses commercial sensibility for yacht management.

GRANDE ORAZIOMassimiliano Florio on taking Grande Orazio from Cape Town to the Med.

ISSUE FIFTEEN

An owner takes delivery

6

Massimiliano Florio is the owner of the 82ft Southern Wind Grande Orazio. Following the launch in Cape Town in January 2014, Florio accompanied his crew on the delivery voyage from South Africa to the Mediterranean. Justin Ratcliffe joined the Italian owner aboard his

yacht during a winning streak at June’s Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta in Sardinia.

AN OWNER TAKES DELIVERY

– WORDS BY JUSTIN RATCLIFFE

JUST

IN R

ATCL

IFFE

7

ISSUE FIFTEEN

An owner takes delivery

8 ISSUE FIFTEEN

An owner takes delivery

“It was hard to find the time away from work to spend nearly three weeks at sea sailing from Cape Town to Cape Verde,” says the Italian owner. “But it was a unique opportunity that I couldn’t let slip me by. It leaves you with a huge feeling of personal enrichment; you return home and you hug your family – and they hug you in return – in a different way.”

In classic fashion, Florio began sailing at a young age aboard Optimists and Hobie Cats. With his first serious yacht, a one-off 18m designed by Roberto Starkel also named Grande Orazio (after his father, Orazio, who founded the family pharmaceutical business), he began to take competitive sailing more seriously and took part in the Middle Sea Race with ocean yachtsman Giovanni Soldini, and the Rolex Volcano Race between Capri and the Aeolian Islands.

His enthusiasm for racing, however, has to be balanced with holiday cruising in the company of his young family. So when it came to upgrading to a bigger and more competitive yacht, he wanted a boat that could perform well on the race course but would also serve as a safe and comfortable cruiser. He eventually settled on the SW82 and his new 25m yacht became the second in the mini series after Feelin’ Good.

“I was impressed by how the shipyard listens and understands the needs of owners,” says Florio. “I think Nautor’s Swan was the undisputed point of reference in the past for my kind of boat,

but now Southern Wind are second to none. Although they build series boats, the end product is more like a custom yacht.”

Florio chose the Flush Deck version of the SW82 with sleek and sporty coach roof lines by Nauta Design and racing-oriented rigging solutions, including a Southern Spars High-Modulus carbon fibre mast and boom, EC6 and carbon rigging, carbon foil for the furler, racing winches and a removable bowsprit. Below the waterline, Farr Yacht Design introduced a high-aspect ratio rudder blade and added 20cm to the 4m keel. The interior layout was also extensively customised to provide ample volumes and maximum flexibility in racing or cruising modes.

Following the launch of Grande Orazio in early 2014, the yacht set off on her maiden voyage in March bound for Italy. All Southern Wind yachts are designed for

“IT WAS HARD TO FIND THE TIME AWAY FROM WORK TO SPEND NEARLY THREE WEEKS AT SEA SAILING FROM CAPE TOWN TO CAPE VERDE. BUT IT WAS A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY THAT I COULDN’T LET SLIP ME BY.” – MASSIMILIANO FLORIO, OWNER OF S/Y GRANDE ORAZIO

JUST

IN R

ATCL

IFFE

JUST

IN R

ATCL

IFFE

blue water cruising and the long-distance transfer to Europe is the most testing sea trial you can imagine. Very few owners have the time – or perhaps the inclination – to take part in the 9,600km delivery voyage, but Florio jumped at the chance.

“It was my first ocean crossing, but I was surprised how quickly we can adapt to new circumstances,” he says. “I didn’t even know how to turn the lights on when I first stepped on board, but on a trip like this you quickly learn how the boat operates and handles.”

As a member of the nine-man crew, Florio took his two-hour watches in the cockpit followed by four hours off. The boat proved exceptionally stable, even when hitting a top speed of 24.5 knots. It took just a week to cover the 3,000km to St Helena, where they rested for a couple of days and took on supplies. It was plain sailing from the island outpost in the South Atlantic as far as the equator, but then the squalls and thunderstorms began.

“It was impossible to feel completely at ease,” says Florio. “You’re always thinking of a collision with a whale or a submerged container. But once you’re committed, you have to be fatalistic and just get on with it.”

High winds and four-metre waves meant a deckhand was permanently manning the

main and staysail, but 10 days later Grande Orazio arrived safe and sound in Cape Verde where Florio left the boat to return to work in Rome. The remaining crew took the boat on to Italy and arrived after a total of 31 days at sea.

“It was heart-wrenching when I got in the dinghy to leave Grande Orazio,” recalls Florio. “I just wanted to get back on board, because when you spend so much time on the boat it becomes your whole world.”

Grande Orazio’s regatta debut came just two months later at the XII edition of the Southern Wind Trophy during the Loro Piana Superyacht Cup in Porto Cervo. Despite being the smallest in the SW range, she excelled on the race circuit. With Florio at the helm, she claimed a streak of three first places and a second place, winning both the Class C category and the Southern Wind Trophy. Her owner, a member of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, was delighted with the performance of both yacht and crew: “Grande Orazio is newly arrived and we’re already making a splash!”

10 ISSUE FIFTEEN

An owner takes delivery

TO COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE GO TO:WWW.THESUPERYACHTOWNER.COM

SUPE

RYA

CHT

MED

IA /

SO

UT

HER

N W

IND

SH

IPYA

RD

MA

SSIM

ILIA

NO

FLO

RIO

11

“IT WAS HEART-WRENCHING WHEN I GOT IN THE DINGHY TO LEAVE GRANDE ORAZIO. I JUST WANTED TO GET BACK ON BOARD … WHEN YOU SPEND SO MUCH TIME ON THE BOAT IT BECOMES YOUR WHOLE WORLD.” – MASSIMILIANO FLORIO, OWNER OF S/Y GRANDE ORAZIO

Opening page: the owner at the helm during the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta in Sardinia.Previous page: (top) Grande Orazio underway, (bottom) Massimiliano Florio.This page: (top) the owner wanted a high performance boat that was also a safe and comfortable cruiser. Bottom: the delivery team and owner crossing the equator during the delivery voyage.

ISSUE FIFTEEN

An owner takes delivery

TO COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE GO TO:WWW.THESUPERYACHTOWNER.COM

LIVE SLOW, SAIL FASTAt a gala dinner hosted by the shipyard during the Southern Wind Trophy in Sardinia, the shipyard’s sales manager Andrea Micheli officially announced a new initiative: the Southern Wind Sailing Academy (SWSA).

The initiative aims to provide customised learning experiences for committed yachtsmen and crews looking to improve their seamanship and blue water sailing ability. Southern Wind Shipyard (SWS) has always cultivated what it calls a “true culture and experience of the sea” and the SWSA is designed to foster this mission by helping sailors to perfect their knowledge of their yachts, while improving their safety, performance and enjoyment.

“This is the first boutique sailing school not just specifically designed for owners, but devoted to all passionate yachtsmen, whether they be owners, their children, their friends or their crews,” says Andrea Micheli.

The ‘semi-custom’ courses draw on the network of qualified professionals, including America’s Cup yachtsmen, tacticians, designers, captains and certified RYA instructors, which SWS has built up in its 25 years of building large sailing yachts.

“We can tailor courses to the requirements of individual owners that might normally spend just a couple of weeks each summer aboard their yachts, but who want to expand their expertise and experience,” says SWSA coordinator Emanuele Bassino. “Following the calendar of the most important international regattas, clients have the chance to live the thrill of racing our yachts, while in other periods we focus on courses rigged for various ability levels. Finally, we also offer courses for those who want to take their Royal Yachting Association [RYA] certifications.”

One of the first to benefit from the SWSA programme is the team from High Spirit, owned by Russian yachtsman Igor Katalevskiy. The team followed a theory module in Genoa, followed by a second and third module in Moscow and a fourth in October in Malta. With the aim of taking the Ocean Yacht Master examination, the pinnacle of the tailored programme will be when Team High Spirit charter the SWS94 Windfall to take part in the RORC Transatlantic Race, due to start in November from Lanzarote, together with their instructors and professional racers.

SOU

TH

ERN

WIN

D S

HIP

YAR

D