When, on the evening of May 21st, the hulls of the AC72 Luna Rossa emerged from the gates of Persico Marine on the backs of two huge trucks, the cameras flashed and the photographers surged in true celebrity style even though the two stars of the show were encased in huge containers. The two publicity-shy celebrities were on their way to Auckland. "I’m sorry," said Marcello Persico, Managing Director of the Persico Marine. "I’m sorry to see them go: it was such an extremely interesting project." He could make no further comment, however, as he is bound by the usual secrecy surrounding anything to do with the America’s Cup. The same vow of silence applied when the Luna Rossas for the Valencia Cup, the Abu Dhabi Ocean Team’s VOR 70 and the wingsail of the AC72 Artemis all departed those same sheds at various different times. "They are all extremely sophisticated constructions in which research into composite materials and lightness are key factors. In all those instances, we didn’t just do the construction but we were part of a group focused on the design with the team and the designer. That’s our speciality, in fact. We have a set-up that will also work for private owners who want to build a performance-oriented custom sailing or motoryacht." That set-up spans around 50 specialist technicians, milling machines that can work on components of up to 25 metres, the group’s wealth of technical know-how and R&D, and a unique portfolio.
4 world leaders in race yacht construction have formed a consortium to produce the monohulls for the next 2 Volvo Ocean Races.
Now it is official: the Organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race have introduced the New Volvo 65 Class for the world’s toughest ocean race. The new high tech yachts will be 65 foot (20m) long monohulls designed by Farr Yacht Design.
8 boats in less than 2 years
To guarantee the production of 8 boats in less than 2 years, Decision (Switzerland), Green Marine (UK), Multiplast (France) and Persico (Italy) have formed an organisation that was inspired by production programmes in the aeronautical industry. Each yard will provide pre equipped sub assemblies in order to reduce the construction time while at the same time guaranteeing extremely tight tolerances for dimensions and weight between the boats.
Decision boatyard in Switzerland will produce the bulkheads and internal structural elements. At the same time, Persico will mould the hulls and lay the longitudinal stiffeners in Italy. The decks will be constructed and fitted out at Multiplast in France before sending to Green Marine, the UK leader of the consortium, in charge of assembly, who will also finish and launch the boats. Green Marine will be the sole contactor for supplying the boats to the racing teams.
The consortium is committed to deliver one boat every seven weeks from June 2013; the eighth boat being delivered in May 2014, four months before the beginning of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014/2015.
A logical choice...
With more than 100 years combined experience in the construction of grand prix racing yachts, these four boat yards have the aim of producing the best series of ocean-going monohulls ever. The designs will deliver close racing on very strong and competitive boats.
Each organisation brings a wealth of experience to the project to meet this challenge:
Persico
PERSICO is one of the world's most experienced and versatile mould-engineering specialist companies with automotive, rotomoulding, engineering, marine and aerospace/aeronautics divisions located in an area of 60.000 square meters in Nembro (Bergamo), Italy. Persico Marine has been involved in projects including Moro di Venezia, RC44, Luna Rossa, Abu Dhabi, Artemis Racing...
5,000 square meters of air conditioned hangars with 3 large CNC milling machines (25m, 17m & 8m) and 20 other internal milling machines.
Decision S.A
Around 60 composite boats since 1984
Builder of the Maxis Whitbread UBS Switzerland, Merit, Merit Cup and La Poste
Builder for the team Alinghi from 2000 to 2009
Builder of the solar planes Solar Impulse
3 series productions (Grand Mistral, Decision 35 & MOD 70)
45 employees in Ecublens near Lausanne in Switzerland
Green Marine
Around 160 composite boats since 1982
Builder of Pirates, Kosatka, Ericsson 1, Assa Abloy, Intrum Justicia, Ran II...
120 employees in Hythe, near Southampton (GB)
6,000 m2 production capacity
Multiplast
More than 30 years experience in the design and production of boats and large compos
ite parts (since 1981)
Builder of Groupama 4, Groupama 3, Club Med, Orange 1 & 2, Geronimo, Brit Air, Generali,...
Series production of competition multihulls (MOD70 project, 7 boats)
60 employees in a 5,000 m² air-conditioned hangar in Vannes, France
Reactions:
Marcello Persico, Managing Director of Persico Marine:
"Persico is proud to have been selected to build part of the new generation Farr designed yacht, made for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015. The Persico staff led by Mark Somerville are ready to start with the new challenge. For this new adventure Michelle Marie comes on board with Persico. Having already worked closely with Farr Yacht Design in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012, we are happy to be working with them again for the next Volvo Ocean Race."
Bertrand Cardis, Director of Decision:
"After an initial meeting with Knut Frostad in Alicante in October 2012, it was clear: A One Design Class must be developed for the next Volvo Ocean Race. We shared this idea with the managers at Multiplast, Dominique Dubois and Yann Penfornis, with whom we have had an excellent collaboration within the project MOD70. We imagined creating a network of boatyards including Green Marine, Persico, Multiplast and Decision, capable of constructing on time and to the high standards required by the fleet. We are very enthusiastic to be involved in this innovative network which has rationalised the construction of these race boats. We are delighted with this project and hope to contribute again to the success of this legendary race having been heavily involved in the past as a maxi yachts builder for all of the Whitbread races from 1984 to 1994."
Marcel Muller, Managing Director of Green Marine:
"Green Marine is very pleased to be involved in this historic project. Working together in a team with some of the worlds best boat building professionals gives us the capacity to deliver a new generation
of ocean racers that will guarantee for speed, and reliable excitement at an unknown level of economy. Green Marine has built a number of successful Volvo Ocean contenders in the past and we are committed to help raising the world’s most legendary ocean race to a new level."
Yann Penfornis, Director of Multiplast:
"This project started with a proposition from Multiplast and Decision to Knut Frostad, Head of the Volvo Ocean Race, at the race start last November in Alicante. We then strengthened the group with the arrival of the Green Marine and Persico teams, and we are now very happy to be part of this European consortium selected by Knut to take on this challenge. With Dominique Dubois, the President of Multiplast, we are putting everything in place to satisfy the most demanding teams in the world in the field of ocean racing."
Persico will produce the moulds, the hulls, structural bulkheads, keel boxes and other things.
The Volvo Ocean Race has unveiled details of the high-performance new boat that will be used for the next two editions of the Race.
The 65-foot (19.8-metre) monohull racing yacht will be strictly one design. It will be designed by
the United States-based Farr Yacht Design and constructed by a consortium of leading boatyards in the United Kingdom (Green Marine), France (Multiplast), Italy (Persico) and Switzerland (Decision).
The first wing has already hit the wind near Valencia: 40 metres high, weighing just over a ton, manufactured using carbon moulds made in Italy. Persico is manufacturing the carbon moulds for the wing components. The parts are gigantic 20 metre-high pieces. In fact, when assembled, a wing is 40 meters high. The components for the first wing were moulded in Valencia at Future Fibres. The assembled wing has a surface area of 260 square meters and weighs just over one ton. Just few days ago, the wing was hoisted on a modified ORMA 60 trimaran used as a training boat, in Valencia - where the Swedish team Artemis Racing is headquartered. Now that the first wing has been launched, engineers at Persico Marine have gone back to work on the second wing.
