NEW YACHT

PERFORMANCE AND EXPLORATION YACHTS PIQUE RUPERT HOLMES’ INTEREST

Grand Soleil 72 Performance

LOA 23.75m 77ft 10in Hull length 22.00m 72ft 2in LWL 19.84m 65ft 0in Maximum beam 6.20m 20ft 4in Draught (standard keel) 3.70m 12ft 1in

This gorgeous Italian design blends excellent performance that’s optimised for Mediterranean sailing with a very spacious and comfortable interior. The sleek lines and low-profile coachroof have a timeless elegance, yet the hull shape embodies the latest design knowledge, without unnecessary nods to temporary fashion.

“The target was to take advantage of as many aspects of today’s hull shapes as possible to improve performance and also to create a yacht with lots of volume for very comfortable accommodation,” designer Matteo Polli tells us.

“The hull shape is different to what we’ve seen in the past,” he adds. “It’s very wide, which gives enough volume for the interior of this boat to be a key feature, but the waterline beam is narrow.”

In conjunction with rounded underwater sections this gives the least possible wetted surface area for the target displacement of 30 tonnes. Performance in light airs is therefore optimised, which reduces time spent on passage under engine. In stronger winds, once the boat starts to heel the high form stability generated by the wide maximum beam comes into play.

Polli adds: “there’s a huge amount of stability at 20° of heel.”