THE POSSIBLE INNOVATION

In doing our job with conscience we have always followed this axiom: planning is unproductive without innovation and innovation without solid technical bases is risky. From this premiss has logically originated a big commitment of the Vismara towards research and technology, basis upon which to build the planning development, but very often also the main driving force of our enthusiasm. The scientific research, in both hydrodynamics and aerodynamic scopes, has allowed us to evolve the shapes of hulls, sail plans, keels, because it has allowed us to have a better understanding of the factors that rule over these performances. From the beginning, Vismara has founded its planning decisions on research tools such as VPP programs or tank tests and systematic hulls. The need to examine in depth the research concerning all the aspects of the project has then helped the Vismara to open up to collaborations with international designers and consultants, in an open dialogue aimed to foster a continuous exchange of information and experiences. In this respect, I feel like underlining that rarely planning studios interact on a project, whereas we have always believed that from exchanging ideas and, above all, from a careful observation of others’ work, a growth and an increasing professional maturity could be achieved. As a matter of fact, in many occasions, we have decided to propose to our customer the involvement of other designers or experts that we believed could have contributed to the project improvement, despite the fact that this could have somehow resulted in putting ourselves aside and dimming the public image of our work.

Actually I can affirm that we have always took pride in the opportunity of working with the most esteemed designers, from Bruce Farr to Rolf Vrolijk, Reichel and Pugh, Bill Tripp Jr. or experts such as SP Technologies, Chris Mitchel, Steven Wilson, Ricci Bros., and last but not least with yards of the calibre of Baltic Yachts, MartenYachts, Marine Services, MAS, Hodgdon, just to mention a few. But exchange and internal research are not everything. Nowadays to make some important headway it is necessary to have advanced programs, typically of industrial and aeronautical derivation. In this sense, it has been crucial the choice made in 1998 to give life to ICAD (International Consortium for Advanced Design),of which the University of Florence constitutes a fundamental part with its Energetics department, aimed to promote the exchange of informationand experiences amongst industries, research centres and academic institutions that have the fluidodynamics design as their application field. Therefore, through the powerful Computational Fluidodynamics (CFD) programs it is possible to analyse hulls-keels-haul profiles-sailing plans in experimental configurations simulating on a computer tank tests or wind tunnel. Many of our keels and profiles, the optimisation of sails’ shapes in some of our projects, up to the innovative hauling masts, are the result of the research work carried out with and inside the consortium. Besides, starting from the assumption that a sailing yacht is a unit made of shapes and structures, research has brought us more and more inside geometries, to better analyse structures and building materials.

Indeed, in this field we have been pioneers, being among the first design studios to apply the most innovative building techniques with the use of composites: from the monolithic glued to vacuum-sealed pre-preg with post cure in oven, until the latest systems of vacuum infusion. Structural analysis uses aerospace andaeronautical sector studies and, on this score as well, we use to collaborate with many experts infinite element modeling to optimise laminates and integrate more and more structures with decor and systems. Research and technology do not find application only in the functioning “hidden areas” of the boat. Research is a constant, for instance in design, in ergometries, in compartmentalising spaces, in moving elements, up to the employment of new finishing materials. The combination of all these factors brings us to produce yachts that put together construction, structure optimisation and hydrodynamics features with advanced usability; almost to underline that fast cruisers yachts too have a cruiser-racers’ design at their base. For many years I tried to pass down to the “cruisepassenger” my way of thinking, according to which he had the right to sail with a boat that would “hold” to the sea and would “walk” like a modern racer. Due to the restrictive racing rules of sailing, luckily today we are beyond the barrier: the modern technological fast cruisers are way better designed and built, other than much more performing, than racing boats. Research and technology are not only contributing to improve performances, but also usability and reliability of boats.