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While Ohana is the smallest in Perini Navi’s lineup, this 142-footer is a big performance cruiser with a big, lighthearted personality to match.
by Marilyn Mower
photography by Carlo Borlenghi
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06/01/2005
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| Perini Navi 142 |  |
On the surface, it is hard to imagine that 64-meter
Felicità west and 43.4-meter Ohana have anything in common beyond
their builder’s address. After all, towering white Felicità is the
largest existing Perini Navi, while dark-hulled Ohana distinguishes
herself with a low profile. Felicità is traditionally appointed and
Ohana appears not to know the meaning of the words. When it comes to the
issue of parentage, however, these two ladies are sisters.
One way to keep a family happy is to give each child a bedroom,
thus, Ohana’s master suite (top) is not full beam,
but Holland’s design creates a wider beam aft and all five cabins are generous. Sycamore paneling and wengé floors offset the bright colors of the salon (bottom).
Seen forward is a cozy corner where kids can hang out with games and remain
close to grown-ups or the crew in the wheelhouse. A dining area is forward to starboard. Photography by Giuliano Sargentini. (Click images to enlarge)
Felicità west, launched in 2003, was Perini Navi’s first
yacht to
feature substantial design contributions by outside designer Ron
Holland, brought into the fold to guide the company’s shift to lighter,
stiffer, faster boats with all-aluminum hulls. Since then, the
Viareggio
yard has delivered a pair of Holland’s 56-meter all-aluminum
yachts,
Burrasca and Santa Maria. Ohana, looking dainty by
comparison, launched just in time to participate in the builder’s 20th
anniversary regatta in Sardinia.
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Moored stern-to at the Porto Rotundo Yacht Club, the kinship of
the new aluminum cruisers to the classic Perinis – even to Hull No. 1
Numero Uno – was unmistakable. Yet startling new performance
characteristics lay disguised under the trademark navy-and-white livery. Just as
a racehorse paws the ground in anticipation of a fast break, Ohana, in
her last-in-first-out position on the quay, seemed to chafe and buck at her
mooring lines as a building mistral first teased and then tormented the fleet.
The weather improved the next day and Ohana’s crew, with the designer
aboard for what was in essence her shakedown, bolted for the open sea. This
distance race around to Porto Cervo would be her first chance to put Holland’s
theories into practice.
 Photograph by Giuliano Sargentini. (Click image to
enlarge)
As with all Perini launches since Perseus (see SBI
Sept. 2002), Ohana has in-boom furling. Her efficient, high-aspect
sail plan and lighter displacement obviate the big fisherman sail that
characterized the company’s earlier builds. Once outside the harbor, the crew
made quick work of raising the full-batten main and mizzen and unrolling the
jib. Holland put the helm down and Ohana was off, the acceleration
palpable. Ohana’s liveliness and the quickness with which she bore off
raised eyebrows.
In a pursuit race, the yachts start in order of their handicap,
meaning the slowest boat starts first, and if the handicap is correct and every
yacht is sailed with equal skill, the boats will finish together. Thus,
Ohana, Santa Maria and Burrasca were the last three yachts
to cross the line, their quarry and their crews’ tasks obvious. One by one, they
caught up with their opponents, the congestion building as the boats headed
upwind for the first mark. Ohana, although shorter on the waterline, was
unburdened by tons of toys and personal effects and made quite a race of it
until cooler heads prevailed and the captain headed up to tuck in a reef. Since
Ohana’s owner wasn’t present for the race, Holland seized the opportunity
to test and tweak his creation instead of pressing for line honors. (The Perini
team aboard Burrasca would take care of that for him.) Holland later
pronounced the race a good test and declared himself happy with the result.
Top: Tucked within Ohana’s low
profile is a spacious flying bridge cum sun deck. Photograph by Carlo Borlenghi. An awning can be quickly deployed around the
mizzenmast to provide shade over the seating area. Bottom: Ohana’s
primary alfresco dining area is on the covered main deck aft of the salon. Photograph by Giuliano Sargentini. (Click images to enlarge)
And at the end of the day, happiness is what Ohana is
all about. In Hawaiian, ohana means "happy family" and she was designed with a
very specific family in mind. In fact, the squiggly handwritten style of her
name on the transom is owed to the penmanship – perhaps crayonmanship is more
accurate – of the owner’s daughter. Indeed, other works by the family’s budding
artists adorn the walls and the interior color scheme revolves around the sort
of bold, exuberant colors children typically grab first out of the toy box.
Against a backdrop of light, clear-finished sycamore (a first for Perini), the
primary colors appear especially cheerful and lighthearted. In an era when the
interiors of many sailing yachts replicate the architectural features of a men’s
club, Ohana’s décor style is comfortably in sync with her contemporary
exterior and design philosophy.
"The interior was conceived over many dinners and talks with my
three children about our ideal boat," said Ohana’s owner. "We wanted a
place where we could feel at home and a place that would also remind us of other
pleasant times and places. The light wood we selected resembles the interior of
our mountain house and the children say it is ‘happier’ than dark, traditional
woods."
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