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Perini Navi claims 60 percent of the world market for sailing
yachts over 150 feet, and with 27 Perinis larger than that size sailing the
seven seas, no one seems to be arguing the point. Averaging more than two
launches a year with 12 yachts in build and 41 yachts already in commission,
there is simply no other brand that gets close.
But over the past six or so years, the Viareggio-based boatyard
quietly has belied its reputation for heavy-displacement, high-volume,
twin-engined yachts in favor of a rather different breed of vessel. While The
Maltese Falcon and the announcement of the 50-meter Vitruvius motor yacht
project are the most dramatic examples of this shift in gears, the process has
been one of incremental, rather than radical change. In between there has been a
hugely successful line of performance-oriented 56-meter (184-foot) yachts that
combine the best of Perini Navi’s traditional values with a new turn of
speed.
 The 56-meter Selene was Perini Navi’s
first launch of 2007 and the fourth in the series. Photograph by Emilio Bianchi. (Click image to enlarge)
Historically, Perini Navi has tended to build projects of a
certain size over defined periods. For example, the 46/48-meter series that
included Xasteria, Andromeda la Dea, Liberty, Piropo IV, Corelia,
Morning Glory and Legacy, all were launched in the first half of the
1990s. Then came the 52/53-meter projects with Xasteria, Liberty,
Independence and Atmosphere. This might seem like a knee-jerk
reaction to the demand for bigger boats, but there followed a return to slightly
smaller 50-meter yachts with Phryne, Aurore (formerly Felicità
West), Perseus and …Is a Rose. There are exceptions to this
trend, but if we hold it to be generally true, then post-2003 is the era of the
56-meter Perini Navi.
"This was not decided at the conference table," explains
Perini’s Franco Torre, who is head of special projects, "but was a combination
of both vision and design that suited the market at the time in terms of size,
lifestyle, comfort and cost."
This is part and parcel of founder Fabio Perini’s corporate
strategy, in which he prefers to build on spec and then find a client to fit the
project.
 Santa Maria was among the first three 56-meters,
along with Burrasca and Rosehearty. Photograph by Carlo Borlenghi. (Click image to enlarge)
"To out-think the market is a risky business," continues Torre.
"If we can join forces early on, all the better, but there have been very few
cases where the client has provided the original impetus." The advantage for
owners, of course, is that they avoid waiting two years or more while their
yacht is being built.
Top: Franco Torre
on board The Maltese
Falcon. Photograph by Justin Ratcliffe. Bottom: Salute arrives in Viareggio. Photograph by Emilio Bianchi. (Click images to enlarge)
While Fabio Perini’s basic approach has changed little since he
set up the company in 1983, his clients’ expectations have. Two decades ago,
Perini Navi’s heavy-displacement steel superyachts served the demand for
unmatched comfort and luxury. Performance was not at the top of the wish list,
and owners rarely enjoyed the view from the podium at superyacht regattas such
as the Nantucket and St. Barth’s Buckets. So at the turn of the new century,
Perini Navi began focusing its attention on enhancing performance, beginning
with a new sail plan for 50-meter Perseus. This was followed by the
all-aluminum, 52-meter Squall, the first Perini Navi to be designed in
collaboration with an outside naval architect, in this case Ed Dubois. Squall
differed from her predecessors in her more slender hull form, single-engine
propulsion, fixed-ballast keel, deeper draft and—surprise, surprise—absence of a
flybridge. While representing a break with tradition, Squall’s
pedigree was consistent with Perini’s brand values of comfort and ease of
handling. The difference was that she performed better than anything that had
come before.Around the same time, Perini commissioned Ron Holland to
take a look at hull forms and hydrodynamics, rig and sail designs. This led
to Burrasca, the first of Perini’s 56-meter ketches in 2003. With her
bulb keel and aluminum hull shape designed for faster sailing, she marked a
definitive change of direction for the yard in response to requests for sleeker,
lighter and faster yachts.
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