| Baglietto 139 |  |
In terms of exterior and interior styling,
boat builders tend to be a conservative bunch, and there are an awful lot of
white, look-alike motor yachts with cherry joinery and beige interiors. Boat
buyers’ tastes seem to be broadening, however, and every now and then a project
comes along that breaks the mold and defies our expectations. Nina J, Baglietto’s
42.2-meter aluminum flagship launched last June, is one such project. | Click on the Spec and Design tab at top to see complete list of resources. |
Experience accumulated during decades spent building race boats
and wartime MAS-type torpedo boats allowed Baglietto to react quickly to market
demand for fast, light alloy motor yachts in the 30-meter-plus range. The
results have been notable yachts such as Blue Ice, Thunderball
and Tatiana per
Sempre. It comes as no surprise, then, that the
inspiration behind Nina
J was her immediate predecessor, an iridescent
41-meter, launched in 2004.
"The owner of Nina J
saw that boat while it was still under construction and
desired the same concept adapted to his own personal needs," explains Tommaso
Spadolini, the man responsible for the exterior styling and naval architecture of both yachts. "Although the wide-body
concept is basically the same, the two projects are still distinctive. Despite
her extra deck, Nina
J is a more streamlined yacht that appears to sit lower
in the water." Combined with her gunmetal gray paint job, flush black windows
and crimson waterline stripe, Nina J’s profile reflects the designer’s
predilection for clean, essential lines, a taste he inherited from his father,
Pierluigi Spadolini, creator of the popular Akhir range by Cantieri di Pisa.  "We see an increasing number of exotic shapes on the water nowadays,"
says Spadolini, "and I feel we have lost the simplicity of line that used to
characterize all boats. That was what my father taught me, and his designs still
have a contemporary edge 30 years later." In recognition of her innovative
exterior styling, Nina
J has been nominated for the Premio Compasso d’Oro
(Golden Compass Award), one of Europe’s most prestigious prizes for work in
industrial design. (Click image to enlarge) Like her predecessor, Nina J is fitted with waterjets and twin MTU
16V4000 engines. Compared to propellers, waterjets produce higher speeds for
the same horsepower. But most significantly, at speeds over 20 knots waterjets
produce 50 percent less vibration and noise. Nina J is fitted with
powerful KaMeWa S-series jets with a mixed-flow pump for maximum efficiency, a
combination that provides a top speed of 32.5 knots and a cruising speed of 28
knots. Having covered more than 3,000 miles cruising the Mediterranean
this summer, Nina
J’s captain believes this performance can be improved.
"The yacht is basically a prototype, so the summer cruise served as an extended
sea trial, and we’ve identified a few issues to be reviewed," he notes. For
example, the tender weighs 1.3 tons and is housed in the garage on the foredeck.
This has shifted the boat’s trim forward and, consequently, the waterjets are
nearer the surface. By adjusting her trim aft, he believes Nina J can gain a couple
of extra knots of speed.
 Nina J’s aggressive Tommaso Spadolini exterior. (Click image to enlarge)
If the exterior styling of Nina J catches your eye,
the interior takes your breath away. Interior designer Ivana Porfiri was given
the standard brief from the owner: He wanted an interior space that reflected
his personal lifestyle. But Porfiri has always applied her own highly individual
philosophy of design to each project, and there is nothing standard about the
result. "Life on board should reflect the owner’s life on land,"
Porfiri says. "The functions are much the same, but the context is very
different. For one thing, you have to take advantage of the panorama and natural
light, which are constantly changing. My challenge as a designer is to capture
this changing environment so you always feel in contact with the world
outside." Nina J is entered from the aft deck through a bar
area with graphite black, ardesia stone flooring and blue LED lighting glinting
off silver grating. Porfiri says this is a deliberate transitional area, an
entrance into another world. This lobby opens onto a full-beam salon with
windows that run the length of the main deck. An LED monitor recessed into the
salon floor dapples the room with light and colors from a video loop of undersea
images.
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