Fulvio De Simoni Yacht Design

MY INTENTION IS TO SIMPLIFY YACHTS - AT THE MOMENT THEY ARE TOO COMPLEX AND TAKE TOO LONG TO BUILD

by Samuela Urbini, ph. courtesy by Victory Design

Fulvio De Simoni is an internationally-known yacht designer who has created over 3,500 yachts with Italian and international yards. Born in La Spezia in 1949, he is the proprietor of the Fulvio De Simoni Yacht Design studio. His more recent projects include the Pershing GTX116, launched this year, the Rossinavi Sea Cat 40 and the Antonini Navi Island, now under construction

It’s always worth listening when the voice of experience speaks. Fulvio De Simoni is an institution in the yacht-building world, as he has designed over 3,500 yachts over the course of his forty-year career. Born in La Spezia, his first experience in the sector was in Milan, at the Alberto Mercati studio. He and Massimo Gregori then founded Yankee Delta in 1977. His career took a great leap forward in 1983 with the launch of Italprojects and his meeting with Tilli Antonelli, the founder of Pershing and Wider – De Simoni designed the first of the brand’s own models, and he still collaborates with Pershing and Wider (the Pershing GTX116 was launched recently – ed.). The yacht designer, who trained as an architect, has worked with a number of Italian and international yards like Antago, Mochi Craft, Giannetti, Raffaelli, Aicon and Evo Marine. “In 2015 I decided to create a new company together with my closest collaborators (Enrico Lotti and Cristiano Tonarelli - ed.) to communicate the brand’s values”, he says. The result was Fulvio De Simoni Yacht Design, based in the city of his birth. Subtle irony and understatement are two of De Simoni’s hallmarks – sure of his own ideas, he rejects any form of standardisation. “The last time I went to have a look at one of my competitor’s yachts was thirty years ago, because I think that my everyday experience is enough for me to understand where the world’s going, without looking at how my counterparts interpret it”, he says. “I prefer to invent one small thing every now and then rather than copying ten that are the product of others”. That’s why his

Above, the 56-foot motor catamaran designed by De Simoni and Pininfarina, currently under construction. Opposite page, the Rossinavi Sea Cat 40 under way and De Simoni’s sketches showing its original undulating lines. The yacht features large surfaces covered by solar panels that charge the batteries located between the two hulls, enabling full-electric sailing. On Atlantic crossings the yacht can sail under electric power for twenty days, covering a distance of 3,850 miles at a speed of 8 knots

point of view is so original. “What I try to do is simplify yachts, I think designers are going slightly off-track at the moment. Every innovation that appears on a car or in any other sector soon turns up on a yacht. But you can’t transfer elements of life on land directly onto a yacht. Yachts are becoming more and more complex and expensive, and the shortage of manpower we’re experiencing today is resulting in longer lead times. I think this sector is becoming too involved and designers, too, are forced to adapt to the situation”. One of his latest projects for Rossinavi, the Sea Cat 40, currently under construction, is innovative and certainly complex. With a length of 42.75 metres, the catamaran is designed to sail round the world in a smart way – its electric propulsion is recharged by an extensive array of solar panels covering every possible surface and a smart AI system that optimises battery usage, making it

Above, the Sea Cat 40 with its distinctive swimming pool in the main deck cockpit. There is a large lounge forward with hydromassage pool and cinema. Designed for round-the-world sailing, it can host 10 passengers in four cabins in the hulls. Left, the staff of the Fulvio De Simoni Yacht Design studio

possible to cross the Atlantic in twenty days at 8 knots under electric power. “We wanted to give it the look of a spacecraft, with a reverse bow and undulating profile, but without these unusual shapes interfering with the boat’s essential feature - its ability to carry a huge quantity of batteries in the central section between the two hulls, an area that is generally not made use of”.

In 2021 De Simoni’s great yacht-building knowledge and Pininfarina’s exceptional design ability joined hands. Pininfarina is an illustrious historic name in the history of Italian design, and the collaboration

resulted in a first 56’ motor catamaran design. Construction of this model is due to commence in the very near future. They are now designing an Explorer yacht and the Cannes Yachting Festival 2023 will host the unveiling of a larger catamaran, around 40 metres in length. “About twenty years ago Piero Ferrari, who I’d just made a yacht for, said he’d like to bring me into Pininfarina, which at the time was collaborating with Ferrari, because it would be interesting to do something together. Nothing concrete came of it at the time, but I regard this collaboration as a discussion that began many years ago and has come to fruition today”.