Giovanni Ceccarelli talks to Valencia Sailing (part II)

In this second part of his long and exhaustive interview, the renowned Italian boat designer Giovanni Ceccarelli talks about the other major classes of racing boats, mainly the TP52s and GP42s.

TP52

Valencia Sailing: Do you think there is room for development in the TP52 class or have we hit a brick wall?

Giovanni Ceccarelli: I have heard this argument many times from colleagues of yours in other media and not only about the TP52s. Numerous journalists after the last America's Cup in Auckland were claiming the America's Cup class rule had reached a dead end where no more progress could be made. I believe that if you compare the boats in Auckland with all the new ones here in Valencia, you have a whole new generation of boats. You might correctly argue that the America's Cup rule has been modified but the basic concept is still the same and we have completely different boats.

The same holds true for the TP52 class. A great number of people argue that this box rule hinders any development. I disagree with that notion and I think there is space for development. Obviously, you are more limited than the America's Cup because the sail plan is fixed but still there is plenty of room for innovation. We have carried out extensive research on the TP52 class and I'm ready to take the challenge with a group that would be interested in a different boat.

I personally believe it's a wrong idea for a big team to have the same boat with 2 or 3 other big teams. I find it incredible for a team and its sponsors to embark on a 2-million-euro campaign only to "share" its boat with another strong team that also spends these large amounts of money. Which of the two boats will have the best appendages? The strong growth of the TP52 class and the Breitling MedCup has led us to the point where the biggest teams look more and more like very small Ameria's Cup teams. You need your own designer, your own shore crew, the crew to develop the boat, you can develop the appendages during the season, you must work with the sailmaker to develop the shape of the sails.

Valencia Sailing: It is true we were surprised ourselves when we learned the new Mutua Madrileña boat would share the mould with the new Caixa Galicia, in a boatyard some 50km from here.

The new TP52 design by Ceccarelli Yacht Design

GP42

Valencia Sailing: Are you involved in the new GP42 class? Do you think it has a future?

Giovanni Ceccarelli: Yes, here as well we at Ceccarelli Yacht Design have completed the research program both in CFD and the Structural area, and we have numerous contacts with potential European owners. Unlike the TP52s, where my view is that each boat must come from a different designer, in the GP42 class I believe that in order to bring down the development cost you must have 2 or 3 boats from the same mould. This is not contradictory.

I already have a boatyard in Italy interested that could produce the GP42 boats as soon as required, or alternatively, I could sell the design to a yard here in Spain. The construction of a GP42 will take about 30 weeks and with the drawings we are ready to start production of the female plug. The price range of such a boat is from 350 to 400 thousand euros, for the project, the boat and the mast. To that number you should also add 80 to 150 thousand euros for the sails.

In my personal opinion, the GP42 class has a good future starting from Spain, which is a very dynamic market with a lot of interest ranging from sponsors to crew. I really enjoy real-time racing and since I'm not that young, my designs have won 3 Quarter Ton Class World Championships as well as 2 Series Built Mini Ton Class World Championships. Later on my designs also won 5 World Championships in the ILC25 and ILC 30 classes of IMS, four of them with Vasco Vascotto at the helm and one with Lorenzo Bressani.

GP26

I also believe the GP26 will have a good future, similar to the Quarter Tonner in the 1990's. For the GP26 I was commissioned these days by a yard in Russia to design a new series of GP26. In the future I'll anticipate on the Valencia Sailing web site some preliminary images. This design will have an interesting price to enter the market.

ITA-85

I want to add a thank to the group that worked with me for the design of ITA-85 and some of them are still working with me at the GP projects particulary to Epaminonda Ceccarelli, Gabriele Mazza, Davide Tagliapietra, Richard Oliver, Julian Smith, Juan Garay, Lorenzo Guerrini, Alessandro Vicini, Richard Korpus, Giovanni Lombardi and Sebastiano Rech Morassutti for the project managment.

The new GP42 design by Ceccarelli Yacht Design