For some time there has been rumours about a new Class 1 team from the Middle-East after Abu Dhabi hosted its inaugural Class 1 Grand Prix in November last year and that the Emirate was considering a further involvement in the Championship after H.H Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifah Al Nahyan hinted at the possibility of entering a team in the near future.We also had first hand information that the guys were talkin’ bout running one or two MTIs out of Randy Scism’s shop.
This has now taken another route as the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) just confirmed that they will enter a team in the first race of the 2010 UIM-WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Championship. The boat however will not be an MTI but as the guys teams up with Italian Gianni Giorgi’s team GiorgiOffshore they’ll be running the team’s Michael Peters designed Victory Team built, Lamborghini/Alloni (SCAM) powered cat and with Nicola Giorgi as throttleman in the season opener in Rio the 26-28th of March. The boat will run under the Abu Dhabi flag.
Emirati, Rashid Al Tayer, an experienced member of F1 Team Abu Dhabi, who has enjoyed multiple podium success, will make his Class 1 Championship debut as driver.

MONTAVOCI AND CIRILLI TO RUN TWO-BOAT TEAM
Giampaolo Montavoci and Domenico Cirilli have re-established their racing alliance and confirmed that they’ll run a two-boat team in this year’s UIM-WPPA Class 1 race series.

The renewed collaboration between Italian, Montavoci and Spaniard, Cirilli - first established in 2004 with the Italian-Spanish pairing sharing the cockpit in 22 GPs, taking a Pole win and second place in the Spanish Grand Prix and third place in the Slovenian Grand Prix  in 2006 - will run under the umbrella of Veneta Marina - Duemme Broker Racing.

Whilst Cirilli who I think raced for the first time in the Class-1 World Offshore Championship Series back in 1991 will oversee team activities from the shore, Montavoci, who made his Class 1 debut in 1998 and now a veteran of 92 races, will take the throttles and will be partnered by wheel-man, Giorgio Manuzzi, who has enjoyed double-podium success from his 12 starts in Class 1.The boat will be the Michael Peters-designed Mercury V8-powered Tencara, Duemme - SevenleveN, running as number 8 and under the Spanish flag.

The second Veneta Marina - Duemme Broker Racing outfit sees two relative newcomers to Class 1, Marco Pennesi, with five Class 1 appearances at the sticks with fellow Italian, Fabio Magnani, who made his Class 1 debut in Dubai last year taking care of the directions.  The boat is a Victory-Team built, SCAM V12-powered (Lamborghini/Alloni), SCAM, running under the Italian flag as #88.

Montavoci, who last year achieved his best-ever finish in the overall World Championship standings in his twelve years of racing, finishing fourth, will now be looking to continue his extraordinary run of consecutive points-finishes, which began back in Arendal in 2007, and now extends to 21 GPs and 24 races, when he lines up for the first Grand Prix of the season in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 26-28 March.

Heesen Yachts just proudly announced the opening of the shipyard's first Mediterranean office.m
This is strategically located in the port of Viareggio on the coast of Tuscany, some 20 kilometres from Pisa Airport.
Viareggio has for many years been sort of a Capitol for the building and refit/maintenanceof Yachts, especially for the Italian brands
therefore it's not strange that Heesen Yachts will open an office in this area.
The office will be managed by Heesen Yachts' Sales and Marketing Director Fabio Ermetto, and be dedicated to Public Relations and Media activities.
Fabio Ermetto comments: “The opening of the Italian office is the first step in our development plan. In the near future we plan to open further Public Relations offices in strategic locations”.
The Mediterranean Sea is a favourite destination for the majority of our yachts and Viareggio is at the very heart of our business. A location in Via Coppino, the so-called ‘5th Avenue of the yachting industry’, is the right place to meet press, designers and brokers.”

ZF SeaRex  drivesystem for the Pershing 80
S&P
The latest stylingtrend from Italian shipyard Pershing started with the 72’ and continued with the 90’ and 80’. All being fantastic Open yachts, the 80’ got its confirmation by receiving the World Yachts Trophy Award for the Most Innovative Boat in the Open Yacht Over 24 m category in Cannes.   

The Pershing 80’ continues the sleek style and advanced onboard technology strategy of luxury that started with the Pershing 72’.

The typical Pershing qualities of sporting style, speed and control have been further enhanced, as the new Pershing 80’, brainchild of yacht designer Fulvio De Simoni, has once again been specifically designed to offer owners high performance.
On the standard version, two powerful 2030 mhp MTU diesels in combination with ZF SeaRex 140S surface drives guarantee a peak speed of 43 knots, but if this ain’t enough, Pershing has something up its sleeve;
Being a true performance yacht builder there is a faster version packing two 2435 mhp MTU diesels and with this offering a peak speed of 50 knots at 1/3 load.
The Pershing/ZF SeaRex SR 140 S system is as follows.
The system in its whole is supplied entirely by ZF, consisting of three parts:

1. Mechanical.
2. Electro-hydraulic.
3. Management software and auto-trim control.

The mechanical part features the surface drive system itself with main transmission (drive), trim pistons, steering, flap system, and handling and block pistons for tender launch slide (platform). The system is installed on the transom, and piston courses have been optimised in order to render all navigation manoeuvres easy. Mechanics are managed by a single modular electro-hydraulic panel which enables control of the trim, flap, steering, tiller and autopilot.

The tiller system makes it possible to traverse the drives using a joystick rather than the helm wheel, which significantly facilitates and speeds up manoeuvring a yacht in port. Following autopilot data, the unit will respond to commands made using the helm wheel or tiller joystick in order to correct the route when the automatic pilot is in operation. This design choice was made in order to give priority to the commands of captains who find themselves in a situation whereby they have to avoid an obstacle without excluding the automatic pilot. Only the control blocks for the thrusters, tender slide and veer limiter are present besides the modular panel. The hydraulic system is fed by variable cylinder pumps on PTO and, when the engines are off, all parts can be controlled by means of an electric motor.
The third part comprises the control software, contained entirely on the screen in the helm station, where the graphic interfaces are displayed. The software makes it possible to drive the yacht simply by using the rudder and throttle, exactly as if it were shafting. The system can handle unit trim by moving the trim and flap on positions calibrated by our testing team.
The auto-trim manages the two acceleration and deceleration ramps, both of which have four different speeds: manoeuvring, gliding, navigation and top. Further safety control is represented by the veer limiter which reduces the traverse angle at high speeds in order to prevent sharp manoeuvres.
The first 80 featuring the SeaRex drivesystem has been sold to Asia.
Info: www.pershing-yacht.com

The first time we wrote about the Rizzardi was in the News pages of Speed & Pleasure back in late 2008. At that time the new Italmarine Open was some renderings and a yacht which was in a stage of completion. The first one has just been finished.

The open boat concept, prevalently conceived to enjoy the outdoor areas.

In the past few years there is more a tendency to limitation of the open spaces, almost in contrast to its original intention.The main goal of this Italcraft’s latest project was therefore to create a yacht that would be an alternative to the numerous open crafts present on the market.

The superstructures constitute another important and identifiable element; here the volumes are emphasized through a knowing use of transparencies created by a glass veranda. The dining area, at the centre of this windowed structure, may be opened completely towards the back and sides for a total plein-air setting.On the ceiling of the stern living-room, in correspondence to the table centre, a circular window permits natural lighting from above,

Tech Spec:

Loa:                                              27,60 m.
Beam:                                            6,49 m           
Displacement fully loaded:                 72 tons.
Fuel Capacity:                                 9.000 lit
Water Capacity:                              1.500 lit.
Sleeps:                                          8 + 4 Crew
Engines:                                         2 x 2.400 hp MTU type 16V 2000 M93 
Cruise speed:                                  33 knots
Maximum speed:                              46 knots
Transmission:                                  Top System 105 or Arneson ASD16A1LU

Heesen Yachts has just announced the signing of yet a new contract for a 47-metre displacement motor-yacht, Hull Number 15747, for delivery in 2012.

Mr Heesen explains: “I am delighted to start the new year by announcing the contract for my own new boat, which my wife and I signed some days ago! I am planning to spend many joyful days with my family and numerous grandchildren aboard this beautiful 47-metre.” This is the second yacht under construction for Frans after the 4400-series, My Petra

YN 15747 is the eighth yacht in Heesen’s highly successful 47-metre full-displacement series and, as such, is the sister-ship to YN 14347, M/Y Blind Date (2009); the award winning YN 14047, M/Y Elandess (2008); YN 13547, M/Y Mon Plaisir (2007); YN 13147, M/Y Let it Be (2006! ); and YN 12247, M/Y Yalla (2004). She is also the sister-ship of the two hulls currently under construction: YN 15147 scheduled for delivery in 2010, and YN 15347 scheduled for delivery in 2011.
The sale of this new vessel means that four new contracts were signed in the last 12 months by Heesen Yachts, and brings the number of vessels currently in construction at this premier Dutch shipyard to the amazing total of 13, figures which confirm the strength and financial reliability of this world-renowned company.