Massimo Franchini returns to mass-produced motor yachts. After nearly eight years in the doldrums, in which his Franchini Yachts had to halt its motorasiler and motor yacht construction activities, the Romagna architect as a consultant decided to return to being a builder. We “extorted” the news from him during the Seatec in Marina di Carrara, where Massimo Franchini was present as chairman of the jury of the Myda (Millennium Yacht Design Award) the competition that awarded young designers and professionals in nautical and naval design.
“It will be a line of powerboats from 40′ to 70′. The first project, will be presented at the upcoming Versilia Yachting Rendezvous May 10-13 in Viareggio. I take care of the overall concept and Michele (Ansaloni, ed.), with whom I have been collaborating for a long time now, follows the naval architecture.” And it will be, the architect anticipated, the mid-range model, so presumably a 55′.
The architect-builder’s return to action was facilitated by the arrival of a backer not better identified except for his professional field of reference: he is a name associated with the world of wind power generation.
But what will be special about Franchini’s new powerboats? “Here I would like them to have nothing special at all, to be the same as all the others: you get in the boat to take a ride and you find that nothing works. Normal boats, in short… (laughs). Joking aside, more than in appearance, I would like the distinctiveness to be evident in use. Boats that are functional, practical and economical in operation consistent with size.” In short, will it be a revolutionary boat? “Boaters, shipowners are not revolutionaries. Except for a few rare cases they are much calmer when confronted with something they know well. They appreciate much more the things that were already in the boat when Grandpa went there than the things we might put in it today. The new Franchini boats will be current, state-of-the-art boats, but we will certainly avoid making a boat that is too … forward, that is, a boat that is too innovative and revolutionary for the market. That is an activity intended for people who do not necessarily have to make money from their initiative: if you want to sell boats you have to produce what people then buy.” Mouth sewn shut on type, aesthetics, and anything else that might betray information.
Should we then forget the sailing Franchini Yachts, the legendary motorsailers that for years represented the quality of construction capable of captivating both sailors and motorists? “We are always willing to make one of our motorsailers the moment someone orders it from us, but if we are talking about new products then we are totally focused on the new motoryacht line.”
