65′ Emilia is an historic regatta vessel lauched in 1930 and refitted by Pastrovich in 2005.
A lot of history
In 1929, the Senator Giovanni Agnelli, Gianni’s father, ordered a sailing boat racing at the Costaguta shipyard in Genoa Voltri. It was the answer to his friend and rival, the Marquess Spinola, whose boat “La Spina” had just been launched by the Baglietto shipyard. …Read More
There would be two 12m International Tonnage Class boats in Italy. The intention was to hold the country’s honour high in regattas against the English, French and Germans.
Senator Agnelli intended it as a gift for his son-in-law, Carlo Nasi, but just before the launch, Nasi had to leave for America. So the Genoan, Attilio Bruzzone arrived at the Costaguta shipyard asking them to equip the boat as a schooner, for mixed use, regatta-cruising.
The hull, schooner-equipped, went into the sea on the 16th September 1930, named “Emilia”. This splendid, fast, 28 ton schooner would take part in regatta cruises, much in vogue in those days, for many years, pitting herself with success against the most famous Italian, French and English hulls racing in the Mediterranean.
In 1988, Emilia was returned to her former splendour with a skilful refit by the Beconcini yard in La Spezia. Ten years later, she was acquired by her current owner who decided to return her to her original fit, as an International Tonnage sloop, thus respecting the originality and the spirit of the age.
Simple interiors
The owner’s wish was to strip out all the interiors, create a loft and keep just the owner’s cabin astern of the stairway. A historic vessel of this type, stripped naked, is an extremely fascinating piece of art; the wood planking is irregular, the iron reinforcements are all different one from another, the savour of time is perceptible. …Read More
My advice was to do as with antique furniture, strip the wood right down to bare and then protect it with clear varnish.
As far as the iron parts were concerned, I thought of painting them white to hide the reinforcing and the additional bolts which had been put in with the new mast. Once the whole internal cladding of the hull had been stripped down, I designed a supporting framework for the new floor.
I decided that, to make the restoration more authentic, I would have to position the wooden planks, without battens, hand cut right up to where they met the hull. Finally, I established which wooden structures would have to be painted white and which protected with clear varnish, so as to lighten the aesthetic effect.
