Ferrari Enters Sailing World With Unveiling of Hypersail Project

Ferrari announced its entry into the world of sailing on Wednesday with a Hypersail project led by Italian yachtsman Giovanni Soldini that it said would blend racing tradition with technological innovation.

The world's first 100-foot monohull ocean racing yacht with a foil on the keel has been designed by French naval architect Guillaume Verdier and is being built at an undisclosed location in Italy with a launch scheduled for 2026.

"It perfectly aligns with Ferrari’s tradition, drawing inspiration from our Hypercar, three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans," said Ferrari Chairman John Elkann.

"Designing a yacht for offshore racing is perhaps the ultimate expression of endurance.

Ferrari are Formula One's most glamorous and historic team, present since the start of the championship in 1950, but their more recent success has been at Le Mans where they have won the last three editions.

Ferrari said the prototype yacht would have three points of contact to stabilise its flight, including a canting keel to support one of the foils, and would also be the first in the world to be entirely energy self-sufficient.

Elkann ruled out any involvement in an America's Cup challenge, with the 2027 edition to be held in the southern city of Naples.

"(The) America's Cup is regulated and this boat is thought to go beyond rules," he said. "This project gives us the chance to experiment in new areas."

Ferrari gave no details about how much the project would cost, but Chief Financial Officer Antonio Picca Piccon said the investment was planned and there would be no substantial impact on capital expenditure.

"The boat will be launched next year and then we'll start a debugging phase which will hopefully last a short time," Soldini told a news conference at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters.

"It's obvious that we have quite a defined (time) goal, but the project is so complex that making it public today doesn't seem very wise.

"There are a thousand things to put together. We'll definitely put the boat in the water in 2026 but I'm not making any commitments about what quarter."

Soldini, a veteran of more than 30 years of solo and crewed ocean competition including two solo round-the-world races, said the aim was to keep the crew as small as possible -- somewhere between eight and 12.

Ferrari said 20 people were working full time on the project, with another 80-90 involved, and there would be some technology transfer from the sportscar side -- mostly the F80 supercar unveiled last October.

Neither Elkann nor Soldini were forthcoming about what competitions the flying monohull might enter.

"Before setting sport (competition) targets, we want to finish what we're doing, developing the boat and bring it to sea. Then we'll see what we can and cannot do," said Soldini.

(Reuters)