It wasn’t until the end of a lengthy press conference in Düsseldorf that Grand Soleil’s management team dropped what was, for me, the bombshell. It has already designed and engineered the Grand Soleil Blue, a fully recyclable 10m fast and cool weekender, which is launching this summer!

Granted, the Cantiere del Pardo yard had plenty of news to share: it celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year with over five successive years of double-digit growth, was bought by Omniverse, and has, over the last couple of years, launched its most impressive large designs to date in the Grand Soleil 65 and Grand Soleil 72.

However, for those of us with a keen eye on sustainability this stunning new Grand Soleil was big news to have held back. It’s the first recyclable serial production boat built in Italy.

Regular readers may well remember the EcoRacer 25 we tested for European Yacht of the Year a couple of years ago, a testbed platform by young company NL Comp and one designed by Matteo Polli. Polli has drawn the latest range of Grand Soleils, and the Blue sees the designer connecting the big shipyard with his crewmembers at this exciting tech startup.

The Grand Soleil Blue is built out of thermoplastic resin, which, unlike traditional thermoset resins, can be separated from the glass or carbon fibres and reused at its end of life. Even the sails are made from thermoplastic materials. The 33ft 3.3 tonne craft is described as ‘a daysailer with extended range’, an easy-to-use boat with a large stern deck area. It has a 36m2 main and can fly a 100m2 gennaker.

Propulsion is via a 12kW electric engine, with lithium batteries charged by solar integrated into the deck and hydrogeneration. As standard, autonomy is a healthy 30 miles at 5 knots, which can be doubled with a dual battery pack.

Nauta Design has styled an interior that can sleep four and features a small heads and galley, and an open bulkhead connecting the large forward den. All interior materials are also recyclable. The Blue is ‘designed for disassembly’, and Cantiere del Pardo says it wants to apply this technology to all its boats – and for a shipyard which produced 220 boats last year, that’s another big statement.

Grand Soleil Blue specifications

LOA: 11m 36ft 0in
Hull length: 9.99m 32ft 8in
Beam: 3.7m 12ft 2in
Draught: 2.2m 7ft 3in
Displacement: 3,300kg 7,275lb
Price: The high starting price of €259,000 ex VAT reflects thermoplastic resin build technique.
Builder: grandsoleil.net

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