Gladio is a 50 ft Fast Cruiser sailboat designe to have long cruises and to be performance in regattas.

It takes inspiration by the striped swordfish and it is designed to cruise in the Mediterranean sea. The ipotical client request was a 15m sailboat that is comfortable for 7 people onboard for a minimum period of 2 weeks. The boat must be easy to sail and fast. He also likes new technology to reduce energy consumption. The profile is slow on the water with a sheerline that falls gradually down from the bow to the stern. The hull design is modern, with a flatter bottom, in order to have more form stability expecially during downwind. 

 

The hull is also charatterized by new design elements. The most innovative is the double glazed window for the guest rooms, usually an element used on bigger boat. The choice to have two big “windows” in the back helps to have a bigger hull stiffness and less weight. 

Another choice is to have no air conditioning inside but the air changing is provided by natural ventilation.

The deakhouse is another characteristic element. It is designed to be as lower as possible in orther to disappear on the deak. To make it possible it is tought to be covered by black glass panels. This element i salso able to select the light in the living thanks to electrochromic glass on the top.The deakhouse is not only a design object but it is also a functional. In the side are hidden easy sailing accessories, light and natural ventilation pipes.

 

The lower deck has a classic plan but it has been revisited with new materials. Eg. the use of jeans fabric for the cuscions of bleached larch for the forniture.

The exterior, actually hull lines, is inspired by German Frers’s classic design while the interiors are a tribute to Olin Stephens’s internal disposition.The result is an experiment to put elements, usually used on bigger boats, on a 15m sailboat trying to have clean and pure hull lines underlined by the use of classic color tones.