Ferretti Yachts presented its new flagship, the 29.2m Ferretti 960 - launched in April - to the international press this week, and Boat International was on the scene.
Built at the Ferretti Group’s Cattolica shipyard, the 960 is the largest planing-hull yacht to ever come from the Ferretti Group. It was designed in collaboration between Studio Zuccon International Project, Advanced Yacht Technology & Design and Ferretti Group’s team of engineers, architects and designers.
Architect Gianni Zuccon of Studio Zuccon International Project said during the launch, ‘With this boat, we have introduced many innovative elements, from the stern floodable to facilitate hauling and launching of the tender, which is worth mentioning is a four-and-a-half-meter RIB.'
The hull design and styling of the 960 was based off Ferretti’s previous flagship, the Ferretti 881. "This yacht, which I personally consider a great result for the yard, was born on a consolidated hull on, which changes were made related only to the general dimensions and aft for the garage,’ said Antonio Campagnuolo, project manager of the yard. ‘It seems a simple task, but in reality together with the AYT, the technical department of the yard, we made several tests were performed prior to obtaining useful data to make predictions about performance.
‘When we finally tested the boat at sea, we found confirmation of everything we had expected, and as you have also recorded , the thirty-one knots declared are precautionary,’ Campagnuolo said.
In fact, we went out at sea to test the yacht, noting high manoeuvrability, especially in view of her size, and the ability to quickly get up on plane in a natural attitude and, finally, the maximum speed of 32 knots that we recorded.
The Ferretti 960 will make its worldwide debut at the upcoming Cannes Boat Show.