Take two disruptive world-class geniuses such as CEO of Cantiere delle Marche Vasco Buonpensiere and owner of Cassetta Yacht Designers Giorgio M. Cassetta; put them in a room together and ask them to design something that does not exist, something impossible, an oxymoron; then sit back and wait. Don’t be surprised if the outcome exceeds the extraordinary. But this is to be expected. Vasco and Giorgio are two mavericks in the traditional world of yacht design and boating. Innovative, creative, bold, they love to break the mould.
And RAW, the incredible 102-foot explorer presented at the last Cannes Yachting Festival, aboard the aptly named Maverick, proved to be yet another exceptional game changer by Cantiere Delle Marche. Let us begin with an assumption: those signed by Cantiere delle Marche are true explorers, not fake sea SUVs designed to do laps across the Mediterranean. And RAW is no exception. The name alone says a lot about the mindset behind this 31-metre. Rough, bare, unprocessed. Most of the materials used to stock this Explorer are just that, as raw as possible, to emphasise the authenticity of the design and its low environmental impact.
To say rough to a designer like Giorgio M. Casetta is like saying concrete to an architect with a passion for lofts. A match made in heaven! With raw materials, Giorgio has created a masterpiece of design that combines power, seaworthiness and elegance. “The brief was simple but at the same time complex,” explained Cassetta, “to design an explorer akin to a true Cantiere delle Marche unit but that at the same time elevated the comfort and elegance of this type of hull.”
An impossible mission that could only be accomplished with expert insight. “I spent months brainstorming with my staff,” Cassetta explains, “then, while flying from Amsterdam to Nice, inspiration struck and in 20 minutes the RAW sketch was already on paper. The first version of this boat, however, belongs to Vasco Buonpensiere. “I had just finished one of my usual tours of the yard among the boats under construction,” he recounts, “when I realised many of them were destined for our former 100ft owners and that the time had come to create something new, in one of the most oversaturated segments. I burst into Ennio’s office (Ennio Cecchini, the yard’s Chairman, ed) and told him it’s time to start thinking about a new 100-footer,” he concludes.
The partnership with the genius of Giorgio M. Cassetta and his team did the rest, creating something truly unimaginable: an explorer capable of circumnavigating the world without issue, but which is just as at home in the seas of Antarctica as it is in the marina in Porto Cervo. The name RAW, which started out as an adjective, has since become an acronym (Recreational All-Weather Watercraft) that perfectly sums up CdM, adding an innate elegance. This is thanks to the incredible combination of a bare look, reminiscent of the today’s most fashionable motorbikes, and the elegance of its living areas, without betraying the Explorer’s soul of this 102-footer.
Examples of this can be seen in the tenders (also on four wheels) and the water toys at the bow, which leave space on the main deck for larger living areas, a novelty for hulls of this size. The aft cockpit is widened by the ventilation trunks being positioned externally, flush with the bulwarks, now one of the stand-out features of the exterior. The cockpit itself can be enclosed by side windows that allow it to be used in all weather conditions and features a dramatic staircase that can also access the beach club or an unconventional common space.
Very little aboard RAW is customary. A hull for true connoisseurs, designed for owners who wish to downsize to reduce management problems, but also for sailors who want to switch to power without losing the “wild side” of sailing. A yacht for those who have moved beyond the wow effect and just want to enjoy sailing in peace. RAW can also be interpreted in a more traditional fashion, with paint finishes in classic white or grey or in an Explorer-plus version with splashes of SARS orange that not only make the hull even more unique but also make it immediately identifiable when necessary. The last key feature of this 102-footer is the possibility of landing drones and small helicopters on the sun deck. A mini heliport on a 31-metre… Need I say more?
Giuliana Fratnik
