SCIOMACHEN - NAVAL ARCHITECTS & YACHT DESIGNERS

Bonaventura Zio Mario Goliarda

Background "In the early 1900s our grandfather was a fishing and cargo vessels owner", says Ernesto Sciomachen. "I remember some of the names: Alessandro Magno, Almina and Gemma. Our love for the sea came from our father, a navy officer. In the late '20s he built us a sailing model of a boat of that time, that we called Bonaventura-Barbariccia, after the characters painted on her sails. A few years later our uncle gave us a 'moscone' (rowing catamaran) that we named Zio Mario after him. Then came Goliarda, during our college years, a traditional 'batleina' fishing boat. When my brother Franco completed his active duty, we asked cantiere Carlini of Rimini to build us Almadira, based on sailing dory plans sold though The Rudder magazine, with which we completed our first Adriatic crossing. We kept on sailing: with Scappatella, one of our early designs built by Carlini, in the Mediterranean, and with Gemma II, another Sciomachen design built by Morri & Para, across the Atlantic and in the Pacific".

Almadira Scappatella Gemma II

The first Sciomachen design dates back to 1951. It was Mal Di Mare (literally Seasickness, but also meaning something like Seaudade) a 34’ RORC class III cutter. The Sciomachen office initially focused on racing and cruising sailboats design. Arlecchino, second by a hair at the 1971 Quarter Ton Cup, Linda, winner of the 1983 One Ton Cup and Avant Garde, winner of the 1984 and 1985 editions of the Centomiglia Race, are testimonials of the racing breed. Many were the Sciomachen designs for production in fiberglass, some directly derived from racing yachts, others expressly designed for cruising.

The scope of Sciomachen designs has broadened in the last twenty years, to encompass today planing and displacement power boats, fast ferries, passenger ferries and fishing vessels. In the power boats arena, Sciomachen puts a particular emphasis on fast hulls, from small production runabouts, some of which are used for racing, with speeds in excess of 60 knots, to passenger ferries, the largest of which are capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots with capacities up to 450 passengers. Functionality and the ability to operate in adverse weather conditions are the leading requirements for fishing vessels, designed with the maximum deference for the human factor. Sailing is still very much alive in the heart of Sciomachen, with the highest commitment being on the design of blue water cruising sail boats.

Sciomachen designs have made use of most construction materials. In the fifties each boat was one-of-a-kind and built of traditional wooden planking. Later a gradual shift was undertaken to fiberglass and to production boats. Sciomachen was among the firsts to adopt the new technologies made available by the progress in glue and resin research. Glued longitudinal planking in the sixties, cold molding in the seventies and advanced carbon fiber-aramid cored composites in the eighties. Metals have also been used: steel for large cruising yachts and fishing vessels, aluminum for racing craft and fast ferries.

Design methods have undergone major changes through the years. All large drafting tables, splines, weights and planimeters have given way to networked 3-D CAD workstations, each equipped with dual 21” high resolution monitors. Tools have changed, but each Sciomachen design is still based upon creativity, common sense and the experience of about 500 designs from 20’ to over 160’.