NEO 570 C: the two souls of sailing in one yacht

“After extensive discussions with designers from Italy and all over the world, we opted for a designer who shared our risk vision of doing something new for a boat that was innovative and larger than our previous standards. This is how the NEO 570 C was born, where “C” stands for carbon or Carkeek, we still have to decide” – says Paolo Semeraro, Olympic sailor in the Finn class, professional offshore pilot, hydraulic engineer, sail designer and founder and CEO of Neo Yachts & Composites Srl. “ The NEO 570 C embodies the future of yachts with a dual purpose, combining racing performance with high-end design, style and engineering”– says Shaun Carkeek, a young South African designer, now a naturalised Spanish citizen.

Paolo Semeraro, in designing this NEO 570, has combined the two souls of sailing: racing and cruising, versions that intersect perfectly in the lines, headroom, distances, proportions and ordered, functional spaces of the various possible interior configurations: three cabins and three heads or two cabins and two heads for the racing version.

NEO 570 C: hull no.1

The first hull, due for delivery in April 2022, features two master cabins, two heads with a separate shower aft, a convertible open space forward, an innovative chart table and an island kitchen.
This version perfectly reflects the aspirations of Neo Yacht, which in this hull number 1 has had the chance to sum up the two souls of this project, thanks also to the vision of the young 36-year-old owner. “ More than a year was needed by the designer, the sailor and the owner just to define the design and the execution. Another year and a half for the construction of the N1. Almost 2 and a half years to make a dream come true,” reads a note from the yard.

Main features

NEO 570 C combines aggressive lines typical of racing yachts: low bulwark, flat deckhouse, maximum beam of 5.30 m, narrow bow and luxurious and livable interiors – “ There is a lot of demand from clients who want to keep the adrenaline rush of a tough race but don’t want to spend five days sleeping uncomfortably, wet, with low headroom and without being able to eat a hot meal during the race,” explains Paolo Semeraro, talking about the new NEO 570 C. “There are owners who like to take part competitively in a tough race like the Middle Sea Race, with a well-prepared crew and then spend a month cruising with the family in peace.

Or to go out at the weekend without needing a full crew to support them”. The Neo 570 C is just that, and it is uncompromising: it is not, in fact, a hybrid boat for cruising and racing, but a boat that is perfectly equipped and designed to perform both functions, without one precluding or conditioning the other. The choice of keel – fixed or lifting – and the possibility of arranging the cabins as the owner prefers confirm the model’s multiple uses: “In short, you can have two boats for the price of one, with a choice of three layouts: cruiser, cruiser-racer and racer”.

Concept

In Paolo Semeraro’s vision – already inspired in 2013 by an iconic model, the Neo 400 full carbon, winner of the Middle Sea race the following year – there is a bigger boat. “You don’t create a big boatyard if you only want to produce small boats,” he says, extremely convinced of his mission, “The boat has to be big, but just big enough to be able to be sailed with a small crew, making it suitable for competitions with a small crew and perfect for family cruises. And then it had to be light, 10,800 kg; with plenty of keel weight, 6,000 kg; with an important draft but able to enter shallow ports; it had to be equipped with air conditioning, a large fridge-freezer, a watermaker, an anchor management system and a tender garage with the capacity to switch from cruising mode to a stripped-down racer in just a few hours…”.

Paolo Semeraro wanted everything in this boat and, together with Mr. Carkeek, he meticulously studied every detail: weight distribution, the systems in the lower part of the yacht, the rudder three metres forward of the transom and nothing behind it but the tender garage. The boat is aesthetically beautiful and super-functional, and Paolo Semeraro’s expertise and direct experience combined with Shaun Carkeek’s taste and functional vision have resulted into a craft destined to revolutionize the perception of sailing in the yachting world.

As Paolo Semeraro goes on to say, “Everything you need is in a NEO boat. Everything you don’t need is not there”.