Boero Yacht Coatings

BOERO YACHT COATINGS SUPPLIES TEAM FRANCESCA CLAPCICH POWERED BY 11TH HOUR RACING: BUILDING PERFORMANCE, LAYER BY LAYER

Boero Yacht Coatings, a Gruppo Boero brand in the yachting division and an international benchmark in professional coating solutions for yachts and superyachts, announces its role as Official Supplier to Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing—a collaboration that goes beyond aesthetics, contributing to an integrated process where engineering, application and design work together to deliver performance. For this project, Boero Yacht Coatings worked with the Team throughout all stages of the application process, developing a multilayer coating system designed to withstand the extreme offshore conditions that will be faced by the IMOCA, a high-performance ocean-going monohull designed for solo or reduced-crew regattas.

The official unveiling of the new livery for the IMOCA raced by Team Francesca Clapcich Powered by 11th Hour Racing, which took place on 24 March in Lorient, France following a major winter refit, marked a key milestone for Boero Yacht Coatings, highlighting its role as Official Supplier and the technological complexity behind the project. The collaboration with Team Francesca Clapcich reflects a shared set of values based on the principles of Believe, Belong and Achieve, designed to promote inclusion, responsibility and sustainability. It’s a vision in which technology, people and the environment come together to define a state-of-the-art approach to performance.

Francesca Clapcich commented, “Boero has been part of the fabric of Italian sailing for decades, and having them bring their expertise to our campaign means a great deal to me personally. As an Italian sailor preparing for the biggest solo race in the world, there is something deeply meaningful about going to sea with a brand that shares my roots and understands what the ocean demands. Their coatings will protect our 60-foot IMOCA, 11th Hour Racing, through everything the ocean throws at us – and I know they will be with us every mile of the way.”

Boero Yacht Coatings operates as the coating provider, developing and applying integrated solutions that feature a combination of coating products and expertise with a direct impact on the boat’s performance.

While the livery is the most visible aspect of the project, the end result is the product of a coating system designed to operate in extreme conditions, in which every component contributes to ensuring strength, reliability and consistent performance.

Performance in extreme conditions

The 60-foot IMOCA is an offshore racing platform designed to deliver high standards of performance even in extreme sailing conditions. The 18.28-metre monohull, built from advanced composite materials and fitted with foils and a canting keel, has a top speed in excess of 35 knots and can cover over 640 miles in 24 hours.

This means that the coating system is subjected to constant stress: high speeds, impacts, abrasion, salt spray and UV rays. Its function isn’t only protective but directly linked to the boat’s ability to maintain consistent performance over time.

A coating system designed for performance

Weight is a critical factor in offshore racing, with even slight variations affecting the boat’s dynamic behaviour. In this sense, the coating system developed by Boero Yacht Coatings is an integral part of the boat’s overall balance—building performance literally layer by layer based on a combination of epoxy systems with high-performance polyurethane finishes.

The top-of-the-range products used are Epoply, ChallengerPRO and Resene Durepox. Each layer is designed to work in synergy with the others to optimize the system’s overall performance: from adhesion, protecting the substrate, and resistance to mechanical and environmental stress, through to the stability and consistent performance of the colour and finished surface. This is a project that serves as a real-world reference both for ChallengerPRO and the effectiveness of the system as a whole.

In more detail, Epoply has the key function of ensuring adhesion and preparing the substrate. This guarantees optimal bonding to the base and creates the ideal support for the next layers.

ChallengerPRO system plays the most central and strategic role in the entire system, acting not only as the colour design, but is the direct interface with the marine environment and real operating conditions, which makes it key to translating the characteristics of the layers beneath into tangible performance. Its contribution is essential to ensure surface stability, overall efficiency and consistent performance over time, even when subject to environmental and mechanical stress.

Designed to offer an optimal balance between high performance and ease of use, ChallengerPRO ensures precise and controlled application, reducing operating variables and delivering superior aesthetic results.

Resene Durepox is a specialist component in the system: applied to the hull, foils and rudder surfaces, it plays a key role by supporting continuity and reliability across the entire process. As the European distributor of Resene Durepox, Boero Yacht Coatings ensures the availability and distribution of this specialist technology, which is already widely used on many racing yachts, including those competing in the America’s Cup and the Ocean Race.

Application complexity as a factor in performance

Creating the stunning livery design required over 1,600 hours of work and 11 custom colours, with a high level of complexity involved in the masking processes and application sequences.

Colour management made use of the Challenger MIX tinting system, which offers extensive colour formulation flexibility as well as ensuring vibrancy, colour consistency and easy repetition.

The complex masking, application, drying and re-masking procedures required high-precision planning, in which every stage has a direct impact on the end result.

Technical support in the yard

A distinctive feature of the approach for this project, and similar projects of complexity was the direct involvement of Boero Yacht Coating advisors throughout all stages of the application process. Constant support and an ongoing dialogue with application technicians and the yard’s technical team, plus process parameter monitoring, ensured design consistency and the reliability of the final result.

The project also involved translating a complex graphic concept, developed by Van Orton Design and Jean-Baptiste Epron, onto the highly technical surface of an IMOCA. Managing the colour sequences and the masking and layering processes required constant coordination between the designers, application technicians and experts involved, transforming the livery into a distillation of aesthetics and applied engineering.

Offshore racing as research platform

Experiences like the project with Team Francesca Clapcich form part of a broader applied research programme that also embraces advanced projects such as Ferrari Hypersail, confirming the company’s commitment to the development of increasingly sophisticated systems, in which technology and processes work together to redefine the role of the surface in terms of performance. Against this backdrop, the offshore racing environment serves as a real-world test bench, where solutions can be tested in extreme conditions and know-how developed that can be transferred to the professional market.