Ecoracer lands at the Genoa Boat Show and wins the Design Innovation Award

Ecoracer lands at the Genoa Boat Show and wins the Design Innovation Award

by Northern Light Composites 28 Sep 10:15 UTC

Northern Light Composites has chosen the International Boat Show to unveil the first prototype of ecoracer, the recyclable sportboat designed by Matteo Polli with the aim of combining performance and sustainability.

Ecoracer is present on land, in the Sailing World Area at stand YB01, thanks to the hospitality of the International Boat Show and Confindustria Nautica.

During the awards ceremony of the Design Innovation Award, an award that aims to promote excellence in the nautical sector, the project of the young Friulian startup was awarded in the category reserved for sailing vessels up to 10 meters.

The jury of the award was chaired by Admiral Nicola Carlone, and the member of the steering committee Luisa Bocchietto. The other members of the jury were Silvia Piardi, professor of design at the Milan Polytechnic, Andrea Ratti, professor of yacht design at the Milan Polytechnic, Franco Michienzi, director of the magazine “Barche”, Nabil Farrat, editor of the magazine “Yachts and Boats “, and Carlotta de Bevilacqua, president and CEO of Artemide.

The 7.69-meter boat is de facto built with nlcomp’s rComposite technology: thermoplastic matrix, linen fibers for the hull and deck and the Atlas by NMG Europe recyclable core. The mast and boom materials – aluminum – were also chosen for their sustainability characteristics, while the engine is a Mitek electric outboard and a Fly Solar Tech solar panel powers the bilge pumps.

In addition, the sails – with Onesails Forte 4T technology – are the first in the world to guarantee recycling at the end of their life, as well as being tested at the highest levels during the last Vendee Globe aboard Pip Hare’s IMOCA.

Thanks to the partnership with Armare Ropes, ecoracer is also equipped with a prototype mainsheet with a core in bio-based dyneema and linen fibers: it is called ecobraid and will be tested in winter sea trials.

Thanks to the rComposite nlcomp technology, it guarantees the recycling at the end of life of about 90% of its boats, with the possibility of returning the boat to the shipyard in the future to better manage the end of life and give impulse to a new circular economy in the sector, thanks to possibility to reuse the secondary recycled raw material as a new composite.

The team that worked on the ecoracer project is composed by Matteo Polli who designed the water lines, Alessandro Pera and Mattia Sconocchia took care of the structures while Roberto Baraccani and Alessandro Stagni followed the production aspects related to the composite. Samuele Nicolettis of Onesails follows the development of the sails while Roberto Spata will follow the optimization of the prototype at sea. Officine TL Compositi is a partner of nlcomp regarding the production aspects and has followed the infusion, assembly and finishing processes of ecoracer.

The nlcomp partners for the realization of the prototype of ecoracer presented by NMG Europe are Arkema – EcoTechnilin – Bcomp and TFF Swiss for resin and fibers, Armare Ropes for halyards and sheets, Antal for deck equipment, AG Plus for mast and boom, Montura for clothing, QI Composites for non-destructive tests, Mastikol for structural glues and Purmate for bio solvents.

The official launch of ecoracer will instead be organized in October at the Marina Hannibal in Monfalcone, which will be the logistic partner of the project.