Reichel/Pugh-Nauta 100 Morgana arrives in the Mediterranean

Morgana, the new 100-foot custom sloop by Southern Wind, has arrived in La Spezia, Italy, after a maiden voyage of more than 7,000  nautical miles from the southern tip of Africa to the Mediterranean. With general design, exterior and interior design by Nauta Design and naval architecture by Reichel/Pugh, the R/P-NAUTA 100 is a  hi tech lifting keel  custom sailing yacht  that draws on lightweight carbon fibre/Corecell, Nomex and prepreg construction for optimal racing performance and cruising comfort.

“Morgana completed her delivery voyage from the Southern Wind shipyard in South Africa with flying colours,” says Mario Pedol, president of Nauta Design, who went aboard the boat in La Spezia together with her owner. “The demanding owner is a  friend of mine and this is the culmination of an idea that started in 2017 when he approached us to design his new dream yacht.” 

Nauta Design invested heavily in the initial concept phase of the design before committing to a contractual agreement. This involved around 400 hours of preliminary studies, which were followed by more than 18 months of optimisation for a total ofmore than 3,000 hours of design work.

Morgana’s exterior profile, from the spacious flush deck to the sleek and sporty lines of the coachroof, is typical of the uncluttered style that Nauta Design brings to its projects. Thanks also to the tender garage, ample foredeck locker, hidden mooring arrangement and an underwater anchor system, the 100 footer’s clean and essential looks are the result of years of experience in designing ocean-going sailing yachts. 

“Elegance and balance are the cornerstones of Nauta Design,” says  Massimo Gino, Nauta's co-founder and partner. “The owner has a highly developed aesthetic sense and wanted a fast bluewater cruiser that could also compete in superyacht regattas with exterior lines that exude pace and performance, so we developed a low and very streamlined coachroof that is nonetheless proportionate to the height of the freeboard. On a lightweight boat like Morgana that has shallower underbody than comparable yachts, that meant we were playing with millimetres to get the right headroom and proportions.”