It took seven years to design and build the Mirabella V. Joe Vittoria, a 69-year-old American who now lives in Florida, spent a considerable part of what could have been a relaxed pensioner's life realising his dream of having a sailing boat that no one had ever seen the likes of before.
He already has two 40-metre boats, Mirabella I and III, while Mirabella II was sold during build and Mirabella IV was never built. "I don't like the Roman figure for four - that's why it became five," says Joe Vittoria.
We meet him in London where the red doubledecker buses crawl past in the rush-hour traffic. "Did you know that a doubledecker bus like that would easily fit into the hull of Mirabella V?" he asks us - and we have to admit that we did know that. Many detailed articles have been written about the Mirabella for several years - and the interest in it has not declined since Mirabella V was launched and started on its first charter trip. All the yachting and boat magazines have described it in detail in articles and pictures, as has CNN, which visited Mirabella V when it called into Monaco at the end of June.
Beautiful and luxurious
Visitors have been able to see an extremely luxurious, beautiful ship. Built by VT Shipbuilding in Southampton, she is now available to everyone - provided you have USD 250,000 to pay with. The cost of food and drink, which are provided entirely in accordance with the guests' tastes, comes in addition to this. "Our operating budget is met if we have 14 rental weeks - divided between the Mediterranean in the summer and Caribbean in the winter," says Vittoria.
All three boats can be rented at the same time, with a total cabin space for a party of 32 passengers.
Sailed since he was ten
Joe Vittoria is the former CEO of car-rental giant AVIS, but he has sailed ever since he was a ten-year-old boy living near Long Island Sound. He has four older sisters and two of them were married to good sailors. Later, he worked at the SeacCliff Yacht Club, but stopped sailing in 1952/53 due to studies and work and started sailing again regularly in 1971/72. His first yacht - bought in 1971 - was a 43-footer - a Nicholson 43 from Camper & Nicholson - an English boatbuilding firm that was established in 1792. Joe Vittoria had the boat delivered, sailed it to Italy and sold it there for a higher price at the end of a summers use.
In 1974, he met Ron Holland, who was then linked to Camper & Nicholson. He had designed an extremely fast boat - a three quarter tonner - a racing boat with which Joe Vittoria won a big race in Italy. As a result, he sold 13 of these in Italy.
Planning started in 1997
After being General Manager of Avis in Europe, he became CEO at the head office in the USA in 1980 - and returned to the New York area. He helped to structure the management buyout in 1986 and led the company until it was sold to a large American company in 1996. In 1997, he was then ready to realise his dream to have the Mirabella V. He brought in Ron Holland and Bob Dereckter, another yacht expert - one a boat designer and the other a boat builder. The third very important person was (and is) Joe Vittoria's Italian wife, Luciana, who was an important partner in the decisions on both the boat's exterior and interior.
"Plenty of people with money"
Joe Vittoria has no doubt that people will rent the boat. "There are plenty of people with money," he states. Luciana is in charge of the entire charter operation herself, helped by a rental broker in France and an accountant's office in Palm Beach, Florida while Joe looks after the technical aspects.
He is an engineer by education and has "enough knowledge to ask questions", as he puts it. "This has kept me young, there's no doubt about that, but I don't think my wife would like it if I started on another one. This has taken up loads of time - but maybe in 2-3 years?
Convinced about composite materials
Joe Vittoria does not want to predict the future, but he is convinced that composite materials will continue to be popular.
"The rig on Mirabella V weighs much less than a steel rig would weigh - and it's stronger. Technological developments will continue to lead to advancements. I'll always be thinking up new ideas and will keep going for as long as I can," says Joe Vittoria, visibly proud and happy about the exciting and daring project that has now entered a new, important phase - still well supported by many good helpers, including the DNV team led by Ian Rawlinson. "He has been a great source of confidence for me throughout the entire process".
"My designers and engineers decided that we should go to DNV for classification. They knew of DNV's knowledge and experience and attention to safety. Our expectations were met in full, and Mirabella V has been awarded all the necessary certificates - registered as both a private and a business vessel."
