Technology, intuition, and a desire to improve – that is the difference between someone on the crest of the wave and those who are happy to sit on the river bank and watch the water flow by
by Niccolò Volpati
«It is as if we had found ourselves in the right place at the right time», says Giorgio Besenzoni. «I wanted to create a ladder for the stern that can take a lot of people together and he was looking for something similar. When I saw him, I said: Valerio, I’ve got the right product for your new Evo and he answered that he also had the right boat for the new ladder».
THE BEELECTRIC RANGE, WHICH WAS LAUNCHED JUST OVER A YEAR AGO, NOW INCLUDES GANGPLANKS, LADDERS, WINDLASSES, AND STERN PLATFORMS.
Where does creativity start? From necessity. «I live my boat to the full», continues Besenzoni «I do a significant amount of sailing and spend a lot of time onboard, and I do so with the whole family. Often, we’ve got four adults and five children and we have to queue up for the ladder, so I have often found it’s not suited to our needs».
The desire to sort out a problem, to have an accessory that simplifies life on board and that makes being on board more comfortable, is the driver of this innovation. And Valerio Rivellini has created a project that allows Giorgio Besenzoni’s idea to become reality. During the development of the project the two men behind it met many times because along with the practical need of having a wide ladder that is easy to use, it was also essential that the waterlines and stern design were not altered.
The sailing experience, performance, and looks shouldn’t be sacrificed in the name of functionality and comfort. It is a story that comes back again. Since it was founded by Giorgio and Fiorella’s father, Besenzoni has worked on having direct relationships with various Italian boatyards. The aim has always been to innovate, to meet the needs of people who build boats, and find solutions that mean life on board can be made easier. The creativity of many Italian firms and designers has contributed to what we now call “made in Italy”.
Customisation and engineering don’t have to conflict with one another, one can be the consequence of the other.
Some designers look through catalogues of suppliers and choose accessories, and then some have a more critical approach and who look for more innovative solutions. Innovation comes from the partnership between the companies that produce them and this second type of designer. «Once a product is made which meets the requirements», says Giorgio Besenzoni, «The next step is to understand how to engineer it so it becomes a new accessory in the catalogue, and so something that is available to everybody».
THE DESIRE TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS AND MAKE LIFE ON BOARD MORE COMFORTABLE IS THE KINDLING THAT IS NEEDED TO CREATE INNOVATIVE ACCESSORIES.
Going from customised manufacturing to mass production is difficult, but not impossible. There isn’t a lot of volume in the yachting market, and you don’t need to think about producing millions of units a year. «Engineering an accessory means trying to understand what might be those four or five components that are already used for other similar products». Put simply it is a matter of looking for a kind of mini economy of scale which allows production costs to be kept down and, above all, to quickly meet the orders that come in from yards.
IT IS PRECISELY CRAFTSMANSHIP AND EXPERIENCE THAT ALLOW ACCESSORIES TO BE ADAPTED TO THE GREAT VARIETY OF BOATS THAT IS BUILT.
«Each of our accessories is subject to continuous revision. We are always seeking to improve or to adapt it to various types of boats. Nowadays, compared with a few years back, there are so many kinds of boats: planing, displacement hulls, single hulls, catamarans, sailing boats, and powered craft. It is us who have to be good at adapting to these requirements, and not the other way around. We can’t expect a designer to limit their creativity because they have to adapt to the products that we have in our catalogue».
The lower volumes in the yachting world compared to other sectors such as automobile one means that mass production and craftsmanship can still co-exist. It is precisely craftsmanship and experience that allow accessories to be adapted to the great variety of boats that is built. Industrial sectors that require millions of pieces to be manufactured must necessarily eliminate craftsmanship. But that doesn’t happen in yachting. And that is the necessary condition for innovation.
As well as the idea itself, and the stimulus to solve problems and creativity, then people are needed who, with professionalism and experience, know how to put that intuition into practice and to give shape to an object. And Besenzoni’s fifty years’ experience, which has always been very much focused on a kind of accessories, is a bonus. «I think that it is in the stern area of boats of all sizes that there is still a lot of innovation to be done. Where is it that we spend time on board when in the Mediterranean or Caribbean? In the stern. It is thus there that accessories will have to evolve to meet the needs of designers and yards. The latest Evo models have shown how a tender crane and the tender itself can be stowed away in a locker below the cockpit deck. It’s still a crane, it’s just that it isn’t on the deck or the flybridge».
The company has existed for over fifty years, works in 59 countries with 187 sales outlets, and has a catalogue of 170 products.
In December 2020 Besenzoni launched the BeElectric range since innovative accessories are also created using innovative technology. The first model of this range was LaPasserella, then came LaScala, IlSalpAncora, and, more recently, IlTenderLift. These are purely electrically operated and are no longer electro-hydraulic. So, what are the advantages of that? First of all, it means you avoid using oil and a hydraulic unit, making the accessories more silent and thus more comfortable. Eliminating the hydraulic component also means keeping weight down and even energy consumption because the power needed for a hydraulic piston is greater than a completely electrical movement system. Reducing weight and energy consumption is the goal of all companies, in all businesses, not just the yachting sector. And on a boat, keeping weight down also means keeping down the amount of fuel required to move the boat.
(Besenzoni, creativity and winning ideas – Barchemagazine.com – June 2022)
