Spazzo is arguably the most beautiful among modern Eights. Her mahogany hull, elegant teak deck and high-tech rig seamlessly combine the beauty of classic Eights with the performance of modern yachts. With her elegant transom and flush deck, she is the eye-catcher in any harbour.
The design is by Juliane Hempel, today's most renowned meter class yacht designer, who is always in demand for optimal performance designs in all meter classes.
Only the best products and materials available were used in the design and construction, such as the Speedwave rig, Harken blocks, Lewmar winches, Tecnautic instruments, and North 3DL sails.
Josef Martin's shipyard in Radolfzell on Lake Constance is known for building only uncompromisingly quality yachts of the highest standard. Because Josef Martin, as a meter-class enthusiast, first built the yacht for himself, everything has been optimized down to the last detail.
But even a yacht that is already sailing at the highest standard can still be improved when it meets the world's best sailors, who continue with numerous trials on the racecourse on how to gain even more performance.
When the Alinghi team, with skipper Russel Coutts and three-time Olympic gold medallist Jochen Schümann, began their successful America's Cup challenge 2003, they looked for ideal boats to train on their home sailing area on Lake Geneva. The choice immediately fell on the modern Eights, with a sailing performance and behaviour similar to the IACC America's Cup racers of 2003. And so it happened that Spazzo was optimized for three months by Russel Coutts sailing against Jochen Schümann on the Swiss Eight Yquem. The improvements can still be seen today in the optimized winches and details on the deck layout. But what is perhaps even more significant is the historic role at the start of the Alinghi AC campaign that finally brought the Cup back to Europe after more than 150 years.
