Comet 62: Distinct style

Written by Carlos Serra

On board

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Power on its hull, beauty on deck and a vocation for exclusivity are the distinctive features of this large model by the Italian Comar, proposed as a fast sailboat and with several custom details.

Specialised in sailboats that win regattas and create admiration for their impeccable aesthetics, the tandem made by the Valicelli design group and the Comar shipyard have produced in the last years a great number of stars. However, until now they have restricted the production to lengths below 60 feet, where their clients concentrated. With nowadays trend to growth, it was logical that the Italian shipyard considered to move beyond that border, and here comes their first experience. The base is a precious hull coming from the Valiccelli studio, with a similar pedigree to those Comet winning regattas, and due the wide stern section they decided to fit it with a double rudder blades with outwards inclination and manoeuvred by an interconnected double wheel system. The deck has a house of oval shapes slightly more voluminous than the usual ones of the make; that shape is able to give vision and light to a saloon from which, we were witnesses, one can be on watch and control everything that happens outside. Built with the advanced technology usually applied by Comar - recently this make has adopted an infusion process with epoxy resin put in place by SP - it presents a very rigid structure on its hull and needs very few fixed reinforcements: it is thought to adapt the position of its bulkheads, also structural, to the inner layout that the client might choose. And that is perhaps the third and most remarkable characteristic that makes the Comet 62 stand out from other sailboats produced by prestigious shipyards: it is presented with a list of open specifications in which, once accepted the previously mentioned elements, it is possible to design an accommodation, a type of decoration, an inventory of the systems and of course a wood quality and of finishes according to the preferences: the shipyard adapts to the client’s desires.

 
A pleasing season

Comar has that advantage, a typical Italian company that has kept a considerable craftsman tradition in its workforce and that does not lack from providers and workshops around their facilities able to continue the work that their own capacity can not absorb. That multiplying faculty and the enthusiasm of the shipyard team and its management, turn each unit coming out from there into a personal experience for the owner. That is the case of Flying Teapot, the first Comet 62 produced and to which we had access when it had already been sailing for a summer season in Sardinia and the Balearics. A boat that exuded all over the will and the taste of its owner, and where the pleasure experienced by that person during the previous months could also be appreciated. Within the versatility of the design, the choices of the owner for Flying Teapot were completely logical: on deck he had respected the beautiful shape of the house, already mentioned, to have next a cockpit with two symmetrical benches and a table that could disappear on the floor. Two binnacles were in charge of transmitting the pleasure of sailing on corners equipped with support and visibility, and were followed more aft wards by a very ample solarium that concealed a large transversal coffer. That space could, on other units, become a garage for a tender lying crosswise due to the enormous beam that the transom enjoys. Here however it had been preferred to arrange the volume for cushions, generators, scuba diving equipment and other elements that use space, all well organised. It was also chosen to locate in the transom a nice bathing platform that unfolds without harming therefore the water tightness and the stiffness of the hull.

Elegant space in the saloon

The interior layout seen on Flying Teapot reflected, as we have explained, the desires of its owner although the capacity of the shipyard to lead those ideas towards a marine and practical solution was also noticeable, in addition of being feasible from the manufacturing point of view. The general arrangement took advantage of one the most noticeable values of the design, the deck house, and thus it produced in the saloon an elegant space, filled in by natural light and of great distinction; its dinning room corner located on port has a generous C shaped bench to which a central stool was added, increasing the capacity up to 11 companions at table, and had communication with the galley by means of an opening on the main bulkhead. The positioning of the galley in that central place, as it was made on yachts 50 years ago, in our opinion is one of the successes of the layout, because it maintains a distribution with three real double cabins and uses more advantageously the volume available. It would not be pleasant to see, in the saloon of a boat of this size, a long galley worktop more or less occupied by the knicks-knack and the provisions that usually occupy those facilities. The election made leaves the starboard side of the saloon free for a piece of furniture or a sofa; in the particular case of Flying Teapot it has allowed to create a double writing desk where numerous activities could be carried out on behalf of the crew. The large cabin that the owner has kept to himself is also key, and its volume grows even more due to its position behind the fore peak reserved for the sails or the crew between it and the anchor well: it has therefore a bed with a real headboard, an extensive floor area and several pieces of additional furniture, in addition to a complete bathroom with its shower protected by the screen. The two additional cabins are located under the cockpit, as it is usual on sailboats of smaller length, but thanks to the extraordinary volume of the stern they acquire the dimensions of a palace: one of them even has two almost separated bunks instead of the traditional boxed in double bunk. Both have their own bathrooms accessed from the inside.

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