There are so many interesting sailboats and boat projects out there, which comes in handy: Sailing season is over, my own boat sold and my new boat still more than half a year away from delivery, so I am happy that winter season is all but boring. So many new upcoming boats to write about! One of which is the Code X boat which is a project launched by Code7 marine, a Croatian project recently launched.
I was being made aware of this project through a like by Andraz Mihelin on facebook. Apparently, those Balkan-based sailing guys are well connected. Sandi Misiraca, CEO of Code7 Marine, quickly agreed to talk with me about his project. This man has a fine track record as professional sailor and nautical engineer. He made himself a name in the business as manufacturer of high-end carbon parts and boats in his own yard. So, here we go, tell us about your new project, Sandi …
Talking to Code7 CEO Sandi Misiraca
Lars Reisberg | NO FRILLS SAILING: “Sandi, thanks for taking your time to answer all those questions you most certainly have been answering a thousand times over …”
Sandi Misiraca | Code7 Marine: „No problem, Lars. Actually, I thank you for contacting me. I remember your website from a few years ago, since your Class 40-articles, so, I am happy to answer your questions on my new project now!”
NO FRILLS SAILING: “Wow, thanks! Now, let´s start by the backstory of Code X: How and why did you start this project?”
Sandi Misiraca: „Code7 marine is a small company, I´d say. Although we have some 20 years of experience in high tech composite work with focus on quality and innovation. The whole crew here at Code7 is made from mainly from experienced sailors, which I would say is something special indeed. We all sail actively here at Code7. The boat is ultra high tech. Really! It is a full carbon one shot infused hull, high temperature prepreg. To further lower the CG, we use Nomex for the superstructure and prepreg for internal structure and appendages. The boat is just awesome!”
NO FRILLS SAILING: “Speaking of which, I might add, it is a 30 feet foiling performance racer …”
Sandi Misiraca: „Yes indeed! It is a pretty innovative concept, I suppose that something similar has never been done in the 30 foot-scale. The Boat is designed by Paul Bieker in the USA. He started with my concept work, or design brief. And I started on basically a clean sheet of paper. A huge amount of working hours went into the design phase of the boat. We tested numerous concepts and ideas in the pursuit for performance with an emphasis on relative simplicity. Of course, we´ve had several extensive CFD-runs of the final versions and I must say that we pushed One sails group. They did such great work with the prototype sails! Also, Chris Mitchell from AES, who did the rig design was very innovative and Andres Suar, former Juan-K studio who is now working with Luna Rossa, who did the first VPP foil runs.”
NO FRILLS SAILING: “This is quite a nice team, though …”
Sandi Misiraca: „It has to! Because our goal was from the outset to offer an ultra high performance race boat. So, first of all we need to have a reliable quality platform, a boat that must perform well in full the wind range and be technically accessible to an average, although experienced, race boat owner. And I can say that all of this pushed has the foiling concept in the direction as seen on the boat number #1 which has seen water recently.”
NO FRILLS SAILING: “What is the aim with Code X?”
Sandi Misiraca: „ Our end goal is one-design racing. This must be done both inshore and coastal. I like to emphasis that the boat can also be modified to fit the demands of specific sailing venues or short sailing and so on. It is very versatile. The Code X-concept also works great without side foils, I would gladly push in that direction someone who mainly sails in light winds, further saving some weight and at the end-cost. Let me stress that the boat has a lot of carefully incorporated details. For example the steering which maybe looks a bit radical but does work extremely well in this concept indeed, or retractable electric propulsion, elaborate safety elements and so on. Quiet a ride!”
NO FRILLS SAILING: “The first boat is out in the water, as I have seen?”
Sandi Misiraca: „Yes. The first one is sold to fellow Croatian owners and had been launched back in January already. She is sailing extremely well. First sea trials as well as races had been performed extraordinarily good and the best part is that we all feel that there is still a lot of potential to be unlocked.”
Thanks Sandi for this outlook: I hope I will be able to see a Code X myself in real life soon!
Also interesting to read:
Talking to Hans Genthe about his Aeolos 30-project
The Dehler 30 OD walkthrough
Sailing the Juan-K designed First 30 R in (really) bad weather