Luca Santella on Bluegames’s Innovations & Techologies

Luca Santella is a dreamer. His desk faces outward, overlooking the final frontier of yacht design. Less interested in the present state of things, Santella focuses on what could be. This forward-facing vision led to the birth of one of the most innovative brands: BLUEGAME.

The Bluegame brand was unplanned. Santella, who had just completed an architectural degree in Florence with honours, found himself back at sea skippering a large sailing yacht. The owner, in need of a smaller day boat, commissioned Santella for the project. The result was a one-off 55 foot custom walkaround motor yacht, built in Cape Town in 2004. It was a global sensation.

Carlo C. Bonomi invested in Santella. Together, they deepened the lines of the 55 foot walkaround motor yacht, incorporated a large aft platform, and added a reverse windshield, thus creating the first BG range. Four years later in 2018, Sanlorenzo took a stake in the company and Bluegame exploded. Today, Luca Santella’s role is Head of Production Strategy at Bluegame, and he continues to defy trends.

“There isn’t a typical day in my role,” Santella explains. “Curiosity, vision, dreaming and being updated on what the whole world is inventing daily is part of my job. It is also a big part of my personality, which helps us surf the wave of innovation” .

Santella has ensured the brand’s beloved unorthodox approach to design has remained unwavering. Every year is an exciting one for Bluegame – but this year it’s pushed the needle of innovation even further, with the delivery of BGH.

BGH is a high-performance, 10-metre hydrogen hydro-foiling catamaran, capable of speeds up to 50 knots with a range of 180 miles, at zero emissions. It is equipped with dual units of EODev’s REXH2® technology alongside three 63kWh batteries to power its operations and will serve as a support vessel for the New York’s American Magic and the French team, the Orient Express, during the 2024 edition of the America’s Cup.

Bluegame’s 10-metre hydrofoil chase boat for America’s Cup racing teams

“This project marks the beginning of a new era. In some ways, we feel akin to car manufacturers at the end of the 1900s: applying a completely new hydrogen power technology to a futuristic vessel with foils,” says Santella. “It has been a great journey so far, and it will be even greater in a few weeks when we start the sea trials. Foiling on the water at 50 knots in a sustainable way will be a very emotional feeling and a great reward for all of us who have been working on this project for the last year and a half.”

And Bluegame has announced that these innovations will find their way into the market in the not so distant future with the BGF45. “We’ve transferred so much of our experience and investments from the HSV into this user-friendly sustainable catamaran,” Santella explains. “The BGF45 is a high-performance boat which, thanks to its light construction and foil design, combines sustainability and comfort despite its incredible performance of 40 knots of max speed and 30 knots cruising.”

The BGF45 rides on the coattails of Bluegame’s new BGM series, which debuted at the 2023 Cannes Yachting Festival with the BGM75. The BGM series is significant in that it represents the first multihull by the brand and its owning company, Sanlorenzo. “It is only because of teamwork, great collaborations, experience and strategic vision that we’ve been able to make this yacht possible,” adds Santella. Being Bluegame, the BGM series is no ordinary catamaran and it comfortably sits between the mono- and multihull markets. It has a one-piece hull that has a 50:35 length-to-beam ratio – beamier than a monohull, yet more dynamic on the water. The design is sleek and brings all the characteristics and styling of the monohulls from the BG range.

BGM75

Master Cabin on BGM75

“There is always something new for Bluegame on the drawing board: I can say that from now on I hope there will also be some sailing stuff to work on,” he continues. “It would be a fantastic way to round out my personal experience and dive into my sailing past. I wish to keep enjoying my job as I have been doing for the last twenty years thanks to the fantastic projects I have been working on and coming to work every day with a big smile on my face looking forward to new challenges,” adds Santella.