Ready To Rock

Italian for sea monster and fluent in badass—our new boat is ready to rock. Designed by Juan Yacht Design of Valencia, Spain, and constructed at New England Boatworks, Inc., in Portsmouth, R.I., the third generation Volvo Open 70 monohull is made for extreme conditions. Its design was based on input from the veteran PUMA Sailing Team. From those conversations, PUMA’s imagination was easily sparked: the boat’s aesthetics bring to life the fierce-fast-fun epicness of the race balanced by quirky-rebel-style.

Giant octopus tentacles grip hold of Mar Mostro in an energetic graphic that wraps around the boat and sails. Conceived by PUMA Chief Marketing Officer Antonio Bertone and PUMA’s London-based brand design team, GBH, the boat was hand-painted by artist Dean Loucks of Elkhart, Indiana. Red tentacles encircle the boat, merging into the PUMA Formstrip on the port and starboard sides, and popping against a black backdrop of stingray-influenced scales.

“We wanted to create a livery that represents the non-stop battle between the team and the sea,” said Mark Bonner, Creative Director at GBH. “We knew it should really mean business. We had a lot of fun thinking about the conventions of sail and boat graphics and subverting them in a very PUMA way. Every element is made virtually from either the monster or the water itself, and our aim was to create an interplay that really comes alive in photography when the boat’s design connects with the real waterline of the sea, especially at high speed.”

The headsails and mainsail feature the new PUMA “Aqua Cat,” a liquid explosion of the iconic PUMA Cat emerging from the waves. On the hull, the PUMA “Cavitation Cat” forms out of the bubbles spun from the red painted BERG propellers. A bright orange propeller, measuring 5 square meters, is painted in a spinning pattern and serves as the safety mark underneath.

But Mar Mostro is more than a sexy face. It weighs 14 metric tons, with a 4.5 meter draft, and 5.5 meter beam, and it can reach speeds of more than 40 knots during the race. Chances are, it’s bound to make some serious waves…