"Tutto Bene" Beneteau First 35

"Tutto Bene" First 35, 

The hull graphics in real life

The hull graphic design on paper.

From the desk of Wayne Burdick...

Beneteau, the world's largest sailboat builder, in addition to owning a factory in Marion, South Carolina, has prepared an imaginatively decorated version of their First 35 cruiser/racer to compete in the Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week. The event from April 18th to 21st, for which 290 boat competing boats have entered, is the largest sailboat regatta on the eastern seaboard. Thousands of sailors will be racing in the waters of Charleston harbor and off the coast in 17 different classes on various courses. 

Rick Bracanovich, in the photo above and owner of the freight company The Boat Exchange of Columbia, last Friday delivered Tutto Bene ("all's good" in Italian) to the Charleston City Boatyard where she will be rigged and launched. Upon arrival in the Low Country Rick said, "In twenty years of delivering thousands of boats, this one is the most photographed! People would come up alongside and hang out the window to get a picture of her amazing graphics. For a sailboat she sure looks wild." 

After launching at the boatyard, St Barts Yachts of Charleston, the Beneteau dealer for the Carolinas and Georgia, will commission her and do the final fitting before the fierce competition, sailed by a crew from Ohio that won the right to skipper her in a national Best Around the Buoys promotion sponsored by SAIL magazine and other industry partners; North Sails, Pettit Paint, B&G Instruments and Ronstan. Chuck Laughlin, President of St Barts, remarked, "With such a striking hull decoration, everyone will always see Tutto Bene, wherever she is on the course, so our team of great technicians will be doing everything we can to make sure that she stays out front!" 

To follow Tutto Bene and all the developments of Charleston Race Week, go to www.charlestonraceweek.com

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