Neo Yachts conquers America and lands in Newport. Neo 430 Roma delivered

Neo Yachts conquers America and lands in Newport, Rhode Island, with its race-cruiser Neo 430 Roma. “The boat was transported by ship already rigged with the mast and keel up, so as soon as it was put in the water it was already operational and ready for the two-day test,” explains Paolo Semeraro who joyfully conveys all the nautical passion that only a long-time sailor, capable of realising an entrepreneurial dream, knows how to express with such simplicity.
The Atlantic launch of the Neo 430 Roma immediately created quite a stir among American owners. So much so that it added a further 15 ‘prospects’ to the Neo Yachts books.
Because boats like this one, totally in carbon but also habitable and with attention to detail, represent a concept that goes beyond and revises the extremisms of the American clientele. As we know, the States offer a sail-yacht market that is rather accustomed to pure racing prototypes or anachronistic wooden cruiser models, and this is where Neo Yachts finds plenty of room to introduce its innovative philosophy.

The creator of this entrepreneurial success is Paolo Semeraro, a well-known sailor and owner of a relatively young boatyard (founded two and a half years ago), but highly productive and successful all over the world. How? Thanks to its ultra high-performance cruising yachts that are suitable for competitions, while still providing an adequate level of comfort.
If we think of the Neo 430 Roma, it is a boat that literally opens up a world of new concept owners looking for a niche product. Paolo Semeraro (pictured right) offers them thirty years’ experience, gained in the sailing world through collaborations at the highest levels in which he has worked professionally, effectively supplying the sails and studying the sail and deck plans in advance. And he also adds to this a racing background in which he has learned, even during competitions, what is really needed for a yacht of this type.

Real race-cruisers

The result can be summed up in the delivery of boats that are ready to race and equipped with everything needed to do so with great performance. Construction quality and super-light materials.  The Neo 430 Roma weighs in at a third of the weight of a “standard” boat, thanks in part to expert design and the construction material, which we stress is entirely in carbon. To confirm this, we recommend reading one of our sea trials of the Neo 430 Roma, which you can find here.
But there’s more, because Neo Yachts boats are already delivered ready to make the most of wind power. The synergy comes courtesy of Banks Sails, a family-owned company founded 30 years ago by Paolo Semeraro, which supplies all the sailmaking by providing qualified personnel.
Also thanks to Banks Sails, the Neo Yachts yard is able to rig and fine-tune the mast in just two days from the launch, preparing the right sails and completing the operations in time for delivery to the owner. We’re talking about boats that are, we repeat, “ready to sail”.

It’s a process that in a ‘normal’ boatyard would require many separate entities: starting with the mastmaker who has to come to assemble the mast, the sailmaker, and all the interactions between the parts. These are issues that in 30 years of sailing, Semeraro has learned to know very well.

How did it go at Newport? “I personally delivered the third Neo 430 Roma to the owner in Newport, I did it with special permission despite all the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and we had been waiting to do it since July,“ said Semeraro. Other variants and deliveries will require his presence in Hong Kong in the coming days, because it would seem that one of the magnates of the soybean has purchased the fourth example of the Neo 430 Roma. And then there will be Australia, to Sydney, where the second example, released from lockdown, is being tested to obtain tonnage certificates.

Neo Yachts at METS Amsterdam

The METS in Amsterdam, from 16 to 18 November, will also be the right opportunity to meet potential and existing customers from northern Europe. Neo Yachts will have its own booth at the B2B marine accessories show (EF.126). Paolo Semeraro explains that “METS will be like a meeting point in Amsterdam, where we can meet suppliers and get to know customers who have ordered boats but who, because of the pandemic or for other reasons, were unable to come to our boatyard and meet us directly”.

In conclusion, the Neo 430 Roma proves to be a very interesting yacht, not only for her highly innovative and superbly designed Ceccarelli Yachts project, but above all for her ability to attract a new generation of owners to a truly green, emotionally rich and highly experiential type of sailing.

Proof of this is the high level of involvement that Neo Yachts is enjoying on social media and the excellent commercial results of this boatyard, which sells its boats almost exclusively through e-commerce and with the help of video calls. Once owners have seen the boat in the water, they are more enthusiastic and excited than when they had placed the order on paper. And from experience we can confirm that this is a real parameter that indicates how much the boat is really appreciated.

By the way, the comment of the owner who asked to see the third Neo 430 Roma in Newport, and will receive the seventh, can be summed up in just one word: “Masterpiece”.