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The Neapolitan shipyard of Baia has always been known for its boats' distinctive styling. Wraparound windscreens and long, convex foredecks were a design signature, which still gives the older boats in the range an unmistakable look.
But then two years ago came nearly 43 feet of spiky, new-edge attitude, in the shape of the Baia One. Something was changing—and now we have the spectacular Baia 70 Italia. Gone are the sweeping curves, replaced by planes, arcs, and angles. She is aggressive, sleek, ultra-modern, yet at the same time utterly distinctive. Will that Z-shape superstructure molding, like a three-dimensional mark of Zorro, become the new Baia signature?
Even more than its bold approach to styling, Baia has a reputation as a builder of no-compromise, high-performance sportboats. The shipyard pioneered the use of Arneson drives in Europe. Indeed, sales manager Mario Borselli was taught to use them by the inventor, Howard Arneson himself. While the rest of the industry in Europe was looking suspiciously at this specialized American hardware, with its jagged propellers and bizarre, ball-jointed shafts, Baia was demonstrating that surface drives were not just a fringe technology for the leisure sector, but a practical propulsion alternative—one with exponential advantages in performance and efficiency.
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In spite of its radical new looks, the Italia 70 is every inch a Baia when it comes to power and performance. The hull and deck are molded in Aramat, a tough, weight-saving Kevlar-glass hybrid. Fitted with two Caterpillar C32s rated at 1,800 hp each, the 70 nearly achieved 58 mph during our sea trial off Cannes, France, giving a firm ride in a two- to three-foot chop with more than three tons of fuel and water onboard. (Baia claims to have seen 60 mph in more favorable conditions.) Once on plane, her straight-line acceleration was nothing short of phenomenal, zipping between 23 mph and 46 mph in 15 seconds.
The trim tabs are large and effective—you can even use them to change course without touching the wheel. On this first boat, which had shown a tendency in trials to porpoise, both tabs were oversized and had been set with a permanent bow-down offset of 1 degree—which perhaps contributed to the bow's slight tendency to dig in during turns.
Of course most surface-drive boats benefit from careful trim adjustments to both drives and tabs during acceleration. But on the Baia, after accelerating through 34.5 mph or so, it is important to get the tabs up again before attempting any maneuvers—as I discovered in a starboard turn at around 40 mph, when the stern spun out suddenly and with such force that one of the satcom domes broke free of its mounting.
Needless to say, this did not make me popular with the 70's captain. It was the day before the Cannes boat show—not the best time to start thinking about making repairs. But Baia has conceded that perhaps the 29.5"x23.6" longitudinal tabs are too big, and Borselli told me that they are to be replaced by smaller ones, which should prevent any repeat of that situation. In the meantime, I'm not exactly holding my breath for a Christmas card this year.
Fortunately, no one would have suspected anything when the show opened the following morning. The 70 was in pride of place among the Baia moorings, her dangling dome repaired and the focus of much admiration. The yacht's high-quality interior was designed by Carlo Galeazzi, and apart from its bold use of an unusually pale and deeply grained wenge hardwood, along with expansive panels of moabe veneer, it is particularly noticeable for having a two-berth crew cabin as part of the main accommodation. This is found to port, on the same side as the small galley, with access from the central lobby—although if you really insist, the shipyard can fit an access hatch from the main deck. It hardly seems worth it—as Baia's marketing director Roy Capasso remarked, "On a boat this size, the captain is your friend."
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