RIG, SAILS, & DECK HARDWARE

Bella Via is a delight to sail under any conditions.  It has a powerful rig and sail combination with all controls leading back to the cockpit for ease of handling, especially shorthanded.  Throughout, the equipment and systems have been designed to make sailing as simple as possible and engineered to the most demanding blue water standards.  It is especially appealing to this owner who likes to be comfortable handling the boat regardless of conditions and weather.

The sail plan is a modern fractional rig utilizing a 16. 5 m (54 ft) 7/8 fractional rigged mast with double diamonds.  The mainsail is fully battened for both efficiency and ease of handling.  Reefing is simple with a slab reefing system utilizing an efficient triple line lazyjack system.  In any weather, reducing sail is done without leaving the safety of the cockpit area.

Bella Via sails to windward at better than 45 degrees and tacks cleanly and easily without hesitation.  When reaching or even running square, Bella Via tracks dead straight and is a joy to steer and easily controlled by a supersized autopilot.

·   Standing Rigging - Inner and outer shrouds swept aft; double diamonds athwart ship and two half diamonds on forward side of mast

·   Mainsail - Fully battened, dacron mainsail . Triple stitched reinforced construction. Triple reefing points - slab reefing with lazy jacks

·   Mainsail batten cars - (Harken); aluminium batten car track on mast

·   Mainsail halyard - Spectra halyard led back to cockpit winches through Spinlock Jammer

·   Mainsail controls - Traveller track with roller ball car and end blocks to give 4:1 purchase on the traveller; Mainsheet blocks on boom & traveller to give 4:1 purchase to the central mainsheet winch – Harken 46ST, 2 speed self tailing

·   Mainsail has Sunbrella UV cover bag

·   Headsail - Dacron headsail with Profurl roller reefing furling

·   Headsail halyards - Spectra halyards led back to cockpit winches

·   Jib / Genoa controls - Sheet winches - 2 x Harken 53ST, 2 speed self tailing

·   Rails / Stanchions - Electro-polished stainless steel bow and stern rails and stanchions; 750 mm high with triple lifelines

·   White powder-coated fore-beam with pelican striker and cable; Fore-beam attached to solid forward walkway with anchor bow rollers installed.

·   Six (6) mooring cleats, 3 on each side: bow, stern and amidships

·   Five (5) mooring fenders (inflatable PVC) with 6 dock lines

·   Heavy-duty stainless steel mooring cleat on forward walkway

·   Aft Swim Ladder - Stainless steel folding ladder on transom

·   Steering - Stainless steel wheel with mechanical steering; Steering console with instruments & twin engine controls;  Elevated steering position for 2 persons

Extras and Modifications:

·   Multi-purpose spinnaker (MPS) fitted with all controls including 2 self tailing sheet winches (Harken 40S, 2 speed).  The spinnaker is cut flatter to suit down-wind running and off wind reaching.  This is an all purpose sail that is flown off the bows without the use of a pole or bow sprit.

·   Spinnaker Sock - easy spinnaker launch & retrieval system

·   Forestay auxiliary - a second forestay foreword of the primary forestay

·   110% Genoa

·   a 3^rd reefing line is permanently installed

·   Jack-lines running along the length of the vessel on each side deck are attached to special purpose Wichard pad eyes securely mounted with backing plates to provide a safe and secure attachment point for personal harnesses when working on deck in severe conditions.

·   12 Gebo deck hatches (4 more than standard installation)

·   12 Gebo fly screens