Settima Strega (Sciomachen 36)

The yacht Settima Strega is owned by an Italian sailor and follower of this blog who has provided the photos and information about his yacht which has a great race record in Mediterranean waters. Settima Strega was designed by Ernest Sciomachen in 1980, and built in cold moulded spruce timber as a custom build by Cantiere De Cesari in Cervia, Italy.

The design of Settima Strega appears to borrow much from the Quarter and Half Ton trends of the time, a reasonably light hull form (in IOR terms) to maximise downwind speed, with a pronounced bustle at the after girth station measurement coupled with a long stern overhang which provided additional unmeasured sailing length when sailing at hull speed. Sciomachen would later design the One Tonner Linda along similar lines, and she went on to win the 1983 One Ton Cup held in Brazil.

Settima Strega (the name means 'Seventh Witch') is 36 feet long, and carried a rating of 25.4ft IOR, which was somewhere between the Three-Quarter Ton and One Ton classes (and so was never able to compete in level rating regattas for those classes). Her first mast, described by her owner as a masterpiece, was built by Yachtspars in Auckland. 

Settima Strega on the wind (photo Sciomachen.com)

Settima Strega was reported in Yachting Italiano in the early 1980s as one of the fastest 'Class IV' IOR yachts in the Mediterranean at that time, after notching up wins in many regional championships, including the 1980 Triest Racing Week, 1981 Adriatic Championship and second at the Italian Championship in Punta Ala. She is maintained in excellent condition and in her original configuration.

Settima Strega (right) manages to avoid trouble arriving from astern during the 1989 Barcolana Regatta

Settima Strega in light airs on the Mediterranean, above and below (photo Sciomachen.com)

Above and below - Settima Strega today (photo G Crotti)