Designer hobbies: Stefano Pastrovich - between aerobatics world championship and yacht design

A new series from BOOTE EXCLUSIV looks at how yacht designers spend their leisure time. Their passions are diverse, always very pronounced and hold many a surprise in store. We start with Stefano Pastrovich, who is regularly drawn to the air.

Stefano Pastrovich has attracted attention in recent months with a series of projects: X_Linea, X-Shinobi and XPagoda. What many people don't realise is that the Italian has been driven by two passions since the age of ten: Designing boats and flying. He obtained his pilot's licence in the USA at the age of 18 and completed his architecture studies in Italy at the age of 24. His professional career took him to designer Martin Francis and later to Wally, where he designed the first motorboat line. His career as a pilot developed in parallel. He regularly trained with the best French glider pilots.

At the age of 30, he founded his own design company and in the same year acquired the standard class sailboat Discus 2A, with which he took part in various competitions. At the age of 40, he focussed on superyachts in the custom segment. At the same time, he orientated himself towards motor aerobatics. Since the age of 42, he has been competing as an aerobatic pilot for Monaco in the Unlimited category.

Training under extreme stress

If you want to fly at competition level, you have to complete up to two training sessions a month. In Pastrovich's case, this is a long weekend in France. He usually makes two flights between the camps, mostly in Le Castellet. His body has to remain reactive even at G-forces between minus eight and plus seven. The physical strain is enormous. The body is alternately pressed downwards with eight times its own weight and upwards with seven times its own weight. The training requires iron discipline and absolute concentration. Any mistake can have fatal consequences.

First world championship with highs and lows

Pastrovich took part in his first world championship in 2019. Over ten days, he had to demonstrate his skills in four sequences of ten minutes each. "The most difficult thing was to maintain the tension during the one or two day-long flight breaks," he says. In the first two runs, he flew outside the box. This is an airspace that corresponds to a cube with an edge length of a thousand metres. He flew lower than 120 metres and received 250 penalty points in each case. His third and fourth flights were technically good, but there was another surprise. A sequence consists of about 14 figures. He made a gross error in one manoeuvre each time, which was scored with a zero.

Placement and outlook

Overall, Pastrovich finished 42nd out of 61 participants. Without 1000 penalty points, he would have finished 25th. "To take part in a world championship after six years since my first aerobatic flight is an enormous achievement," he emphasises. He sees himself among the top ten pilots for the World Championships the following year, depending on how much he is involved professionally and privately. The mental strength he has developed in aerobatics also helps him in the design process. Both disciplines require absolute precision and the ability to perform under pressure.

Connection between flying and design

Flying gives Pastrovich satisfaction, well-being, a good mood and evokes a variety of emotions. There are analogies to design in gliding. Deviations from the flight path may be necessary while gliding in the direction of the next thermal in order to better utilise the rising air. It's a matter of a few degrees. Similarly, one should not stray too far from the design process with wild ideas. Which shows how important the initial idea and the start of a project are. The discipline and understanding of aerodynamics that he developed while flying flows directly into his work as a yacht designer.

Aviation inspires yacht design for Wally

A direct design analogy is hidden behind the air inlets of the 118 WallyPower. Wally wanted them as a recess in the interior of the fuselage. Pastrovich suggested placing them externally and adapting their shape to the air intakes of fighter jets. If you take a closer look, you will recognise parallels with the F15, which was one of the most iconic aircraft of the 1980s. But it wasn't just about aesthetics. The intake runs in a NACA profile he selected. In the end, an engineer in Ferrari's wind tunnel decided on exactly the same airflow profile. The link between aviation and yacht design is not a superficial gimmick for Pastrovich, but is based on sound aerodynamic principles.

This article first appeared in BOOTE EXCLUSIV 1/2021 and has been updated for this online version.