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Since first becoming established in the world of pleasure craft, these distinctive and historical boats, originally developed for prawn and lobster fishing in the US state of Maine, have evolved from basic fishing smacks into trend setting style icons. They stand out among the often humdrum designs of mass produced flying and open-deck boats, which are often barely distinguishable from each other.
Being cruisers rather than speedboats, lobsters move at moderate speed. At sea, or moored at port, they offer comfort and modest luxury, often presenting an image of classic elegance. Due to its lack of “special features”, at first sight a lobster boat may appear somewhat retro in its graceful simplicity.
In recent times, Italy has had a love affair with both mass-produced and custom-built vessels of this type. They bring to mind the beautiful pilot boats by Motomar and the Portofinopilot boats by Giangallino, Golfo Marconi - which were produced back in the seventies -and various models by Carmosini.
In the eighties, Mostes, Costaguta, De Cesari and Sangermani created masterpieces of their own, advancing these designs while keeping to the same general lines.
The noted designer Franco Anselmi Boretti was active before this fusion of ideas, producing a long series of designs which gradually established the Italian Lobster Boat Style, typified by Gianni Lancia’s “Nuovo Pensiero” and “Secondo Pensiero”, and Leopoldo Rodriquez’s Morgana (from which Tom Fexas developed the Morgan series).
Mochi, by Gruppo Ferretti, has since extended the concept of the lobster boat to various models that occupy the aristocratic end of the range, some of them being on the scale of superyachts.
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