Architect and Olympic sailor, Bluegame founder Luca Santella built his first motoryacht for a serendipitous commission that led to an ongoing voyage of edgy experimentation in boatbuilding.
Interview: Andrew Dembina; Photos: Bluegame & Sanlorenzo Group

Luca Santella in Hong Kong

A multiple European and world champion sailor, and two-time Olympian (1988 and 1992), Luca Santella founded Bluegame in 2004, debuting the Bluegame 47 the following year.

The Italian brand has enjoyed a second wind since 2018, when it was acquired by the Sanlorenzo Group, first producing the BG (open) and BGX (enclosed) monohull ranges before introducing the BGM multihull and BGF foiling multihull lines.

In December 2025, Santella visited Hong Kong as a keynote speaker at the Business of Design Week and to attend the Hong Kong International Boat Show, where the BG62 – soon to be succeeded by the BG64 – was exhibited by Sanlorenzo Asia-Pacific along with a Sanlorenzo SL86A and SX88.

This January, Santella was at the forefront of Bluegame’s world premiere of its flagship BGX83 at the Boot Düsseldorf indoor show in Germany, where the brand’s first full-flybridge motoryacht was the event’s largest global debut.

The BGX83 is Bluegame’s new flagship and follows the success of the BGX63 and BGX73

As Head of Product Strategy, Santella continues to drive the Bluegame ethos, while the Sanlorenzo Group brings additional expertise and resources for design collaborations, R&D, production, marketing and expansion strategies within established and growing markets.

Luca, it has been an exciting start to the year for Bluegame, with the debut of a new flagship.

Yes, we premiered the BGX83 in Düsseldorf in January, after hull one was only launched in December [2025]. The BGX83 joins the 63 and 73 to complete the BGX range. We’re now working on the BG64 because we have the 42, 54 and 74, so we want to add this size.

Can you summarise your speech at the Business of Design Week in Hong Kong last December?

It was entitled ‘Design without Boundaries: How curiosity shapes the future of sustainable yachting at Bluegame’. I told the story of the brand in relation to my experience as a sailor, Olympian and architect, and that one of my sailing contacts asked if I could build a powerboat. This was the starting point of Bluegame.

Luca Santella outlined his boating and design journey at the Business of Design Week in Hong Kong in December 2025

The ‘second starting point’ was this boat’s uniqueness, which Boat International discovered and wrote about. Carlo Bonomi, an Italian entrepreneur and powerboat racer, saw the article, liked what he read and called me. A month later, we had the company set up. The following year, we started building in South Africa.

How would you compare Bluegame’s current models, since the Sanlorenzo acquisition, to the brand’s original yachts?

When we became part of Sanlorenzo, things changed. I could start looking forward to organising and planning in different ways and enlarging the range of models – a big difference from the beginning.

Santella on the aft deck of a Bluegame BG62 in Hong Kong

However, the innovation and daring spirit were always the same. These aspects have always been part of Bluegame, since I started in Cape Town, South Africa with the first commission and no brand, with a really different boat.

Things have become much more considered, and production has been very well controlled thanks to the direction of Carla Demaria (former CEO of Bluegame). Also, I must say that Mr Massimo Perotti (Executive Chairman, Sanlorenzo) is a fantastic entrepreneur and super-knowledgeable on the production side. We have worked very well together on many different Bluegame models, and he knows everything about them.

What was your role in Sanlorenzo’s SX ‘crossover’ series, which launched in 2017 and inspired Bluegame’s BGX line?

In 2015, I showed my first SX concept drawings to Mr Perotti. It was really the blending of two different worlds of design: the elegance, classic style of Sanlorenzo, and the innovative ideas of Bluegame. He saw the potential, so we started on the SX line, with its large aft platform, which has been very popular in Asia.

The BGX73 had its Asia premiere at the 2024 Singapore Yachting Festival

We worked on the Sanlorenzo SX88, the first model of the series, which influenced the Bluegame BGX line that debuted in 2019 with the BGX70 (later renamed BGX73).

As well as Bluegame, I’m still working on every new Sanlorenzo and Swan project, as a design collaborator and consultant.

Which signature features of the original Bluegame range carried over after Sanlorenzo Group acquired the brand?

The quality of the hull, for sure. When I started the project, the first guy I wanted was the number-one hull designer, and this is still the case. I originally went to Washington DC and met [naval architect] Lou Codega and we started our collaboration. I had read about his work on different boats, many designed with custom fishing trawler hulls in the Carolina area. I knew that fishermen used the strongest hulls, having to go fast to one spot and return fast.

Santella at the wheel of a Bluegame BG62 in Hong Kong

On the boats, the walk-around is a [constant] feature, while mooring areas are so important because they must be functional, safe and ergonomic.

I would say that my first boat didn’t match any of the stereotypes of the trends of that period, so we were really out-of-the-box, and have remained so.

As well as studying Architecture at the University of Florence, you were a professional sailor since your teens. Were you influenced by the design of sailing boats?

Yes, there was an inspiration, but it was not from designing sailing boats, as I never designed a sailing boat until starting on one a year ago for Nautor Swan (part of Sanlorenzo Group). But being a professional sailor for about 30 years made me aware of the elements, respecting the wind and waves. I took that with me when I started designing power yachts, and it made the product different.

I studied architecture to PhD level in Florence. Architecture brings a different view of volumes, areas, space and boating. Designing a boat is not just design or engineering because you live in a boat. You move, you sleep, there are different levels, and there are ergonomics. It’s not a car, which you only sit in.

A BGM75, Bluegame’s first multihull, in Singapore

As Bluegame’s Head of Product Strategy, do you propose your own concepts for the next Bluegame model, or does it happen more symbiotically with the Sanlorenzo Group team?

It’s more personal for Bluegame. If I have an idea, I make preliminary drawings, share them with the Board, and we discuss from there. The starting point always comes from me.

Volvo Penta IPS propulsion is used in a lot of Bluegame models. When did this collaboration start?

When we started, the IPS system was very new. We had motor-shaft engines for our first three models. After those, all Bluegame yachts used IPS except for the BGH-HSV (Hydrogen Support Vessel), a hydrofoil catamaran with electric motors.

IPS gives you the possibility to shrink the area of the engine room, for more space in other places. The BGX series was born around the IPS. Mechanically, it’s also a fantastic system as it’s hydrodynamically very responsive.

Bluegame debuted in Australia with a BGX63

For future models, we’re now working with the hybrid version of the IPS powertrain, which we tested in Gothenburg. It’s like if you have a hybrid car: up to 10 knots is electric power, and then the diesel starts very gently.

A collaboration we’re considering is whether hydrogen energy can substitute the electric part, to further build up a really green powertrain, using the know-how we’ve gained in this area.

The ‘For Bluegamers Only’ tagline was launched in 2022, with video promos that implied owners are uncompromising in personality and expect unique innovation. How would you define the Bluegame owner?

They know a lot about boating and are usually very interesting people. They do want something innovative and different, but they don’t want to show it off. It’s rewarding and personally appreciated by them and their family and friends.

Bluegame debuted in Australia with the presentation of the BGX63 at the opening of the Sanlorenzo Australia office in Sydney in late 2024. How has the brand been received there?

I love Sydney, and Australia – I sailed there. The market fits so well with Bluegame because of the way Australians enjoy boating and socialising together. I’m glad we’ve started selling there, even to people who didn’t know the brand before.

Bluegame BGX63 in Sydney

We’ve had very good feedback so far. It’s such a disruptive brand that people must discover it, see it and go out in the boat to understand the completely different layout, its open [aft] platform and the enclosed upper levels for the hot season.

We had some great events in Sydney Harbour with partners and VIP guests. Our BGX63 Luka became a spectator boat at the Rolex SailGP event in Sydney (in February 2025), where guests were hosted by Sanlorenzo Australia to watch the high-speed racing action.

How did you decide to create the BGH-HSV, a team chase boat at the 2024 America’s Cup in Barcelona, then develop the BGF45 foiling catamaran that debuted at the 2025 Cannes Yachting Festival?

The HSV hydrogen tender project was my idea. As Mr Perotti is a visionary, when I explained it, he said: “Okay, let’s go, let’s try it.”

The BGH-HSV (Hydrogen Support Vessel), a ‘flying’ foiling catamaran used as a chase boat at the 2024 America’s Cup in Barcelona

It was a fantastic step for Bluegame. We gained so much knowledge in two years because the boat was very complicated. We worked hard on the composites, hydrodynamics, power-management system and ‘flight’ control. And there was a lot to learn – to ‘fly’ (be fully propelled on foils), then turn and all the manoeuvring, generally.

We initiated new collaborations for the HSV. It’s important to bring new ideas and energy into the company. It was a big step for Bluegame and the Sanlorenzo Group, and a hydrogen foiling boat with a 200nm range and 50-knot top speed was unique in the industry.

A ‘skimming’ foiling catamaran, the BGF45 debuted at the 2025 Cannes Yachting Festival

The BGF model inherited all the HSV investment and is a much simpler boat. BGF is a skimming boat; the HSV is a flying boat. Foiling is going to be an area for the future of yachting, and we are already thinking about a bigger BGF model, maybe around 50-55ft, with a more sophisticated foil system. We are also working on smaller versions. The BGF45 saves about 30 per cent on fuel (due to less hull drag).

The BGM line, which started with the BGM75 that debuted in 2023, was born in this direction, as a fuel-efficient catamaran, offering more space with smaller engines, and the construction is more sustainable.

Are you looking at hydrogen on other models?

The concern about hydrogen is the supply network – how to refuel. It was difficult to refill hydrogen for the HSV. For monohulls, foiling can be developed. Alternative power can be considered for semi-displacement hulls, but now it’s not practical for the power needed on a planing boat.

Overall, how is business for the brand and where are you looking to grow?

We were similar in 2024 and 2025, even if the market is not what it was a few years ago, after Covid. But, on our side, we have premium products, which have more resilience in difficult periods.

The Asia-Pacific market is already a significant percentage of revenue for us now. We’re working hard to look at newer markets in Asia-Pacific and America. We’re trying to develop America, which for us is a small market, and to consolidate the European market.

We see big potential with BGX in Australia. We recently had more sales in Hong Kong, so boats are arriving soon. In Singapore, the BGX73, BGX70 and BGX60 have all been sold there. We have one in Taiwan, and the new BGM75 is in Southeast Asia.
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