Grand Soleil 39Review & Buyer’s Guide: The Spaghetti Swan Explained
What you’d actually do with her
This is a fast Mediterranean boat for active coastal sailing and club racing. Typical use: a half-day sail along the coast, a weekend with a night in the next bay over, and in summer a holiday of passages between islands and harbour towns. She goes faster than most cruising boats of her size and era, so day passages run longer and the weather window opens wider. She suits club and vintage regattas without modification: the builder runs an annual gathering for exactly these boats. A couple can handle her, an experienced sailor can do it alone, and a family lives aboard comfortably for a holiday. She is an old boat, and buying one means budgeting for the hull and deck, not just the berth. Multi-day ocean passages are not her genre: this is a boat of coastlines and short seas.
The boat they ordered to look like a dream
This boat has an unusual origin: she was conceived, from the first sketch, to resemble another. In the early eighties Giuseppe Giuliani, owner of Cantiere del Pardo in Forlì, looked at the Finnish Swans, the gold standard of the sailing world at the time, and set the brief in plain words: build a “spaghetti Swan.” An Italian answer to Nordic aristocracy, at Italian money.
The job went to a Frenchman, Alain Jézéquel. He drew a hull to the IOR measurement rule of the day, beam gathered amidships, ends fine and narrow, and the resemblance came out so convincing that the nickname “Spaghetti Swan” attached itself abroad without any help from marketing. From the Genoa Boat Show of 1983 she went into series production and became one of the yard’s great successes: more than two hundred hulls in seven years.
Forty years later those hulls have not drifted off to boneyards or settled into life as floating cottages. They race each other at the builder’s own regatta, they receive refits with budgets approaching the price of the boat itself, and the yard’s own vintage expert sails the eighteenth hull ever built. It is a rare thing: an imitation that went on to live the life of the original.
“The Grand Soleil 39 was the fruit of Giuseppe Giuliani’s idea to create the spaghetti Swan, so much so that the boat strongly resembles, in shape and colours, the Nautor models of those years.”
The yard, three million lire, and the eternal comparison
Cantiere del Pardo was born in 1973 in Forlì, and its founding capital is almost an anecdote: Raul Gardini, the future head of the Ferruzzi empire and patron of Il Moro di Venezia, “lent” Giuseppe Giuliani three million lire. The first project was the Grand Soleil 34 by the Frenchman Jean-Marie Finot; the prototype GAP won the 1974 Mediterranean Championship, and the yard’s formula was fixed on the spot: a racing hull with cruising accommodation.
By 1983 the yard took stock. Market research showed that the Italian sailor liked, above all, “Swan-type aesthetics.” Production was reorganized on industrial lines, and three Jézéquel designs appeared almost at once: the 39, the 35 and the 46. The 39’s interior was drawn by Giorgio Zagatti, her deck by Giorgio Macchi.
What followed was a turbulent corporate life: the American fund Rhone Capital, Germany’s Bavaria, a concordato preventivo, the Trevisani family, a management buyout, the Wise Equity fund. Since 2023 Cantiere del Pardo has belonged to the Calzedonia group of Sandro Veronesi. Socks and swimwear bought a sailing legend. Giuliani himself is today co-owner of the rival yard Solaris, where, by the account of forum old-timers, a share of the old-school craftsmen followed him.
For the buyer of a vintage hull, one thing matters in all this saga: the 1983–1990 boats were built before every bankruptcy and change of hands, in the era the community itself calls golden.
Since 2022 the yard has run the Grand Soleil Vintage Cup, a regatta open only to boats designed before 2000. In 2026, thirty-nine crews entered in the Gulf of Trieste, with the GS 39 the largest class afloat. The yard’s vintage expert, Stefano Quaggiotti, sails his own GS 39 “Isolaria” of 1984, the eighteenth hull built, fresh from a deep refit. The owners are Italian almost to a man: at the fiftieth-anniversary regatta of 2023, out of 57 boats the only foreign entries were two Polish crews.
What kind of boat is this — if you’re seeing her for the first time
The Grand Soleil 39 is a 12.5-metre fiberglass cruiser-racer conceived in 1983 as the Italian answer to Swan. Three things set her apart from a boat in a charter catalogue.
She is seriously beautiful, and that is part of the price. Low, elegant freeboard, a teak deck as standard, the proportions of the classic IOR school: maximum beam gathered amidships, ends fine. Abroad they called her the Spaghetti Swan, and on a dock she still collects the kind of glances that production boats at her price never see.
She is fast in the old way. This is not a broad-sterned modern flyer. She loves light air, moves softly through a seaway, and makes her speed from the slip of a classic underbody rather than raw form stability. At vintage regattas she still finishes in the silverware.
She exists in four keel versions. A standard cast-iron fin; the widespread “maggiorato” in iron; a “maggiorato” in lead; and the rarest of all, the “supermaggiorato” with three sets of spreaders and a lead fin, of which three were built. Five further hulls were laid up in reinforced unidirectional laminate. For a buyer this is no museum footnote: the version determines stability, weight and price, and it must be established before the deal, not after.
More than two hundred hulls were built between 1983 and 1990. No exact factory figure has ever been published.
Living with her: voices from the Mediterranean
The GS 39 is a boat of her era: she rewards the crew that sails, and forgives less than a modern wide-bodied hull.
“Excellent behaviour at sea, very fast in light winds, stable and safe in squally weather. Slightly wet because of her lines... An excellent underbody, stable on every point of sail.”
His summary: a boat that “still wins races and excels as a cruiser.”
“On the one hand the GS 39 is a great boat: beautiful, fast and comfortable. On the other, I would not call her an ocean boat: she has low freeboard (at a dock she is always one of the lowest boats around), and she is a wet boat.”
The bow does bury. The Italian narrative of the model records honestly that her progress through waves is soft, though the bow digs in and sends water down the deck. That is the tax on fine IOR ends.
Below she is a family boat: nine berths in three cabins, with the joinery that made Cantiere del Pardo loved in the first place. The owners’ tone about it stays sober:
“I bought a used one recently... and I am happy with her, though I spent a fortune putting her in order.”
“Spent a fortune” is not a figure of speech here. It is a budget line, and we return to it in the survey section.
The wet boat debate: does wet mean unseaworthy?
The most quoted verdict on this boat was passed by a former owner. In 2020 a professional skipper named Luca, author of the blog Yamana.ch, was choosing his next boat and had the GS 39 on his shortlist, until a commenter called Enzo appeared with his line about low freeboard, a wet ride, and “not an ocean boat.” Luca thanked him and crossed the boat off: that, he wrote, is exactly why I dropped her. One comment cancelled a purchase, and it has circulated ever since as the boat’s final character reference.
But the argument has a second side, and it carries more weight than it first appears.
“Stable and safe in squally and rough weather.”
Cannarsa is not a forum romantic. He is a professional surveyor, a man paid to find what is wrong with boats, and his assessment matches the model’s editorial record: wet forward, yes; unstable or unsafe, no.
The honest takeaway for a buyer: both men are right, because they are talking about different things. The GS 39 is a low-freeboard boat with a bow that buries, and in fresh conditions there will be water on the foredeck. That is a fact of the design, not a defect of any given hull. Within her Mediterranean repertoire (coastal work, passages, a winter mistral) she is stable and safe, on the testimony of an owner-surveyor and forty years of fleet service. The boundary of the genre runs not through seaworthiness but through ambition: for ocean plans, look at another boat; for the Mediterranean, pack oilskins.
Buying a used Grand Soleil 39: problems and what to check
From here on, this dossier switches to survey mode. Print this section and take it to the boat.
The core of this section comes from the surveyor Davide Zerbinati, who has measured around twenty GS 39s. His list is worth a survey in itself.
Keel and hull version: question number one
Establish from the papers, before travelling: standard (iron), maggiorato in iron (the most common), maggiorato in lead, or supermaggiorato (three spreaders, lead, three examples built). Ask separately about the reinforced unidirectional layup: five hulls only.
Osmosis
The picture is mixed: some boats had it, others never did, and on late hulls the yard applied three coats of West System at build. Blister depth has typically been embryonic, but moisture readings and a haul-out inspection are non-negotiable. The orthophthalic resins of that era liked water.
Teak and balsa: the main budget line
The teak is screwed down, and beneath it, per Zerbinati, there is usually water infiltration into the balsa core, with possible delamination forward in the hatch-to-mast zone. Add leaks through the rivets under the toerail. Replacing the teak and repairing the sandwich is the exact line item on which Giovanni “spent a fortune.”
Impact history
The signature picture after a hard grounding: cracks on the galley furniture module and the aft section of the inner moulding coming unglued; in severe cases the aft part of the fin visibly shifts when the boat settles on blocks ashore. Check on the hard, before money moves.
Engine and drive
The known weakness is cooling. Most boats carry Volvo, a few the Perkins Prima. Zerbinati advises against the saildrive versions: prefer the shaft.
Asymmetry: a trait of the series, not a defect of the example
The hull plug was built of wood, and the two topsides of the series are not perfectly symmetrical: the boat sails slightly differently on each tack, and the deck may carry a faint lean. Pointless to bargain over, pointless to fear.
Tanks
The fuel tank appears in sources as 120, 160 or 200 litres, a spread that evidently tracks year and specification. Measure the actual boat; do not trust the listing. Water is around 440–450 litres in two central tanks.
For the sister GS 343, two clauses of her own
There, osmosis verges on mandatory: orthophthalic resin, with documented cases as early as three years after launch. Budget €5,000–10,000 for a full anti-osmosis cycle at Italian yard rates (€800–1,000 per metre of waterline). And one house quirk: every 343 heels slightly to starboard, most of all with the port-side water tank empty. Owners simply stow heavy gear to port.
Grand Soleil 39 price and market: vintage at the price of a new boat’s options
The GS 39 market is thin but alive: as this dossier went to press, four to five genuine vintage boats were listed, nearly all in Italy, one in France. The range runs from €45,000 to €72,000, the top figure for a 1987 hull with a 2007 teak deck and a freshly overhauled engine.
A decade of price history draws a clear curve. “Seven or eight years ago I was paying up to 80 thousand; today she buys between 35 and 50” (Zerbinati, 2017). “Well kept, around 40–45 thousand; neglected, easily 25–30” (Cannarsa, 2018). Asking prices of 2024–2026: 55 to 72 thousand. The bottom has passed. Vintage Grand Soleils are appreciating together with the cult of the Vintage Cup.
Two warnings. First: aggregators show “Grand Soleil 39” at €209,000–235,000; that is the modern 39 by Maletto (2011–2019), a different boat entirely, so filter by year. Second: the good hulls change hands inside the Italian community, through the regatta and marque-specialist brokers, before they ever reach a public listing.
The budget route into the same aesthetics is the sister GS 343: a market twice as lively (8–10 listings), a €30,000–49,000 spread with the body of it at 33–41. The practical ceiling from Italian experts: for a 343 in good order, do not pay above 60–65 thousand.
Market snapshot: August 2026. This section is updated with each revision.
Grand Soleil 39 vs X-Yachts, Swan and Beneteau: what buyers actually compare
X-Yachts X-402 / X-412 is the Danish answer to the same question. The X-402 (1984–1990, 79 hulls) is her direct contemporary and rival: stiffer, a surgical instrument of a boat, lead keel on a steel frame, today at €38,000–59,000. The X-412 is already post-IOR, the next generation and different money (roughly €100,000–185,000). The forum formula: X is engineering, Grand Soleil is aesthetics and joinery.
Swan 38 / 391 is the original she was copied from. The Swan 38 (S&S, 1974–1979, 116 hulls), at near-identical displacement, starts around €85,000 and climbs: a pedigree premium of roughly half again. Ron Holland’s Swan 391 is rare in Europe. The GS 39 buyer gets some eighty percent of the same boat for two thirds of the price, which was Giuliani’s business plan in the first place. A class above in the same waters sits the Swan 46, a boat with its own dossier in this canon.
Beneteau First 405 is the French classmate (Berret, 1985–1988, around 200 hulls of the 405E): roomier, with what the press called the interior of a 42-footer, plainer in finish, at €38,000–76,000. The volume choice against the niche one.
Dufour 39 is the comfortable IOR cruiser-racer of the same years, around 160 hulls, today near €45,000. Sources disagree on the designer (Frers versus Jézéquel); we leave that one open.
The choice formula as the forums put it: engineering rigor and post-racing stamina, X-Yachts; pedigree without compromise and with the premium to match, Swan; volume and simplicity at the same money, First 405; Italian aesthetics, joinery and a living community, Grand Soleil 39.
X-Yachts X-412
Open questions
This dossier doesn’t pretend to omniscience. The exact production run of the GS 39 is unknown: everyone repeats “more than two hundred,” and no factory figure exists in public. The fuel tank (120, 160 or 200 litres) is unresolved and apparently varies by year. The end date of GS 343 production (1996 versus “the late nineties”) remains undocumented, as does its run (“more than a hundred” is the only figure). And above all: no extended first-hand heavy-weather account of a 39 or 343 (bora, mistral, a winter Mediterranean passage) exists in the open record. Owner testimony from the Vintage Cup fleet will join the next revision.
Grand Soleil 39 specifications (Jézéquel, 1983–1990)
| Length overall | 12.50 m |
| Hull length | 11.98 m |
| Waterline length | 9.85 m |
| Beam | 3.76 m |
| Draft | 1.90 m |
| Displacement | 8,300 kg |
| Ballast | 3,400 kg (bulb fin) |
| Sail area (main + genoa) | 84.4 m² |
| Engine | Perkins 49 hp / Volvo ~43 hp |
| Fuel / water | 120–200 L (varies by year; measure) / 440–450 L |
| Keel versions | standard iron · maggiorato iron · maggiorato lead · supermaggiorato (3 built) |
| Built | "more than 200" (1983–1990; no exact figure published) |
FAQ
How much does a used Grand Soleil 39 cost?
The vintage 39 (1983–1990) currently lists between €45,000 and €72,000; a well-kept example targets €40,000–55,000, and neglected hulls have traded at €25,000–30,000. Don’t confuse her with the modern GS 39 (2011–2019) at €209,000–235,000.
What are the known problems of the Grand Soleil 39?
Water infiltration into the balsa core under the screwed-down teak, with possible delamination forward; variable osmosis (late hulls got factory West System); weak engine cooling; furniture cracks and inner-moulding separation after keel impacts; leaking toerail rivets.
Is the Grand Soleil 39 seaworthy?
For the Mediterranean, yes: an owner-surveyor calls her stable and safe in squalls. But the freeboard is low, the bow buries and the ride is wet, so the community does not recommend her for sustained ocean passages.
What are the versions of the Grand Soleil 39?
Four keel versions: standard cast iron, enlarged iron (the most common), enlarged lead, and the rare supermaggiorato with lead fin and three spreader sets (three built). Five additional hulls were laid up in reinforced unidirectional laminate.
Grand Soleil 39 or X-Yachts X-402?
The GS 39 offers the aesthetics, the teak deck, the joinery and a living Italian community with its own regatta. The X-402 offers engineering stiffness, a lead keel on a steel frame, and a slightly lower entry price. Both are honest IOR contemporaries; the choice is temperament, not quality.
Method: this dossier was assembled from the archives of the Italian sailing press (Giornale della Vela, Solovela, Bolina, Pressmare, Dotsail), the survey experience of Davide Zerbinati (~20 boats measured) and owner-surveyor Francesco Cannarsa, owner threads on Amici della Vela, Hisse-et-Oh and Yamana.ch, Grand Soleil Vintage Cup records 2022–2026, and Italian marketplace listings and archives 2017–2026. Quotes are translated from Italian and French with meaning preserved. Where sources disagree, we either resolved the conflict with data or left it honestly open. Owner interviews are underway; their testimony will join the next revision.