Bissaro-Sicouri, it’s still gold in Kiel! Our interview to get to know the champions

There is a losing Italy, amid locker room brawls, controversy, resignations, accusations of racism. And there is one that wins, even if it is outside the mainstream channels. It is sailing Italy represented by Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri, who also at the Kieler Woche, the German “classic” for Olympic sailing, confirmed their place on the world roof. After winning two of the three legs of the ISAF Sailing World Cup (and taking a silver), and Garda Trentino Olympic Week, the two “flying engineers” also triumphed in Germany among the Nacra 17s. There seem to be no rivals for the two boys at the international level-the only real competition will be internal, as Lorenzo Bressani and Giovanna Micol are also starting to perform well (in fact, they finished in third place in Kiel).

THE SKETCH OF THE SAMPLES
But who are Bissaro and Sicouri? Let’s get to know them in their fine interview with us, published in the June Sailing Newspaper:

When we call to interview them they have just returned to land from the second day of Garda Trentino Olympic Week in Malcesine, which will see them triumph with a day to spare. This is not surprising since, Data and ISAF ranking in hand, Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri are the strongest pair in the world aboard the Nacra 17, the new mixed class of Olympic catamarans. They are rightly called the “Flying Engineers.”: Vittorio, born in 1987, from Verona, has a master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering, Silvia, born in Genoa in the same year (her father was the great sailor Pierre Sicouri) is a management engineer, complete with an honors degree. Both studied at the Milan Polytechnic, both are aces on catamarans (Silvia won the F16 Worlds in 2011, Vittorio took a bronze among the F18s in the same season but was also a rainbow winner among the Juniors the previous year): their mutual (sailing, let’s be clear) passion blossomed early. ““Silvia and I,” says Vittorio, “first went on a boat together during the Thousand and One Sails, organized by the Polytechnic in 2011, and we went really strong. From there, the idea of coming together for an important goal was born.” When asked about the nature of the goal, Silvia replied, “A medal in the Olympics.” What color? “You can’t tell.” Matter of superstition.

FROM STUDENT WORKERS TO “TOP” SAILORS
Now the Bissaro and Sicouri team is devoted exclusively to the Nacra 17: and to think that both boys had brilliant working careers ahead of them. Vittorio in 2009 collaborated with Giorgio Provinciali together with the VPLP studio to track the polars of the Imoca 60 Foncia, racer at the 2011 Barcelona World Race; Silvia has worked since 2010 in K7, a company that deals with the management of hydroelectric power plants. “Now we don’t have the time to work anymore,” says Bissaro, “this is what we do, fortunately we have families who have decided to support us out of the box and the Italian Sailing Federation (as well as large draught of sponsors) who believe in us.” A job that the two sailors do very well: in 2014 alone, they won two out of three legs of the ISAF World Sailing Cup (Miami and Hyeres, while in Palma they took silver), confirming their position at the top of the Nacra 17 world rankings. But the Flying Engineers like to fly low: “These are good results”-this is still Vittorio speaking-“but they are only small steps in a journey that began in 2012 and will end in 2016. We keep trying to improve, learning from our mistakes: to lie down on our laurels would be to give up.”

WE ARE TWO “CONSERVATIVES”

Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri’s way of racing has been called “conservative”: “In the regattas we do,” Silvia explains, “we can usually only count on one discard, so we take to the water with the knowledge that every single race is crucial: so we are not always aiming to win it, but to be consistent, in the top five positions. By virtue of this, we are working hard on the speed of the boat: if we have the ability to sail free and race ‘with ease,’ we are unlikely to come in behind.” Moreover, they never give up: in Hyères they won gold in a comeback after a disqualification obtained for an early start with a black flag: “The most exciting moment of my sailing career”-reveals Silvia-“because we really played it with the knife between our teeth.” “I, on the other hand, will always remember the Miami gold,” – Vittorio echoes – “the first gold you never forget.”

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MIXED CLASS

What does it mean to go boating together with a partner of the opposite sex? “First of all”-Silvia began-“there is a great advantage: males are simple, everything is clear with them. It is we women, often, who close in on ourselves making communication difficult: and on board, communication is everything. With Vittorio it is easy to solve problems.” Then he jokes, “There’salso a disadvantage: in the water, I can’t ask him for the analgesic, Pink Moment, at certain times!“. Bissaro: “Silvia and I in ‘city’ life do not see each other too often, we are not engaged. This helps us feel like seeing each other on the remaining 250 days of the year-a big plus. And I will add one more: do not believe that together with a woman you cannot reach the same level of competitiveness as with a male partner. Silvia is as much a racing beast as I am!“. Another striking detail about the pair is that the more “placed” Vittorio is at the helm, while Silvia is bowman: “We got along well like this in 2011, why change?” wonders Vittorio. “The girls have shown that they can handle the drudgery of the bow in defiance of those federations, such as the Dutch, that have wanted to establish fixed women’s/men’s bow roles at all costs: if we go and look at the podiums of the last ISAF World Cup stages, they all consist of teams with a woman bowwoman.” We conclude by asking the children which one is their myth sailor: “I choose Checco Bruni,” Silvia replies, “because of his versatility and because he is a beautiful person. “Mine is Nathan Outteridge (the Australian who won gold in the 49er at London 2012), because if you win the Olympics a day early, you’ve figured out something no one else had figured out.” Up front just like Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri at Garda Olympic Week. Sign of destiny?