Paolo Rizzi: “Me, commuter of the oceans.”

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Paul (1)Itcan only be a life at sea and for the sea, that of a man who has more than 200,000 miles on his shoulders in a boat. Born Oct. 5, 1959, in Trieste, Italy, Paolo Rizzi gets on board from an early age: “My parents,” he says, “were great sailing enthusiasts. Already at the age of 3 I was together with them roaming the coasts of the former Yugoslavia on a 5.50 International Tonnage, the Vento Fresco I.” As soon as his age allows, Rizzi takes the path that joins him with so many sailors of his generation, boarding Optimist, Cadet, Flying Junior and 470 at the Trieste Sailing Society.

The Cool Wind, New Optimist project by Dick Carter
The Cool Wind, New Optimist project by Dick Carter

WHY KEEP UP WITH THE TIMES?
In the late 1960s, Rizzi’s family decided to purchase a New Optimist 38, IOR third class designed by Dick Carter, renamed Vento Fresco II: “With this boat we won the Adriatic Championship and in 1973 the Barcolana,” Rizzi recalls, “then we failed to adapt (nor did we want to) to the evolution that was sweeping the yachting world, which was becoming more and more competitive, becoming more passionate about long sailings and entering a cruise-exploratory dimension.” Rizzi begins to grind out miles, entertaining the possibility of becoming a professional skipper.

Paul (6)BIRTH OF A “FAMILY GRINDER”
In 1980, on behalf of a private individual, he was in the Bahamas as commander (along with Franco Barovina) of the 80-foot trimaran Great Britain III
: “At just 20 years old, I was the skipper of what was then the largest trimaran in the world. I was on board for four months, shuttling between Palm Beach, Florida, and the Bahamas.” Paul makes his bones and is ready for his first, big adventure: “The opportunity presented itself in 1983 with the arrival in my city of an Italian-Australian shipowner, with Trieste roots, who wanted to bring his boat, the Sabaloo, a 15-meter sloop designed by Laurent Giles, from Trieste to Melbourne. Together with two other people we left for Australia via the Panama Canal, arriving in 1984. Sixteen thousand miles, I had fulfilled a dream I had nurtured since childhood: that of being able to sail freely, without ranking ambitions, having care and respect for the surrounding nature.”

Paolo Rizzi with his mother Angela at the start of the 1985 Brooklyn Cup
Paolo Rizzi with his mother Angela at the start of the 1985 Brooklyn Cup

THE CHALLENGES IN THE MID-1980S
In 1985, Paolo accomplished another feat: together with his mother Angela, he participated on the Vento Fresco II in the unique, legendary edition of the Brooklin Cup, the first Italian transoceanic regatta desired by Giorgio Falck, from Portofino to New York: “I was 26, she was 52. In the boat an even stronger relationship was strengthened than the one we already had: there was no secret between us. We came first in our category, and we were the smallest boat!” Not to be missed, Rizzi immediately brings the boat back to Trieste once the race is over. In ’87, again with Vento Fresco, he was on the second ARC, which at that time started in the Canary Islands but arrived in Barbados; in ’88 he brought the boat back from the Caribbean to Trieste. The same year (still on his trusty sloop), he completed another feat: in 52 days he made the nonstop crossing from Tortola (British Virgin Islands) to Trieste, together with his friend Massimo Fonda: “Those six thousand miles were a challenge to ourselves.”

Schermata-2014-09-29-a-16.09.48THE WHITBREAD PARENTHESIS
Paolo Rizzi’s name is beginning to circulate in the world of “sailing that matters.”
“I was summoned by the famous Trieste skipper Daniele Degrassi on Giorgio Falck’s Gatorade, to participate in the 1989/90 edition of Whitbread (round-the-world stage sailing, ed.): I followed the entire preparation of the boat from Sangermani in Liguria, took part in the Ruta de Descubrimiento (from Cadiz to San Salvador), the transfer from St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, to Lavagna, and the first stage of Whitbread, from Southampton to Punta del Este.” In Uruguay he decided to disembark: “I had started on board as a shift leader along with Guido Maisto, but a crew member was injured and I was demoted to the role of radio coordinator. Somewhat disappointed, I decided to quit.”


930618-The-Small.SAVED BY A MIRACLE IN THE ATLANTIC

The following years are a succession of ocean crossings: on May 12, 1993, he and his friend Andrea Pribaz are returning from the Caribbean on the Vento Fresco II. 700 miles from the Azores the two are hit by a gale (with winds over 60 knots): “The waves mounted quickly until they reached 50 feet high,” Rizzi says, “a breaker lifted us from the stern and the wave broke over us, ripping me from the helm. Once I peeped out of the water, I saw the boat capsized.. Fortunately by clinging to bando lines I was able to climb back on board. Cool Wind was torn apart, we had to get on the raft. There was no time to make romantic assessments; we had to save ourselves.

The emergency radio created by Rizzi after the 1993 Atlantic shipwreck: the Trieste native took advantage of patches he had on his life raft and the light bulb cord of his life jacket to create a radio link with batteries that were not compatible with the device, managing to intercept an airliner.
The emergency radio created by Rizzi after the 1993 Atlantic shipwreck: the Trieste native took advantage of patches he had on his life raft and the light bulb cord of his life jacket to create a radio link with batteries that were not compatible with the device, managing to intercept an airliner.

The radio had no batteries. I was able to connect it to batteries by creating a radio link with patches and the light bulb cable from the life jacket (pictured opposite). We stayed adrift for 7 days, when we saw a ship on the horizon I tried to tune to emergency channel 121.5. They replied. But not from the ship, but from an airliner that was flying over the area at an altitude of 10,000 meters. The pilot communicated our coordinates to the U.S. Coast Guard, which diverted to us the Alidon, a Cypriot freighter that was sailing from North Carolina to Scotland.” In Trieste the two, given up for dead, return as heroes. Rizzi two years after losing the family boat returned to ocean crossings. To date, as documented on his website www.atlanticvertigo.com, he has completed 17. And you can rest assured that it will not stop there.

 

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