Farewell to Starkel, the planner with the D’Alema curse.

During the holiday season from a trivial accident in the mountains Roberto Starkel, one of Italy’s great designers, passed away at the age of 63. He became famous to the general public and ended up on television and on the covers of gossip weeklies for designing Ikarus, the 60-footer of politician Massimo D’Alema. But Starkel should be remembered for more than that, dozens of boats that made Italian sailing history. Passionate about sailing since he was a young boy when he went on the Flying Junior, a son of the great sailing tradition of Trieste, where he was born and had his studio.

The following is a reprint of the article published in Trieste’s Il Piccolo newspaper by Francesca Capodanno, which lovingly and accurately chronicles Roberto’s sailing career.

Perhaps the best way to remember a designer is to name his boats one by one. They parade from memory the fast Trappola, the historic Serbidiola (seven-and-a-half meters, fourth at the Barcolana so many years ago), the small Pink Storm, and then G.Race, but-above all-Bludi Moro, one of the most beautiful boats of the 1990s. And this is only for local and made-in-Trieste boats. The others, sailing and motoring, sail all over the Italian seas and abroad, all bound together by an elegant and classic design, but with a racing heart.

Roberto Starkel, a ship designer, diver and hiking enthusiast, took it from the mountains on Boxing Day. Nothing less nautical in this untimely death, which shook the entire sailing world yesterday.

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Having graduated in naval engineering in 1977, Roberto Starkel had opened “Studio Starkel” in Trieste in 1982: nautical design had begun in the most natural way, in the Gulf and with sailboats, later expanding to other areas, particularly motoryachts and motorboats, to follow the market. Starkel was one of the first people from Trieste to “come out of his shell,” designing hulls in the 1980s and 1990s for non-local shipowners and shipyards: he was an innovator, a lover of technology, research and development: very focused on his work, he did not like labels. Many young naval engineers and architects have practiced in his offices, and many young people have been inspired by him to create a similar model: freelancers, designers ready to be on the market as freelancers, to approach large shipyards.

Not an easy market, which Roberto Starkel had chosen to attack from Trieste, while constantly moving around to follow the realization of his projects. But the Trieste sea was a testing ground: using design technology to make boats that were fast and “Adriatic,” thus light for the little wind, and with very tall masts to be able to catch the gusts. This is the case of Pink Storm, a barque that for more than two decades dominated the Barcolana in the smallest class, holding its own over time against all opponents equal in length for speed, and it is the case of boats that have written pages of local sailing history in Trieste: from the Serbidiola to G.Race, to the very fast Trappola, virtually invincible in the Gulf for years.

The pursuit of speed in any kind of boat was somewhat of a trademark: even in cruising-oriented hulls, Starkel sought (and found) performance. This very feature had attracted then Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema, who had his 60-foot Ikarus designed by Starkel: a successful project on the threshold of the 2000s, replicated in multiple examples. Then, motorsailers and power hulls: a move “beyond sailing” that Starkel had made by following the market, staying colaced with new trends, working in particular as the designer of some of Maxi Dolphin’s most beautiful, elegant, fast, and high-performance motor models.

Then, if you asked him what he had in his heart-with all those speedboats, but also steamboats, and rigid-keel dinghies-he would say it was sailboats, and one in particular. A father does not make distinctions, it is true, but that Moro Blue had remained in his heart. That beautiful fast yet comfortable, 52-foot elegant sailboat, made in the 1990s in Cervia from laminated wood, and taken many times to race in the Gulf. Those were the years of yachting, the years of wealthy and enthusiastic owners: of that boat, and along with that of only one other, Starkel kept the scale model at home, perhaps as a reminder of a great achievement, and a great crew that had remained in his heart.

Francesca Capodanno

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