The three friends behind the 100% Italian Route du Rhum boat.

As we await the departure of the Route du Rhum we tell you an Italian story. 100%. That of the three friends (one well known, the others soon will be) Ambrogio Beccaria, Gianluca Guelfi and Edoardo Bianchi. Friends in their college days and who now with the Class 40 AllaGrande are the architects of the all-Italian project and among the most ambitious and “out of the chorus,” with its round bow and “flat” hull, of the regatta (3,542 miles solo nonstop from St. Malo in Brittany to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, one of the most epic challenges in Atlantic sailing).

• Read also: AllaGrande, what a boat Beccaria’s bolide is.

Who is behind Beccaria’s boat?

Well, “Alla Grande Pirelli,” conceived and built “on the skipper” like a tailored suit, is the result of a titanic work in which skipper Ambrogio Beccaria, the first and only winner of the Mini Transat (2019) involved two university classmates, Gianluca Guelfi and Edward Bianchi, friends with whom he shared the Naval Engineering degree program at the Marconi Pole in La Spezia. All three of them, from those university desks set off on brilliant nautical careers made up of foreign trips, prestigious collaborations, successful experiments and ambitious entrepreneurial projects.

But they did not lose their way, and when it came to joining forces to attempt a new challenge, they did not think twice. They certainly make a nice trio: Ambrose the talented navigator, Gianluca the designer with a penchant for the ocean, and Edoardo the builder “sick” of foils and speed. All three form the “core team” behind the Class 40 “Alla Grande” and being Italian they also represent a perfect example of “Made in Italy” in the field of ocean sailing. In fact, it is actually an ‘extended’ trio because Fabio d’Angeli, Guelfi’s partner and co-designer of the boat, is also very Italian.

A scary Italian “dream team”

It had been since Pasquale De Gregorio took part in the Vendée Globe in 2001 with his Imoca 60 “Wind” and since Andrea Mura won the Route du Rhum in 2014 with the Open 50 “Vento di Sardegna,” both designed by Umberto Felci, that a 100 percent boat had not appeared at the start of an ocean race. Amazingly, this is only the third time with the Beccaria-Guelfi-Bianchi team. And do you want to know why this new young trio can be really dangerous for opponents? About Beccaria, a Milanese, we have already written a lot. At 31 years of age that he is a champion says so on his own sailing palmares. But the other two?

Route du Rhum – Gianluca Guelfi, raised on bread and hydrodynamics

Gianluca Guelfi (born in Tuscany in 1988) was born with the Class 40s on which he set his thesis in his college days: he had been pining to put more volume on the bow of this 12.19-meter ocean class. A concept that was then systematically applied to the entire fleet in the following years. But above all, Gianluca learned all he could about these boats from Bert Mauri, an out-of-the-ordinary craftsman and composite specialist who was the real “daddy” of all Italian Class 40s.

Later Guelfi moved between Lorient and La Rochelle, France. Here he worked with master Marc Lombard and meanwhile frequented the Mini 6.50 environment, made up of many enthusiasts and small, super-tech boats often thought of at the pub and built in the garage.

After that, he and other colleagues founded a scientific research company, A2V, serving workboats that exploit the efficiency of aerodynamics to improve energy performance. One of its prototypes, within a few months of being designed, was chosen by shipowner Peschaud International and immediately put into service in Gabon. Gianluca Guelfi still lives in France and after making “Alla Grande” in collaboration with partner Fabio d’Angeli, he has just finished designing a new Mini 6.50 Proto to be raced in the ocean.

Route du Rhum- Edoardo Bianchi, that innate taste for speed

Edoardo Bianchi is also a pretty good head, with a love of speed carved into his DNA. Born in Varese, Italy in 1985, but a native of Genoa in his own right, he was a two-time Olympian on the Tornadoes (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympics).

But most importantly for his dissertation, he embarked on a crazy venture: the design and construction of Whites Dragons, a flying catamaran with V foils inspired by 1950s prototypes and a rotating mast capable of speeding across the water at over 30 knots. A crazy project that lasted several years and in which he involved yacht clubs, nautical companies and Ligurian craftsmen.

And that not only earned him top honors at graduation, but also opened the doors to the prestigious Persico Marine shipyard where he worked as Project Leader and with which he built the Italian AC75 that raced the 36th America’s Cup.

After that, Edoardo struck out on his own, founding San Giorgio Marine in Genoa, a newly established company that is already a reality of excellence in composite machining and offers service and support for sports sailboats of the highest level.

I mean did you understand? Ambrose, Gianluca and Edward are all three tireless and ambitious great professionals who manage to combine passion for sailing, marine engineering and practical applications. We’ll wait to see what “Alla Grande” will be up to in this Route du Rhum, but for these guys the challenge is certainly already won.

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