Nanook and Bruma Fugit, a story of passion signed by alpa

Procida, an island of literature, history and memory, the island of a time long ago, with the bays cleared, with then only goiters to populate its shores and beaches… An island, too, where tales and stories are not necessarily written; at least not always, not right away. Like this story of two Alpa 11.50s meeting; in reality, it is a far more complex and articulated story. A story of passions, paths and growth. The story of Nanook and of Bruma Fugit, the first and the last Alpa 11.50 produced, respectively. And it is in Procida, at the Vela Cup 2024, where we discovered her, that this story finds its genesis…

Nanook and Bruma Fugit, a will signed alpa

It is 1979, Renato Sesto Conte and his brother Claudio Settimo Conte have a clear agenda in mind, to bring a dream to life. They have recently built a plywood Promenade (6-meter daysailer), but the lure of the sea is too strong and the limitations of the small Promenade are being felt. The solution is one, in partnership with Maria Luisa (Claudio’s girlfriend), buy an Alpa 11.50. To raise the necessary sum for the purchase, they will sell “future vacations” to friends, boat cruises for summers to come. The plan works and, in 1979, they become the owners of Nanook. It is the first Alpa 11.50, launched in 1971. In 1980, Nanook is in Naples, refitted properly. Then the small sailings to Procida, the island where they grew up, their mother’s island. Everything, however, begins with the summer of 1980, the summer of Greece… A story that will carry through to 2024, with the meeting of the first and the last Alpa 11.50 and several generations.

Mediterranean

After the christening, the first real cruise for Nanook has Greece as its destination. The idea is to explore the Mediterranean, changing crew every two weeks, to fulfill agreements made with friends in raising the capital for the purchase. A summer at sea that brings experience and practicality, creating a bond with the hull. Nanook will return to Naples only for the winter. Summer ’81 looks instead to Sardinia, Corsica, and the Tuscan islands. The memory is striking: ports often empty, only fishermen and little more, sometimes another boat at anchor, often none. The places at transit always free, for free. Imagine Sardinia empty in summer… It is, however, 1982 that provides the real kick in the pants.

Renato is in New York on business when the dream, the need to leave, returns. He will return to Naples with nautical charts worth a million liras, from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean. Faced with this idea, Claudio (5 years younger) turns out to be enthusiastic. He was, by now, a full-time sailor and he would be the commander of the “expedition.”

Atlantic

It is now October 1983. Nanook is ready. The first Alpa 11.50 puts the bow towards the Balearic Islands, Mahon, then Gibraltar. On board are Renato, Claudio, Malò (Maria Luisa) and friends Sergio and Peppe, the latter of whom will disembark in the Canary Islands.

October and November are the Mediterranean months, those of the route to Gibraltar. Here the real first gale, with 72 knots under gust, fortunately tackled in port. The next morning the only weather window presents itself. Nanook will spend Christmas in the Atlantic. The route is pretty much the standard one: Gibraltar-Canary in 7/8 days at sea, a month’s stay, and then departure from Gomera, like Columbus, with heading over Martinique. The only instruments on board are compass, watch and sextant.

“On the route of Christopher Columbus, with his “Logbook” that served, throughout the voyage, as a portolano, a guide, and an inspiration. Exceptional pilot book that of Columbus, fascinating and still very valid, with the Admiral’s detailed and acute observations of the Great Ocean Sea, the surprise and wonder of discovering that in 500 years little has changed in the Open Sea. The Ocean, until the sighting of land, has remained the same. […] Only when you get close enough to recognize the first constructions do you return to your time in 1984!”

(excerpted from: Stamane c’è ancora vento – a writing by Renato Sesto Conte)

The crossing is in fact fast, it is April and the Trade Wind is sustained. Canary Islands-Martinica in 17 days, average speed, 6.5 knots….

“Perhaps I begin to understand, that sense of emptiness in sighting land, a feeling that is hard to explain and perhaps even harder to understand, but to the immense joy of having succeeded in our small undertaking of having organized and experienced everything by ourselves, boat, route, navigation, friends, goal, and everything perfectly succeeded… well, to the achievement of the goal, to the pride mixed with happiness you feel a certain sense of emptiness, which is not only the ” but how it is already over”….. is something deeper, to come is a bit like dying.”

(excerpted from: Stamane c’è ancora vento – a writing by Renato Sesto Conte)

From Martinique they wander the Caribbean, then the crew splits up. Claudio and Malò will remain on board, Renato returns to Naples, to marry his first wife, who had not been able to join them. Honeymoon aboard, because, on the Nanook’s way back, they will embark on the Azores with Claudio and Malò to return to Procida. She, a non-sailor, learns everything necessary en route. The boat will winter there. Before the marina, first of all…. It was the only sailboat in Procida harbor…. It’s 1984. Life, then, would bring marriages, children, and everything else that would happen over the next two decades, a succession of summer cruises for Nanook, with the deck also trodden by 6 children at a time. For another 20 years the boat accompanied Renato, both with his first son, Moreno Ivan, and the next two, Ferdinand Azor and Alexander Primo. Until 2005. Crack, the year when something begins to break.

Earth

In 2005, now with her miles under her keel, Nanook is tried by the years. She is grounded for a complete refit, but it is actually the beginning of her decline. The shipyard, shortly after work was set, goes bankrupt, then, in 2007, Renato’s stroke, the radical change of life. Naples is left behind for Cilento. In 2010, Claudio, younger brother and companion in life and adventures, is missing. Nanook is abandoned, the years wear it down and vandals loot it, even stealing its engine. Nearly 10 years will pass before anything moves….

It is the turn of Moreno Ivan Conte, Renato’s eldest son. When he finds Nanook it is covered by vegetation, totally abandoned. A shell in a forest of lichens and branches. After a series of misadventures with different construction sites, the solution seems to be to take care of it himself. He becomes an electrician, carpenter and whatnot. In 2019, however, a discovery leads to the new turning point. In bocca di Magra, on the border between Liguria and Tuscany, Moreno discovers an Alpa 11.50 for sale and has Renato accompany him to see it. It is his meeting with Francesco, the shipowner, that turns the whole thing around. Nanook’s stories lead to discovery, Bruma Fugit, the Alpa in question, is the latest in the series, coincidence….

Rebirth

Two calculations in mind, one-fifth of the pension, it should work… Renato, without saying anything, without letting on, immediately proposes a figure. Everything on board is in good shape, Bruma Fugit is in good shape. It should be a good buy. And so it is. Suddenly there are two Alpas in the family, the first and last ever produced. Nanook is symbolically sold to Moreno, and Nanook remains in the yard on the Magra, awaiting relocation. If it were not for the Covid, everything moves…, then the case work, the extended timeline, and the relocation. Finally it is time for their first meeting, Bruma Fugit and Nanook cross paths at sea for the first time at the Vela Cup, in Procida, where everything, perhaps, can be said to have begun.

“It’s a bit of a testament to the quality of the Alpas, the 11.50s especially, if you will. We have never felt betrayed by these boats, never a problem. One maybe, this summer, the first time I sailed without garrocci, a disaster with the furler…. Apart from that mishap, I am very attached to that beauty, to the elegance that only boats of that period can have. And then it is a testament to so many things, the passions, the adventures, the lessons. I never taught my children anything. They, being close to me, learned by playing with me on these toys of mine, and now, all of them, I see them giving this beauty back to me.”

Thus ends our interview with di Renato Sesto Conte, the tale of a story that began in the late 1970s and is far from over. A monument in which to read at the same time both the celebration of an emblematic shipyard(You can find its history here) and an endless passion, about a story of exploration and sharing that, all things considered, could be a source of inspiration for many. There is no such thing as an old boat; the limit lies in the amount of passion it takes to fix them.

“But how much does such a trip cost?” …Wrong question or, at the very least, an unnecessary one.
Cost Everything. For us in those years the sailing trip, with “our boat,” was worth everything. All our time, all our energy, all our effort, all our resources and still all our money. In a word, all our monothematic or monomaniacal passion, so whatever we spent on the boat, we spent it contentedly and happily being in what we felt we were and only indulging our deepest need for fantasy; and that is no small thing.”

(excerpted from: Stamane c’è ancora vento – a writing by Renato Sesto Conte)

Three “tidbits” about Classic Boats

• Want to learn more about the world of Classic Boats (1967-1998), the iconic boats of the period, the legendary designers, the stories and races of the “golden age” of sailing? Check out our section dedicated to Classic Boats!
• Do you have a Classic Boat to sell? Put it (for free) on our classifieds market!
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