The Italian boat that beat (again) the French at the Marseille International Week

For the second time in a row, Gianni Di Vincenzo’s Ker 46 Lisa R triumphed at the Semaine Nautique Internationale de la Méditerranée in Marseille: the crew of the 72-year-old owner from Pescara won the week of offshore racing (this year there were 93 boats at the start in the various categories) in the IRC 0/1 class.

Lisa R strong in Marseille, what a duel!

It was not an easy regatta, with seven races sailed and one day skipped due to too much wind: the boys of Lisa R (skipper Francesco Bertone) played it out in a no-holds-barred duel with Frenchman Julien Llorca’s Team Guenifey, a very fast TP52. But the Italians, after a start with a bang, a moment of defaillance and a great “comeback” in the last four races (partials of 1-7-14-1-2-1-2) managed to come out on top, albeit on equal points.

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We are familiar with Gianni Di Vincenzo and his attitude that has led him to win so much in recent years on the high seas. Things are either done well or not done. That, in a very brief way, was his philosophy. And to think that he had started from the world of cruising…. Here is what he had told us some time ago, after a second place in the Giraglia (already won in 2022), winning the Three Gulfs and the Round Eolian Race.

How to win regattas. Gianni Di Vincenzo’s recipe

Let’s start from a distance. What was your first contact with the sea?

I am from Pescara, so on the sea I was born there. I have always practiced sailing, drifting, but never competitively. For that I had to wait so long.

How much?

It was 2005 or thereabouts. I bought my first sailboat, a First 44, with which I began to participate in my first regattas in the Adriatic as well as cruising. The passion for competition came out little by little, and it finally exploded in 2013, when I took part in the World Offshore Championship in Ancona.

After the First 44?

X-41 arrived. A more “pulled” boat than the First 44, but still allowed me some family outings. We took some great satisfaction: above all, winning the 151 Miglia in 2017…

In the meantime, an important meeting took place, for your “sailing” growth….

Francesco Bertone arrived on board (currently aboard Lisa R he is a tactician, ed.). Genovese, fortissimo. It was a fortunate and “natural” encounter; he replaced me during a championship in which I could not participate in all the trials. I was struck by his being very demanding of himself and others around him. I decided he was the right person to grow the team.

In 2018, the X-41 was a tight fit for you….

There was something we were looking for. That something was represented by offshore regattas. Those that I think represent the pure pleasure of sailing and the sense of adventure. It remained to figure out which was the right boat.

For two seasons, from 2018 to 2020, we leased a Reichel-Pugh 45, Lisa K, with which we cut our teeth in offshore sailing. We realized that yes, the big step was within our grasp. So three years ago we bought the Ker 46 (14.01 m, designed by Jason Ker, wizard of fast hulls and former designer in America’s Cup Shosholoza): Lisa R. Perhaps the best purchase we could have made.

Why?

If it is not the perfect boat, it is very close. It was launched in 2015, and in France, when we got it, it had already won a lot. It goes great in all paces. Lightweight and well-sailed, in breezes it walks like a charm, and its easy glide makes it perform well even when the wind picks up: it is at its best especially in the carriers, where it has an edge over other boats. I like to call it a drift, or rather, a “pantographic drift.” With her came the Giraglia victory, the third place at the Middle Sea, the victory at the Three Gulfs, the second place a few days ago at the Giraglia, “lost” by a fluke…

Continued growth.

This is what gives me the most satisfaction. We have built a close-knit crew, where there may not be any big-name names, but just very good sailors and sailors.

All professionals?

Almost. To date, 10 out of 12 people aboard Lisa R are professional sailors…

Like a soccer team! But the good old “Corinthian” spirit (i.e., no professionals on board, ed.)?

I-and I’m just speaking for myself, I don’t want to be a guru-like to do things right. The boat is perfect and top-of-the-line technology (think that when it was purchased it had as many as 45 sails in it, full-carbon solutions, and the wheel rudder that disassembles and can be replaced with the tiller for stick racing, ed.), it would be wasted on an amateur crew. I am a pragmatic man, so let’s try to put it in “economic” terms. In terms of time, it “costs” much more to train a crew from scratch than it does to have a team of professionals who immediately adapt to the situations on board…

Your three secrets to building a winning team.

It ties back to what I was saying. The first, precisely, is the team itself. We welcome professionals, but they must be the “right” ones. If the group blends well and you can create a shared and favorable spirit, you are already halfway there. Having people on board who work with a purpose and believe in the project, and not simply because they have to do it, is the real secret. I am not a big fan of the “big name” names in sailing. Too many roosters in the henhouse doesn’t work… Getting even more specific, to build a good crew you need to find two right people in key roles. Have a team leader, who is able to point you toward a path of growth (and I found that in Francis) and a good boat captain who manages the boat in transfers and schedules its maintenance. In our case, we have Piero Riccetti who is very good. Nothing has ever been broken since he has been there. Trust me, this is no small thing.

The last “secret,” which I experienced on my own skin, was the good fortune of having chosen the right boats on my path to competitive growth: first the First 44, the perfect boat to start with, even in cruising. Then the X-41, the right mix of racing and cruising. The RP 45, the “gym” for Offshore sailing and finally the Ker 46, my ultimate boat. What could be next? A TP52?

But a nice cruise barge, no?

I love to race, for now cruising boats no thanks, although I like to go on vacations by boat. This summer, for example, I am chartering an ultra-comfortable and nice slow sailing catamaran. If I’m going to go on a cruise, I might as well go as comfortably as possible. So much for fine tuning and “trim” (laughs, ed.).

Your favorite places when you go on a boating vacation?

Croatia, the Aegean islands and-though I love it less lately-Ionian Greece…

What do you recommend to people who want to start offshore racing?

Don’t be in a hurry. Don’t look for results right away; the best things come by themselves, and as I once told a journalist interviewing me after we had won a regatta, “sometimes it can happen.” Invest time and resources in data analysis, “go to school” and learn as much as you can. Sooner or later something will come!

Why Lisa?

Lisa, as in Lisa Simpson. In my family, my children and I, we are huge Simpsons fans. In the afternoon, right after lunch, they were a regular fixture.

On board, in the regatta, lucky objects, rituals?

None of this, I am not superstitious….

Acknowledgements?

To the Lisa R crew of course…