Twenty years ago the feat of Ciccio Manzoli. The printer who won the Ostar

On June 16, 2005, exactly 20 years, for the first time Italy won the Ostar, the epic solo ocean crossing from Plymouth to Newport, 3,000 miles in the North Atlantic. Ciccio Manzoli, aboard his self-built trimaran Cotonella, crossed the finish line in Newport after 17 days, 21 hours and 44 minutes, making history.

On Saturday, June 21, at 6 p.m., at the Europa Hotel in Rapallo, we commemorate and celebrate 20 years of Manzoli’s feat, in his presence (info and reservations: segreteria@circolonauticorapallo.it). Because, as we tell you, it was a real feat.

Ciccio Manzoli, the first Italian to win the Ostar

“Stop the presses! An Italian has won the Ostar, in defiance of the British and French: his name is Franco “Ciccio” Manzoli” we wrote in 2005 about Ciccio, then 49, playful face, a family of printers behind him.

On his fourth attempt, he triumphed in the toughest and most famous of ocean races: how did he do it? He self-built a very fast trimaran 14 meters long and almost 12 meters wide, Cotonella Tri, with the invaluable help of a drawing program lent to him by Claudio Maletto and the collaboration of sailmaker Francesco Mura.

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Fat the Loner

It is 1992 and Franco comes into contact with Franco Malingri who, eager to try his hand at the Ostar (the world’s most famous solo transatlantic race, ed.), wanted to propose to a sponsor the creation of an Italian team to participate in the striking and important offshore race.

The series of boats will be called Moana 27 and will be entrusted to our country’s most talented sailors. The ‘deal falls through, however, and Malingri has to give up on his ambitious project, selling the series of boats. One of these is purchased by Franco who, although it is his first experience, and having at his disposal a standard boat of only 9 meters, manages to place third in his class.

“The coolest thing was to be huddled in the cockpit eating pasta and beans thinking that what I was doing was really cool. Since it was so cool and I certainly wasn’t sailing in gold,” Fatty continued, “I decided to turn back as cheaply as I could, turned the bow and pointed toward home.” In ’96 Franco tried again with the Adventure 30 boat, placing fourth and noticing something that struck him: “among the waves I saw a 28-foot multihull spinning like lightning. I decided to contact Malingri to design one for the next edition. Unfortunately, the class was suppressed and I sold the catamaran.”

The Cotonella Adventure

It’s time to bring in an important character in this tale, Leonardo Servi, a man with a big soul, who decided to embark on Franco’s new adventure eager to participate in the 2000 Ostar, his third consecutive, putting in the hull of the new boat, while Ciccio would take care of the mast and tuning. Things do not go as planned, and after only four days Manzoli is forced to retire.

Leonardo worked for the underwear manufacturing company Cotonella, and it was through his contacts with the underwear company that Franco obtained sponsorship for the next Ostar. Manzoli’s story seems well suited to a movie script, and particularly to the writing of a play, and, as in any self-respecting comedy, there is no shortage of unexpected events.

One out of all: at the time of the design of the Cotonella, Franco could not find any firm capable of helping him, they were all too busy, so he trusted in the proverbial art of making do, dear to every Italian, and designed and built the trimaran himself, with the valuable help of a drawing program lent to him by Maletto (a well-known designer) and to the collaboration of Francesco Mura (builder and sailmaker). It is 2003 and the multihull is ready. For the first time, Fatty has everything under control and has the time he needs to train.

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All set, off we go

On May 29, 2005 from the British port of Plymouth the twelfth edition of the Ostar finally starts. At noon the sails are hoisted that will push the daredevil participants all the way to the U.S. coast at Newport. The regatta is immediately exciting and full of twists and turns, after only a few days of sailing many competitors are forced to retire due to the decidedly adverse weather conditions, including three of Franco’s opponents, first Britain’s Ross Hobson, then France’s Anne Caseneuve and French-American Etienne Giroire are out of the race.

At this point there are three left to vie for the lead, Roger Langevin on the fifty-footer Branec IV, Pierre Antoine on the 43-footer Spirit, and Franco Manzoli, who engage in a tight struggle with an ending worthy of our film: on June 14, Cotonella accuses a delay from Langevin of more than 200 miles, a delay that is reduced in twenty-four hours to less than two miles thanks to the tactical choice of keeping further north where a cooler wind blows. Manzoli is first.

He arrived in Newport at 8:41 a.m. on June 16, after 17 days of racing as the overall winner of the Ostar-Original Singlehanded Trans Atlantic Race-born in 1960 out of a bet between the celebrated Sir Francis Chichester and Colonel Blondie Hasler. It is rightly regarded as the most prestigious of solo regattas. On the fourth attempt Manzoli succeeded in capturing the much-chased chimera. The happy ending is finally written.

See also: the legendary Ostar, with Ciccio Manzoli and Alberto Bona