1995. This is how Italy wins the Admiral’s Cup

Welcome to the special section “GdV 5th Years.” We are introducing you, day by day, An article from the archives of the Journal of Sailing, starting in 1975. A word of advice, get in the habit of starting your day with the most exciting sailing stories-it will be like being on a boat even if you are ashore.

This is how Italy wins the Admiral’s Cup

Taken from the 1995 Journal of Sailing, Year 21, No. 9, September, p. 34/39.

After 26 years Italy finally wins the Admiral’s Cup, the world offshore boat championship. The story of Capricorn’s triumph helmed by Flavio Favini, Bra Q 8 by Francesco de Angelis and Mumm a Mia by Tommaso Chieffi.

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The Admirals Cup to the Italians

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Italy has won its first Admiral’s Cup, a success chased for 26 years. Although the first edition of the prestigious British regatta (unofficially regarded as the world championship of offshore sailing) took place in 1957, Italy’s debut was in fact in 1969, when it finished fourth out of 11 nations. Coincidentally, in that year the United States won for the last time. It was precisely Italians and Americans who were the absolute stars of this 20th edition of theAdmiral’s Cup. The United States landed on the Isle of Wight still sunburned by the recent defeat in the America’s Cup and with the desire to redeem themselves from that disappointment by achieving a success that would have a historic flavor for them. Italy, on the other hand, went to Cowes to make history. After thirteen consecutive participations (with two second places in 1983 and 1991), victory seemed an impossible dream for us.

But now enough reminiscing in the past and remembering the mockeries suffered. Let us enjoy this victory, as beautiful as it was painful, because it came right in the final. The United States remained firmly at the top of the leaderboard throughout the races. From the second day the second place was always Italy’s. The Americans appeared from the start to be too much stronger than us. Except Brava Q8, Capricorn e Mumm a Mia! were unable to counter the hegemony of their opponents. Capricorn then suffered from the anomalous light wind conditions. The blue triumph came about only during the Fastnet: ” Blue Yankee and No Problem made the mistake of not checking Capricorn and Mumm a Mia!!! Had they finished behind our boats even by a few positions they would have won. A good dose of luck, and excellent racing performance on our part, meant that victory could not escape us ” he commented immediately after the arrival of Mumm at Mia! in Plymouth Andrea Damiani, president of the Federation’s Altomare Commission, in England as captain of the Italian team. In the Fastnet Capricorn played. a gamble: fed up with racing well below its real potential because of low wind, the crew, trusting the more than reliable forecasts of the team’s meteorologist (sympathetically called Cloud, cloud in English), loaded only light-wind sails. The guys from Mumm a Mia! completed the masterpiece by going on to win their first and only success of this Admiral’s Cup in the very most important race. It was only after their arrival in Plymouth that Italy was able to start the celebration.

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Text by Andrea Falcon, photos by Livio Fioroni

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