1975. When three Italian boats challenged the world

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.

Three Italian boats on the assault of the Admiral

Taken from the 1975 Journal of Sailing, Year 1, No. 01, July, pp. 4-8.

Once upon a time there was a regatta, the Admiral’s Cup, where the best boats from each nation competed in England. Goal: to become world champions in offshore sailing. And Italy was among the big players.

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The FIV ‘s high seas committee did not have too difficult a task in choosing the three Italian boats for theAdmiral’s Cup. As Il Giornale della Vela ‘s Telex widely reported, the difficulty was mainly “diplomatic,” due to the absence of the Deception, the new boat designed by Gary Mull for Vanni Mandelli, from the last observation regattas in Sardinia. Eliminated was the Deception “under the circumstances, ” it was clear that the choice could only fall on the Guia III, on the Mandrake and the Vihuela. We show you these three boats and tell you, through their words, how the love for the sport was born by the three skippers who will take part in the challenge.

Giorgio Falck: the Guia III, a stroke of lightning

Giorgio Falk: “The Star was my school, I raced there from 1952 (then 14 years old) until 68, when I bought theAl’na’ir of Pierobon. I must say that the Star is an important school of ruddering, in that you sail very often overpowered and the gap between “too much to heave” and “too down” is really minimal: a few degrees, so you get used to a great deal of precision. From the Star came, just to mention a few names, Straulino, North, Wennestrom and so on. As a starist I never emerged (in the top ten at the Italian championships and nothing more). In 1970 we vary the Guia I, with which, in January 1971, we participate in Cape Town-Rio de Janeiro. In ’71 and ’72 we win the Mediterranean championship, and in ’73, after participating in the Fastnet as a reserve boat for the Italian team, I see the Gingko Miller’s. I buy it in 10 minutes, a real eye-opener. Now that boat is the Guia III. After that I embark on the Guia for the round-the-world voyage, which we finish in fifth place. The Guia III underwent modifications during the winter: mast augmentation and weighting in my opinion very successful; the boat also has new rod rigging and a new set of sails. She has achieved a very good consistent performance in all conditions, although she is no longer ‘lightning’ upwind.”

The crew of the Guia III
The crew: Giorgio Falck (skipper, tactician, windward helmsman), Luigi Arzenati, Giovanni Garassino, François Gray (stern helmsman), Francesco Longanesi (tactician, hard time helmsman), Paolo Pesci, Giovanni Sicola (stern helmsman), Oscar Tonolli, Giovanni “Jeppson” Verbini (hard time helmsman), Gigi Viacava.

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Giorgio Carriero and the Mandrake: the three aspects of agonism

Giorgio Carriero: “I started sailing as a young boy, as often happens to those who spend their vacations at the sea. But although I first owned a Snipe then an FJ, my real passion for sailing, especially competitive sailing, began in 1971. For me, competitive offshore sailing has three aspects: 1) the technical aspect, which I am particularly interested in and passionate about, and which does not end with the study of the design and construction of the boat, but is always present in the continuous refinement, due to rating reasons, of the equipment and weights; 2) the competitive aspect, which consists of the difficult search for harmony of relationships among the crew members; in this regard, I must say that I have greatly appreciated the competitive spirit existing in international level competitions, such as the regattas of the’ Admiral’s Cup, particularly those of the Solent, in which I participated in 1973 with the Sagittarius: on this occasion, in fact, the level of the boats and crews and, consequently, the fairness of the race reach their maximum expression; 3) the third aspect, finally, is the romantic one, that is, the silence, the distance from the daily chaos of the city, the struggle against the force of the sea and the wind, which helps to scale down one’s problems; and the communal life, which, after a few days of racing, induces each individual to truly express himself without noise, and thus to know himself better.”

Mandrake
The crew: Giorgio Carriero (skipper), Federico Bortolotti, Lorenzo Bortolotti, Luigi Dentone, Gianluigi Devoto, Enrico Isenburg, Andy McGowan (tactician), Franco Rodino, Cuck Sadler, Mike Spillane (navigator), Giorgio Zolezzi.

Fabrizio Violati’s Vihuela: love of sailing is a family vice

Fabrizio Violati: “A love of sailing runs in my family. When I was 13, my father put me on a Snipe, which was the first boat of my life, based at Circeo. The germ was thus inoculated. In the following years, my passion for cruising was specified: we had an old cutter-rigged boat in the family, the Teulada, based in Anzio. In 1962, I ordered my first offshore boat from Peppino Gallinari of Anzio: it was a Class III RORC, the Keira, on which I raced with my cousin Massimo and which gave us some satisfaction, making us win in ’63 the overall championship of the area. In ’72, my meeting took place, again through Gallinari, with engineer Giulio Carcano and a project that Carcano had just prepared. From this project was then to be born the Vihuela. The design was very racy, with low freeboard, no engine and very light displacement. The design fascinated me because of its originality, but I made it clear to Carcano that I wanted a less pushed boat so that I could not only race on it, but also cruise with my wife and son. Carcano followed me, and thus was born the Vihuela. And on the Vihuela successes we have had in three, namely with Carcano and Gallinari, who sit next to me in the cockpit when they can, and they give me a lot of friendship, as well as help.”

The crew of the Vihuela
The crew: Fabrizio Violati (skipper), Carlo Ambrogi, Robby Brahnn (navigator), Paolo Coari, Peppino Gallinari, Gianni Giustiniani, Raffaello Napoleone, Pierluigi Roberti, Mario Violati; Giulio Carcano as reserve and only for triangles in the Solent.

Editor’s note: The 1975 edition of the Admiral’s Cup was stingy with success for Italian crews. In fact, the final victory went to the British.

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