Andrea Lacorte: “my sail is for racing,” interview with the helmsman owner who has amazed in the TP 52s

The Tp 52 class is still one of the pinnacles in the world of professional sailing, bringing together many Olympic and America’s Cup sailing superstars in its fleet, with a technical level on the water that few boats can boast. A box rule class, the Tp52s have their own circuit, the 52 Super Series, which this year saw 13 top-ranked teams at the start, with the final standings, at the end of five legs, being won by American Magic Quantum Racing.

In fourth position, and first among owner-driver helmsmen, is an Italian boat, Alkedo Powered by Vitamina, by Andrea Lacorte from Pisa, the holder of the Yacht Club Repubblica Marinara di Pisa with the support of sponsor Cetilar. Co-founder, together with his brother Roberto, and president, of Pharmanutra, a company now listed on the stock exchange that researches, develops and markets dietary supplements, medical devices and pharmaceutical products.

Andrea Lacorte is a huge fan of sailing and racing. Indeed, for him, sailing has been a family “thing,” passed down from his father.

After years of militancy in various one-design classes, and before that in offshore rating sailing, in 2025, at the age of 64, Lacorte decided to put himself on the line in the queen class of monohulls, the Tp52s, with a rookie season that amazed insiders, immediately competitive. Thanks to a top-notch team, but also thanks to his many years of digging his heels in fast and competitive classes, which made him arrive ready for the jump in the category.

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We interviewed him to let him tell us about his season in Tp 52, and to understand what is behind the passion of an owner who decided to put himself on the line in one of the most difficult stages.

Andrea Lacorte and the racing sail

How did your passion for boats come about and how does your passion for racing come about.

The passion for boats started in my family, my father had always had sailboats, even wooden and partly homemade ones, then came fiberglass ones. However, I started sailing from a competitive point of view at the age of 40, when I bought my first boat.

I wanted to launch into the racing world right away, but for 7-8 years I never helmed my own boats, I was doing other roles, mast, center, tailer, never the tactics because I don’t have the technical background, which is created with youth sailing and dinghies. Before I got to the helm I tried to understand as best I could how the game worked.

At 40, the first in a long series of boats…

Yes, the first one was an X-332, then a First 36.7, and more to come, including a Salona 41 with which we did a few seasons in ORC at a good level, before moving to monotypes with the Melges 32, a class in which I helmed for about 7 years. From there we jumped to the ClubSwan 36 and then did 2 years on the ClubSwan 50. There was also the experience with the M32 catamaran, two seasons, very physical boat that at 64 was very difficult to helm.

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Going back to the period with the Salona 41 I can say that I was disappointed when the boat became uncompetitive after an update of ORC regulations from one season to the next, from there my interest in monotypes and a fairer racing formula was born. And I did 16 years of pure monotype, years when I saw the TP52 as a dream, unattainable at the time. The Tp 52 are a box rules boat, but now the hulls are all very similar and the performance of the boats identical, anyone can win, but only the best win.

Why the choice to race in Tp 52 and what a feeling to helm a Tp?

As I said there is a strict box rule that over time has led to very similar boats, so tuning the boat, studying the shape of the sails and adjustments, and of course the way of conducting it as a team counts a lot. When I was 64 years old, I came to a point in my life where I could have a budget, with limits in expenses, which could, however, guarantee that I would enter the TP52 world: we bought the former Azzurra, which was then also Interlodge, a boat that was contested because it was very efficient and high performance.

We put on this campaign with a lot of reverential fear of teams with so many years of experience and so many super stars of world sailing. Next year a new Swedish team will come in, and there will be a turnover between various owners, it is a very lively class with a galaxy of very strong sailors around.

When you work in training alone you are amazed at how easy it is to helm and the acceleration it has. When you go racing, however, the subject obviously changes, you get into very tight one-on-ones as if it were a small one-design race, your adrenaline goes through the roof, your heart is racing with the tiller in your hand. And then very high stern speeds, even 24 knots, and the boat stays very seaworthy even in hard winds, that’s one of its characteristics.

What was the most difficult and what was the happiest moment of this season?

The most difficult one was the last leg in Porto Cervo, we went objectively bad, the happiest one in Cascais, with lots of wind, two regattas won out of 10 with lots of waves, and of course victory number 1 at the Saint Tropez leg. From a human point of view the class gave us a great welcome, both from the other owners, the organization and the sailors.

How do you put together a team of professionals like yours?

We had 5 professional sailors from the boat’s previous crew, also a boat builder, we wanted a core of the group who already knew the craft to make up time since we would have little before the first races. We did a hybrid operation, that is, taking part of the old team, including tactician Cameron Appleton, we had a British Olympic coach, and part of the team from my historical ClubSwan 50 crew, plus some new entries.

The amazing thing was the good tuning we were able to put on quickly, despite the short training time we had because in an early training we had a problem with the rig and broke the mast. Another bad moment of the season that was, however, in the end a probably decisive spring. In total we had just 8 days of training before the debut regatta, we had in short still everything to learn and yet we managed to function on the water. The dismasting paradoxically was a glue for the whole team, it was a very strong stimulus.

What are you looking forward to next season?

Absolutely at least two more years in TP52, that’s the goal, once you try it you don’t want to stop.

Is there only racing in sailing that Andrea Lacorte likes?

In family cruising I go, and I like it very much, but mind you, I do it, however, on a motor boat called Vitamin Grande. Sorry, but for me sailing is only for racing.

Edited by Mauro Giuffrè