Carlo Borlenghi
I believe we should start to form a new group of athletes capable of facing such a tough race. Those who are not passionate enough should not knock on our door ...
Tuesday 09 February 2010, 07:30 GMT
There were three Italian teams on the start and finish line of the first Whitbread in 1973, and you have to go back to 1993 to find the last all-Italian entry. The boat then was Brooksfield, sponsored by a fashionable clothing brand, the crew was drawn from top national sailors, the hull was green, which in some areas of Italy is considered a bad omen, and the team hit the news for losing a rudder in the middle of the Southern Ocean.
In 2001-02, fashion and marine entrepreneur Leonardo Ferragamo gave Kiwi Grant Dalton the leading role in an international two-boat team, but it never captured Italian hearts.
Since then, and despite having talented sailors who regularly achieve top results in single or doublehanded offshore events, Italy has never returned to the top, fully crewed round the world race track. That is, until Italia 70, the new Italian team, was announced to the media and the public.
The project centres on three main personalities, all of them at the top in their respective sectors: John Elkann, Giovanni Soldini and Carlo Croce, each of whom have sailing in their DNA.
Elkann is, at the young age of 33, vice president of Fiat Group and serves as executive in many other companies. He is heir to the most prominent Italian industrial dynasty, grandson of Gianni Agnelli, whose boats, especially Stealth, marked the history of sailing and style in the country.
It is not by chance that John and Giovanni first started talking about the Italia 70 project during an Atlantic crossing aboard Gianni Agnelli's carbon black maxi yacht.
Giovanni comes from a family deeply involved and in love with the sea, his father being the long time owner of a shipyard. Today, Italy's most famous solo sailor has some 30 ocean crossings, including multiple transatlantics, two single-handed round the world victories and hundreds of thousands of miles under his belt. Giovanni declared more than once that the Volvo Ocean Race is: "A dream I have dreamed and cherished since I was a kid."
Carlo Croce is the son of Beppe; Olympian, gentleman, sailor, and president of what is now the International Sailing Federation, for nearly two decades.
Carlo not only inherited his passion for the sea but also a prominent role on the national sports scene, also being president of both the Italian Sailing Federation and Genoa's Yacht Club Italiano, whose burgee will fly on their Volvo Open 70.
The Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed Ericsson 3, which is now in Italy, will carry the team's hopes in the 2011-12 race.
The financial plan - the budget fixed at around Euros 15m - is to find a group of companies ready to invest in a sort of 'National Offshore Sailing Team', with a strong Italian influence. But, as Elkann himself said during the team's presentation in Genoa: "I will be racing some legs if I have the chance."
Giovanni's tenacity and charisma will be the cement in creating a solid sailing team. "My focus now is to put together a strong team," he said. "In my country we haven't got many ocean sailors and I believe we should start to form a new group of athletes capable of facing such a tough race. The main requisite is passion.
"Those who are not passionate enough should not knock on our door." And, on the choice of buying Ericsson 3, he explained: "It was to save money and time. Not having to build a new boat will give us time to work on the sailing team."
According to Croce, Italia 70 will not only mark the grand return of his nation to fully-crewed round the world competition, but will also be the perfect instrument to promote ocean racing in his country and create an exclusive training ground for the younger generation.
That is why, together with Giovanni, he plans to create an offshore racing academy under the aegis of FIV (Federazione Italiana Vela). Rookies will be easier to find, and they will know where to look.
A fourth player in the Italia 70 project is Pietro D'Ali, who has the most varied sailing experience, from the Olympic Games to the America's Cup, from one designs to big boats.
He is not new to offshore and round the world racing, having sailed on the oceans when he was just a little older than a teenager onboard Giorgio Falck's boats and, later, with mixed fortune, on Brooksfield.
Pietro has also been Soldini's co-skipper in a couple of double-handed transatlantics and will be his right hand man on Italia 70. The team headquarters will be in La Spezia, home to the Italian Navy, not far from Yacht Club Italiano.
One last detail: John Elkann's second son's name is Oceano (Ocean) while Giovanni Soldini's first daughter's name is Martina Ondina, that is to say 'little wave'. No doubt they have something in common.
Full story published in the latest issue of Life At The Extreme magazine.