A unique approach

We speak to energetic Italian Vasco Vascotto, winner of 13 World keelboat championship titles and future AC helm

When it comes to collecting Championship silverware in keelboats, short bubbly blonde Italian Vasco Vascotto has been one of the most succesful figures of the last decade with 13 World, seven European and 22 Italian National titles having passed across his mantlepiece in classes ranging from the Mumm 30, Farr 40, ILC 30, J/24 and 1/4 tonner.

Heralding from Trieste on the eastern coast of Italy, Vascotto, 35, started sailing in Optimists before progressing to the 470, a boat he campaigned for 10 years. During this time he won the Junior World Championships and finished third in the ISAF Worlds. Getting the Italian slot to race the 470 in the Olympics eluded him twice and after the second occasion, prior to Barcelona in 1992, he says he retired from the class and took up big boat sailing.

He was fortunate that during his military service in Italy he was able to race the navy's boat Bellatrix extensively and while he was doing this he says he became 'noticed' and invited to sail on other boats.

Since then he has followed other great Italian keelboat sailors such as Francesco de Angelis and the Chieffis mopping up championship wins in all the top keelboat classes. Of all his championship wins he says he is most proud of the J/24 Worlds in 1999 (he was also European J/24 Champion in 1996 and 2000) when he was against top sailors such as Vince Brun, Terry Hutchinson and Chris Larson. Last year's Rolex Farr 40 World Championship was also important. "Even though the Farr 40 is owner-driver - for tacticians it is a good regatta - and we won there against Russell Coutts and John Kostecki." His name has also appeared in crew lists for the Tour Voile and on the match racing circuit.



2004 Vascotto says has been a relatively quiet one for him. This started out well winning the Rolex IMS World Championships in Capri, as skipper of the Grand Soleil 42R Meridiana Italtel (above) before moving across to sail the rest of the IMS Med season with Pedro Campos' Spanish IMS500 team on Telefonica Movistar, winning the Breitling Cup in Palma, the Trofeo S.M La Reina in Valencia and coming third at the Copa del Rey.

He was also once again tactician on board the Farr 40 Nerone. Aside from a lot of training with the Italian Farr 40 team in the Mediterranean this year in order to pitch a serious defence of their World Championship title he and the team clocked up some serious air miles flying between Italy and San Francisco for a series of warm-up regattas prior to this year's Worlds when they finished second, behind run-away leader Jim Richardson's Barking Mad.

As if these campaigns were not enough he has also been the regular tactician on board the Italian ILC maxi Damiani Our Dream, on which he is currently racing as tactician in the Rolex Middle Sea Race and has rejoined Mascalzone Latino boss Vincenzo Onorato on board the shipping magnate's Swan 45, finishing third in class at the Rolex Swan Cup and coming fourth at their recent Gold Cup.

Previously Vascotto has won two IMS World Championship and a Mumm 30 World championship (in Miami in 2000) with Onorato. In the build up to the 2003 America's Cup Vascotto was part of the Mascalzone Latino afterguard until his departure from the team around 18 months before the Louis Vuitton series got underway. "I turned left and they turned right," Vascotto explains. "Last time he [Onorato] just wanted to be in the show. Whenever I race, I want to try and win every time."

Now for the 2007 America's Cup he is back with Onorato's 'Latin Rascals'. "This time he wants to win the Cup," Vascotto continues. "Big words I know, but a year ago when we had a meeting, we sat down and worked out what we needed to have to win. I think this time, with the work Tom Weaver has done and John Cutler and all the other guys - we have a fantastic team."

With former OneWorld designer Phil Kaiko on board plus five or six other key personnel, Vascotto reckons they have one of the best design teams in the world. This time he will be skipper and tactician in an afterguard that includes old friend and rival Flavio Flavini.

This is a crucial time for Mascalzone Latino in terms of finding sponsorship as the first deadline for entries on 17 December 2004 is approaching rapidly. "Vincenzo [Onorato] is trying to do a really difficult job, but he has a lot of keys to open a lot of doors and we have a lot of possibilities. What we are really sure is that now we are selling something really important to sponsors."

One problem is that in Italy the sponsorship market for America's Cup team is almost saturated with Luna Rossa continuing with Prada and now with Telecom Italia on board and Luca Devoti's +39 campaign with funding from the Sicily region. "It is a pity that there are a lot of campaigns in Italy," bemoans Vascotto. "With this kind of economic period it is difficult to find six thousand million euros [he exaggerates], so with three teams, we have to split the money. But I think we have a lot of sailors and we have a lot of companies who can do it." In addition to these teams at least two others exist in the form of Toscana Challenge featuring former match racing World Champion Karol Jablonski and Italia Challenge of former Mascalzone Latino helmsman Paolo Cian.



Onorato is looking for a much bigger budget than he had to spend in 2003 - Vascotto says they are after Euros 65 million. But this is less than the Euros 85 million Francesco de Angelis recently told thedailysail was the Luna Rossa budget. "I think with 65 million you can do a fantastic job but 85 is better than 65! You can drink a lot better red wine..." says Vascotto.

Unlike most professional hired guns, Vascotto has a unique way of running his racing. He has set up a company called the W Sailing Project Team which is effectively a collection of roughly 10 of his old sailing colleagues many dating back to his days in the 470. "One of the most important things is living well outside the hours of sailing," he explains. "That is what Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth and the Kiwis have shared in the past. So we are really friends and that is important. Every time somebody is good or bad, everyone can help."

Unusually it is W Sailing Project Team who come up with race boat projects that they sell to both owners and sponsors. The Farr 40 Nerone, on which four of Vasco Vascotto's W colleagues sail, as well as Damiani Our Dream are other examples of 'W' projects, the latter particularly interesting as Vascotto says there are around 20 shareholders in the maxi. At present on the Rolex Middle Sea Race around half of her are members of the W Sailing Project Team members.

"We have fantastic owners who trust what we say," says Vascotto. "I find the owners and the sponsors and W organises everything. It is something different."

In Malta prior the Rolex Middle Sea Race, Vascotto was to be seen firing out email or on the phone trying to put a deal together for a new W-managed TP 52, another of the Grand Soleil-built models designed by Botin and Carkeek (click here to read our interview with Shaun Carkeek). "The America's Cup is a nice regatta, but it is very expensive. You can do a lot of other regattas that are less expensive. I hope that the Transpac 52 will be a good circuit - like the America’s Cup, but a little smaller."

Vascotto hopes that racing the TP52 will be a good training platform for the America's Cup. "It is important to sail, not only to do speed tests," he maintains. He admits that they had been talking to Pedro Campos about Mascalzone Latino joining forces with the Spanish but they are now "walking different roads". Campos' Spanish AC campaign is supposed to be combining with that of Jose Luis Doreste's El Reto challenge from Barcelona, although Doreste seems unlikely to remain part of this deal - he was being trialled by Luna Rossa at the Valencia Acts recently.

What seems certain is that aside from Vascotto, many of the W Sailing Project Team will feature in this third Italian challenge.