SWEET VICTORY!

After heartbreaking losses in '91 and '93, the Italian Admiral's Cup team turns the tables. BY MICHAEL LEVITT

Better than anyone, the Italians know the Fastnet Race is a heartbreaker. In 1991 and 1993, they led the Admiral's Cup by substantial margins going into the final 605-mile Fastnet, before losing to France and Germany, respectively. This summer, the Americans led the Italians by 21.5 points before the Fastnet...seemingly a lock. But after two of three classes finished the light-air battle, the American lead was suddenly reduced to a razor thin 1.833 points.

The Mumm 36 class would write the climax of the series. North's Jim Brady, skipper of America's Mumm 36 No Problem, described the final leg of the race. "We were so close at times (to the Italian Mumm 36 Mumm A Mia) that we could have held conversations with them. The lead changed back and forth several times, but once we rounded the [Fastnet] Rock, the Mumms separated, the wind filled in from behind, and the guys behind [including Mumm a Mia] went from last to first. After that, the wind was ahead and building, and the leaders continued to stretch their lead." Mumm A Mia finished first; No Problem seventh, and the Italians took the coveted trophy by nearly 17 points.

For the first time in the 40-year history of the Cup, an Italian team —Capricorno, the Big Boat; Brava Q8, the ILC40; and Mumm A Mia, the Mumm 36—tasted sweet victory. The Italian team was powered exclusively by North 3DL working sails and spinnakers...but with an unmistakable Italian flair.

North Sails Italia, presided over by American expatriate Robin Morgan, is a huge facility at 17,000 square feet. Some very substantial sails, as well as very fast ones, have come from there. So, too, have some significant ideas. Consider the Spectra sails for Adela (see previous feature). Adela's mainsail is one of the largest and strongest sails ever built by North. "It is the first 1,000-pound sail we've ever made," said Morgan. "The corner patches are over an inch thick. They were stitched with a machine that in an earlier life sewed shoe soles!"

Italian ILC 40 Brave Q8 (at bottom), leads the Italian Admiral's Cup team off the line in the light-air Fastnet Race. The team came from 21.5 points behind in the race to win the series. Daniei Fester photo

North Sails Italy also designed and produced the sails for Wallygator, the breathtaking 105foot (32.04m) cruiser/ racer owned by Luca Bassani. The latest for Wallygator is a new 273 m2 3DL mainsail - the largest 3DL sail ever built. It weighs 100 kilos (220 pounds) less than the Gatorback Spectra sail it replaced.

From Italy, too, came the BRAVA™ spinnakers molds that were the prototype for designs used in the 1995 America's Cup on such boats as Black Magic, Young America, oneAustralia, and Stars & Stripes. Most recently, the shapes and thread layout of North's second generation Grand Prix 3DL sails (see page 10) came from North Sails Italy.

Originally from Kansas, Morgan graduated from Cornell University and then joined the Navy, learning to sail in southern California when he was 25 years old. After serving in Vietnam as a naval officer, he became a stockbroker in San Francisco. When Robin bought his first boat, an Ericson 23, he became a North Sails customer. "I liked the atmosphere in the North loft [in Seal Beach] much better than in my office," he said. He dropped out when he was 29. For seven years Morgan lived in the south of France and studied at the University of Nice (not far from where he lives today with his Italian wife and two children].

With stockbroker earnings all but spent but his entrepreneurial urges intact, Robin visited Portofino, the epicenter of yachting in Italy. "I came to the conclusion that Portofino needed North Sails, and North Sails needed Robin Morgan," he said. So he returned to Seal Beach to learn his trade under the tutelage of Dick Deaver. Morgan opened North Sails Italia, in the appropriately named Genoa near to Portofino, in 1980.

"Our philosophy is rather simple," said Morgan. "Instead of starting with a fixed idea, we try to listen...to interpret the desires of the best sailors. Surprisingly enough, it seems to work."

Listening before you leap has been the guiding principle of Guido Cavalazzi, age 41, who has worked for North Sails Italy almost since its inception. It was his BRAVA spinnaker mold that became the basis of today's line of North spinnakers, with a big head for speed, yet easy to fly. Guido has also been a key player in the development of North's new second-generation 3DL Grand Prix sails. Cavalazzi focused on this program after returning from the America's Cup in June, where he worked as a consultant to PACT 95. This was his fourth Cup. In 1992, he was chief designer for Il Moro, which lost to Bill Koch's America3 4-1. He designed sails for Italy's Azzurra syndicate in 1986 and 1983, that country's debut.

Sandro Benigni, who has been at North Sails Italia for six years, was sail designer for Capricorno, a Farr 47 chartered for the '95 season by Rinaldo del Bono. The boat won the New York YkC Spring Series and Kiel Week. Her fourth-place finish in the Fastnet Race (the American Big Boat, Blue Yankee finish seventh) led the Italian finishing surge. Benigni also worked on the Mumm 36 program, specifically on Mumm A Mia, which won the Fastnet Race and her class in the Admiral's Cup, sealing the victory.

While Mumm A Mia finished an undistinguished ninth at last winter's Yachting Key West Race Week, top sailors in the class recognized that her sail program was innovative. By season's end, the top four boats in the Mumm 36 Worlds used similar 3DL sails. "Guido is more of an artist," said Morgan. "Sandro is more scientific. I'm delighted to have them both. Depending on the client, one is better than the other. Sandro followed the Wallygator program and has the absolute confidence of Mr. Bassani. Just as Guido followed the Brava program... "

Gigio Russo and Leopoldo Poppi focused on the business side of North Sail Italia. Russo, sales manager, is an avid sailor in his own right, often competing on the Mumm 36 circuit. Poppi, the business advisor, isn't a sailor, but, says Morgan, "He's more North than anyone in the world." He sells $15 million a year in products and sportswear with the North logo on it. Customers in Italy have great faith in us because they see the North logo everywhere."

"In the '80s, sailmaking was a kind of personal expression," concludes Morgan. "Today, you have to be good in business to survive." North Sails Italy has survived, and flourished because of both.

Gigio Russo is sales manager of North Sails Italy.

Designer Sandro Benigni worked on the Wallygator and Capricorno programs and has pioneered designs in the Mumm 36 class.

Guido Cavalazzi designed sails for Il Moro in '92, consulted with PACT95 in '95 and created North's famed Bravado spinnaker mold.

American expatriate Robin Morgan heads North Sails Italy