Photo by Carlo Borlenghi
Feature: Yachting Italian Style
January 1, 2004
Though the harbors
in Sardinia are no more than 20 minutes apart, each has its own personality.
Porto Cervo is Establishment Elegant. Portisco, one of the newest marinas,
attracts the sporty set, like downhill ski champ Alberto Tomba, who has a villa
here. If you like racing sailboats or speedboats, this is the spot for you.
There was nothing quiet about the Abbate Offshore Power Boat Races, an event
hosted by boat builder Bruno Abbate; the weeklong party is for clients who want,
or require for reasons of commerce, the fastest Cigarette boats. Russian
Standard vodka magnate Roustam Tariko, who bought a boat from Abbate and then
the villa in Sardinia to go with it, provided a flying squad of greyhound-sleek
6-foot-tall, silver mini-skirted blondes to keep the glasses full. Abbate boats
have wild cosmic graphics of stars and planets and “trunks” that pop up to
reveal matched Ski-Doos worthy of Dr. Evil’s minions. Long tables were set up in
the Piazzetta of Portisco along with a rock band. There was dancing in the
streets by all—inside and outside the ropes. When in town, Donatella Versace and
Madonna just call Bruno to borrow his toys. You can’t get them in the U. S.
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The dashing black-and-tan 44-foot Rivarama that blends retro design with
state-of-the-art comforts. (Click image to enlarge) Portisco is also the summer base of the new Sail Academy, a consortium that transports America’s Cup boats Kanza, Moro di Venizia and Mighty Mary here to create the world’s ultimate sailing school. A day of match-racing with them was one of the most exciting racing experiences I’ve ever had. As we practiced starts and wrestled through tacking duels, the boats made a din groaning and screaming against their technical tolerances and barely avoiding scraping paint around the marks. At the helms were Italian racing greats Gabriele Bassetti and Andrea Henriquet, and—this being Italy—the female half of the student crew manned the grinders in bikini bras and jewelry that sparkled in the Sardinian sun.
Whether you’ve spent your day on the beach, on the aft deck or rounding the marks, the best way to meet the midnight hour is ensconced deep in a white sofa on the breezy terrace at the Pontile Bar of the Hotel Cala di Volpe, a coupe of champagne in hand. With the full moon spilling a puddle of gold around a skyline of yachts luminous in the milky white light, their rigging strung with twinkling lights, you are in yacht heaven…Italian style.
RESOURCES
Anna Maria Minoldo
SNO Yachts
+39.0789.91135
www.yachtworld.com/snoyachts
Francesca Casarola
Nautica Casarola (Riva/Apreamare dealer in Costa
Smeralda)
+39.0789.53060
Alberto Perrone Da Zara
Ferretti Group USA
954.525.4550
Yacht Club Costa Smeralda
+39.0789.902200
www.yccs.it
Hotel Cala di Volpe
+39.0789.976.111
www.luxurycollection.com
Billionaire Club
+39.348.412.5411
Coppa America
Costa Smeralda at Sail Academy
+39.010.25.14.745
(Genoa)
See also Robb Report Keeping Up Appearances
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