Following the end of WWII Cantiere Navale spent the next 10 years repairing local fishing boats and working craft damaged in the conflict. By the mid-1950s, though (left), thoughts were turning to the future with a first move into leisure craft, and by the 1960s the yard was turning out small numbers of traditional cruising craft – power as well as sail. However, this remained a traditional artisanal shipyard until Patrizio Bertelli’s 1996 decision to have his tired wooden 12 Metre Nyala restored by his friend Federico Nardi, one of the yard’s co-owners, triggering the start of an explosion in classic restorations. In the years since then Argentario craftsmen have kept busy superbly restoring many of the sport’s most important yachts… It was Doug Peterson (above left) who rescued and then commissioned the restoration of the lightweight Charles Sibbick skimming-dish Bona Fide (see last month). Another perennial visitor to the Italian shipyard was Olin Stephens, seen in 1997 at the helm of his own most famous design Dorade following her restoration
ageing but beautiful 1938 12 Metre Nyala. Since then the Cantiere Navale dell’Argen- tario has been responsible for many of the world’s most beautiful restorations, such as that of Dorade, built in 1930 and restored in 1997, and of Stormy Weather, built in 1934 and restored in 2001. The splendid 8 Metre Aria, built in 1935
in the Costaguta boatyard in Genoa Voltri, was restored in 1999 for her owner Serena Galvani. With the restoration in 2003 of the legendary 1899 Sibbick design Bona Fide, the shipyard won the world’s highest award for the finest restoration of an important classic yacht. By the end of the same year the yard
had also completed the restoration of Cholita, built in 1937, Sonny from 1935 and Tamara IX, built in 1933. Vim, the 12 Metre from 1939, was restored in 2004, while the long restoration of Amorita, built in 1937, was finally completed in 2007. But behind the many authoritative
restorations we must consider the in-depth and meticulous research to find the origi- nal drawings, information, details and nec- essary and suitable materials, all essential for the success of the restoration itself. Correctly identifying the original construc- tion techniques, which must be the same as those of the time, is also extremely impor- tant and requires a lot of work before some of the materials are even ordered. We spoke to Federico Nardi, one of the
shipyard’s current four partners (there were five but Umberto Berti passed away some time ago). Today Nardi is ‘front of house’, travelling the globe on behalf of the owners before co-ordinating the safe transport back to Santo Stefano of a suitable candi- date for restoration, then once home start- ing work setting out a programme for a project that may take years to complete.
Seahorse: how did Cantiere Navale dell’ Argentario (CNA) become the world’s most famous restorer of beautiful classic yachts? Federico Nardi: I think it was a combina- tion of circumstances, but it was certainly helped by my great friendship with Olin Stephens. Now we have restored many of his boats, Stormy Weather and Nyala of course, but the first one we restored was Dorade for Italian industrialist Giuseppe Gazzoni Frascara. Olin and I went together to see her on a small island near Seattle, which we reached by seaplane. Maybe we just found ourselves ready at
the right time, when there was this sudden explosion of classic yachting, something that unfortunately today is finally losing momentum – partly due to a shortage of good enough candidates for restoration. But soon the true fans started to appear,
the best known of whom is certainly Patrizio Bertelli. In those 25 years or so between 1994 and 2019 our boatyard had become a living room where these captains of industry met to chat about boats… and sometimes about business. Sadly today we no longer see so many famous people who were once attracted by this magical call. The old enthusiasts remain but the latest generation of businessman does not seem as interested in the sporting heritage. SH:What was your first restoration? FN: I remember Sea Gypsy, a big John Alden schooner that I had been the skipper of, because in my previous life I was a sailor. In the 1980s I attended the Argen- tario yard because I brought the boats here for repairs. I arrived as a customer. The proposal to make the professional leap was made to me directly by the yard not long after that. SH:Does the CNA currently take the form
of a sort of association of craftsmen? FN: When I arrived the yard was owned by a ‘middle-man’ representing a remote businessman from Rome. When I became involved I organised myself with the ‘master craftsmen’ to remove him! In the end we managed to take over the site and since then we’ve found ourselves a nice group of five, though now we are four partners because one of us sadly passed. We all have equal shares: Carlo Ter-
ramoccia who is boatyard manager, Piero Landini, philosopher and master of boats, and also of life, Stefano Busonero who takes care of the administrative part, and myself. I deal with external relations, tech- nical management, I am often away find- ing new boats to be restored. The partners have also involved their sons to pass on this art. Between partners and direct employees we are about 20 people and then we collaborate with various other external artisans as we go. SH: What does the CNA have that others who offer restorations do not? FN: I can’t exactly identify it, also I don’t know other yards from the inside. But there are very few who do a job similar to ours. Above everything else our approach to the restoration process is driven by passion. My partners arrive at work at 7am and finish at 8pm, they live in this place. Restoration has its own philosophy, the
soul of the boat resides within it, a copy cannot simply be built next to it. There- fore, an attempt is made to reconstruct a boat on and within itself, a rather complex process. In economic terms in most cases it would certainly be more convenient to build a new boat, but this is not a viable path for us because it would be unethical. SH: Is there one part of the boat that allows it to retain its original aura?
SEAHORSE 45
JAMES ROBINSON TAYLOR
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