Safeguarding ancient woodworking and yacht-building skills while turning out yachts that are a feast for the eyes as much as they are a joy for classic yacht enthusiasts to sail and race. Clockwise from above… Scud is one of only two surviving Bar Harbor 31s, a series of one-design gaff cutters, built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in 1903 and restored at Cantiere Navale two years ago… 31ft waterline, 50ft overall and carrying a cloud of sail; an original Maxi racer… the 98ft Bermudan ketch Yali was built in 1925 in England by Camper & Nicholsons; almost modern… Windigo, a 74ft Hinckley yawl launched at the famous Maine shipyard in 1956
his whispers, his explanations of the projects, of the acronyms he had placed on the project papers. Knowing which period of the year he preferred to spend in Italy, we tried to make the final restoration works coincide with that moment, so that for the official launch he was always at the helm for the first navigation of the new life of the boat. Olin was even made an honorary citizen of Porto Santo Stefano! Another character who frequented our
little piece of Tuscany was Doug Peterson, he literally lived for years at my home. In the end I forced him to buy a house here in Santo Stefano… SH: You have restored the 1936 BobKat II, a 6 Metre owned by Doug Peterson. What is the difference between restoring a designer’s own boat versus restoring the yacht of a multimillionaire? FN: It is certainly more fun!! But then Doug was particularly passionate, he started living in the yard office and at the same time he was closely following other restorations of ours. One of his passions was to check all the
offsets, he included them in all his pro- grammes and diagrams and quickly spotted if there were errors and the extent of them; he did the same for other boats that we had here under restoration. During his many stays he supported us, but some- times it was us who ‘put up with him’! Doug had some quirks: one, for example,
was that of the wooden plugs in the teak deck, concealing the metal fasteners; he preferred to put them in without glue, instead relying on a perfect fit. Later Doug steered BobKat II to her class win at the 6 Metre Worlds in 2007. SH:What about Patrizio Bertelli? His name often comes up in the conversation… FN: Yes it’s true, we work a lot for him, at the moment with the 12 Metre Kook- aburra which just returned to the yard. Also with Vanessa, Vispa, Linette.
48 SEAHORSE Bertelli’s latest acquisition, Amorette, is
in critical condition and she was also not easy to find… several searches were neces- sary before eventually I found her sitting in Maine. She is one of the very rare P Class, as Mr Bertelli had requested. Almost all the boats still left to be restored are now in America, because WWII did not leave the heavy scars there as it did in Europe. Actually Patrizio Bertelli involved me
during his debut in the America’s Cup. I was going back and forth to the USA to recover IACC yachts such as America3
and
Mighty Mary to start the campaign. The team base was located in Punta Ala. Once I went there with Olin Stephens and, despite being elderly at the time, Doug told me not to let him in anywhere because he was eternally curious… by his own admission! Others yachts are also now based at the
CNA. For example, we usually have Recluta, German Frers’ personal yacht, which lives with us when she is in Europe and to which we continue to make improvements. This is one of the last major current projects, we have others in the pipeline but I have a duty of confiden- tiality and I cannot name these boats. SH:Which boat is the most significant for you among those you have restored? FN: If I really have to choose I say Dorade. I have very pleasant memories… in those years the classic yacht regattas were still held in Porto Cervo. We were leading the fleet around the Islet of Monaco, I was steering upwind, in the stretch of sea towards the finish in Porto Cervo, when I realised that the rudder was no longer responding. Then we all got to windward and the boat sailed by itself, with perfect sail trim, all the way to the finish with no one at the helm. A magical moment. SH: Do you have other special memories of sailing on yachts you have restored? FN: Without a doubt the America’s Cup
Jubilee at Cowes in 2001. I did the Round the Island Race on Stormy Weather with Doug, there was the perfect breeze, 11- 12kt, and we always sailed close to Dorade. We got to the Needles together, beautiful! But other boats from our yard also took part in that regatta – Nyala with Torben Grael, Aria with Mauro Pelaschier and Cerida. It was a great satisfaction for us as a boatyard. SH: You are also involved in the produc- tion of the Wianno Senior one-designs that exist mostly in America… FN: We have made seven and sold one more just recently. They are very expen- sive!! For us they are not economically advantageous but they are delightful boats that have a niche market. SH: A final very important question for you, Federico… How do you keep and pass on this wonderful local craftsmanship to the new generations? FN: It must be said that in Italy very little is invested in this area, which is why so many trades are disappearing. The craft of wood carpentry is linked to naval carpen- ters… when they disappear the art disap- pears. Always the hope is that the sons can keep this knowledge, but that is not always the case. Other boatyards such as Beconcini had to cope with the disappear- ance of a lot of important craftsmanship knowledge when many of their workers retired or moved away – it was a very tough situation for them. You cannot teach these skills without demonstrating them for many hours, days and weeks. It is not a profession that can be
invented, it must be handed down. Many years ago, with Serena Galvani, Aria’s owner, we tried to create a school for naval carpenters here – I wanted to set it up like the school in Newport. Unfortu- nately, however, for various reasons, many of those reasons to do with local politics, this project never really got going...
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JAMES ROBINSON TAYLOR
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