Scud, Toi et Moi, Il Moro di Venezia I, Varuna 1939. Are the winners in their respective Classes of the 21st Argentario Sailing Week which from 16 to 19 June organized by the Yacht Club Santo Stefano and the Municipality of Argentario brought together the most beautiful boats vintage. 28 boats the boats that at sea and on land transformed the Argentario into the capital of yesterday sailing with a parade of boats that told 177 years of yachting design and history.
Herreshoff and Fife jewels on the Argentario Sailing Week red carpet
An open parade, and not only for the victory in “Vintage Aurici” by Patrizio Bertelli’s Scud designed by Nathanael Herreshoff in 1903. Scud, 14,80 meters long, was the penultimate of 13 hulls in the “Bar Harbor 31-footers” class. In the standings, behind Scud we find Marga, the first 12-meter SI designed and built in 1910 by the Swedish C. O. Liljegren, who had learned the profession of designer from the “magician of Bristol”: Nathanael Herreshoff. But some of the boats designed by William Fife III were also racing at the 21st Argentario Sailing Week 2022. Like Sumurum, a 28.60-meter Marconi ketch launched in 1914 by the William Fife Fifw & Sons shipyard in Fairlie, Scotland and Hallowe’en launched in 1926.
The Italian Navy guardian of traditions at the Argentario Sailing Week
And the parade of great designers continues with John Illinworth and with Artica II, built by the Sangermani shipyard and launched in 1956. One of the two boats of the Italian Navy. The other was the 5.50 SI Grifone, a 1962 project by Thor Olson that raced for Italy at the 1964 Olympics. And the boats signed by Sparkman & Stephens could not be missing as Varuna of 1939, launched in 1938 by the Jakobson Yard in Brooklyn under the name of Enterprise.
A great passion for vintage boats at the Argentario Sailing Week
And finally, to connect the past and the present told not only by the boats and the designers but also by the passion that animates the owners who gave life to the 21st Argentario Sailing Week, three boats. In the “Classics” (wooden or metal yachts built before 1976) Il Moro di Venezia I, the maxi (20.41 meters long) designed by Germàn Frers and launched in 1976 and, in the “Spirit of Tradition“, Midva, designed by Ron Holland in 1980 and Toi et Moi, a project by the Dutch studio Dykstra Naval Architects. Toi et Moi was launched in 2018, just four years ago, demonstrating that the pleasure of sailing on a boat from yesteryear lines is more alive than ever. As demonstrated by the 21st Argentario Sailing Week.
Emilio Martinelli
