Star Class Honoring the Past, Leading the Future
Enrico Chieffi, at the age of 58, won the European Star Class title in Split together with bowman Nando Colaninno (aged 54). An exceptional result for an exceptional athlete and manager.
Enrico Chieffi, currently senior advisor of the Nautor’s Swan shipyard, after being vice-president for more than two decades, has recently been appointed CEO of SLAM, a traditional sailing clothes brand, to relaunch of the company, and has a palmares of sailing greats. The 1996 Star World Champion (paired with Roberto Sinibaldi) was tactician on the Moro di Venezia in 1992 winning the Louis Vuitton Cup in San Diego.
He started out with his brother Tommaso and, in the 470 class, he won the 1979, 1980 and 1982 Italian Championships and the 1981 European Championship. He took part in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, finishing fifth, and won the 1985 World Championship in his home waters at Marina di Carrara.
A perfect strategy, as Chieffi told us, is not the only “secret” behind the victory. There is also an exceptional and innovative boat: “You have to know,” says Chieffi, “that my mentality has always led me in search of innovation. Just think that the spinnakers still used today in the 470 class are derived from those I invented in 1982.
The new Star I raced on in Croatia is very special. Talking to my friend and designer Juan Kouyoumdjian (with whom Enrico has a close relationship, also considering the recent Club Swan line, and who took part in the Star European Championship together with Enrico Voltolini, finishing fourth), I came up with the idea.
Traditionally, the mast of this boat is long and has a very thin section, it has little sturdiness (reason why in the Star it often happens, even to champions, to break the mast). If we shorten it in length, with the same section it will be much stiffer: hence the idea of a mast resting on the deck and not passing through.
Juan K followed me right away: he took the original drawings of the Star that won the 2008 Olympics with Iain Percy and based on them he studied the application of the mast on deck. Then we called my friend Stefano Lillia and the boat was built in his yard.
“My secret, which is easy to say, is a sporty and healthy lifestyle. Every morning I get up very early, go for a run (I always do my 10 km a day), then shower, breakfast and the office. When I can, I also work out.” Enrico goes back to the reasons of his success in Croatia.
“This is my way of life, without physical activity I feel ill: a system that I learned in my sporting past, in the 470 and the America’s Cup, and that I still carry with me today. This winter, for example, I’ve been skiing non-stop with big differences in altitude as soon as my work allowed me to. And when I’m not skiing, I’m boating. That’s my real secret.”
“Now there are the Star World Championships, from 7 to 11 September, in Kiel, Germany. Our participation has been in the plans for a long time. I decided to get back in the game on the Star after my return to the World Championships in Porto Cervo (which ended with an excellent ninth place in tandem with Manlio Corsi). And with a crew and a boat like that, let us tell you, expectations are high!
