Yachting is often a family pastime and many superyacht owners and designers caught the bug at a young age.
At this year’s Superyacht Design Symposium, we asked four of the industry’s most well known individuals to share their earliest memory of sailing:
Naval architect German Frers revealed that he began sailing at a very young age and that his first memories in life are on a boat with his father. “I won my first sailing championship at eight years old on a small dinghy,” he revealed. “Since then I’ve always been involved in sailing and enjoying life at sea and on board.”
Andrew Winch, founder of Winch Design, said: “I grew up sailing in Chichester harbour. My father was teaching me to sail on a Clinker-built wooden, 14 foot sail boat. My first boat was a gunter-rigged Gull — I used to take it out and sail it on my own, and for me it was the epiphany of why I love boats.”
Luca Bassani, founder and president of Wally, also enjoyed an early introduction to the world of sailing. “I was six years old and I went on board a famous racing boat called Miranda. I was invited to go out and it was windy, about 25 knots, and a bit rough, and for the first time in my life I realised that I loved sailing.”
For Paola Trifiro, owner of Ribelle, it was romance that introduced her to the world of sailing. “I was at university and I met a nice chap, who is now still my husband. He had a fantastic sailing boat and I wanted to learn, so I bought a seven-metre sailing boat and I started learning so that when I approached my future husband, I could say: ‘Now I am a big sailor as well!’”
The June edition of Boat International, dedicated to the joys of sailing, is out now.