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Looking to make history Prada could become first European yacht to win Cup
Posted: Thursday February 17, 2000 12:18 PM
AUCKLAND (Reuters) -- Francesco de Angelis, a former cow geneticist and reluctant sex symbol, will carry the yachting pride of Europe when the America's Cup begins on Saturday. The 39-year-old Neapolitan leads Italy's Prada Challenge which will take on holders Team New Zealand in the series for one of the oldest trophies in international sport. No European yacht has ever won the America's Cup. Prada's defeat of Paul Cayard's AmericaOne in the final of the challenger series two weeks ago also means that no American boat will sail in the America's Cup for the first time since the trophy was first contested in 1851. De Angelis told reporters in Auckland this week that he had originally set out on a career as a geneticist. He began studying genetics and animal husbandry at university and wanted to learn "how to make cows big without chemicals." De Angelis took up sailing when he was 16. He originally viewed it as a pastime, even though he was in line for the Italian team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics until Italy followed the U.S.-led boycott of those Games. "I started sailing with some friends and in the beginning it was just a game," the softly spoken de Angelis said. "I never thought it would be a job. Sailing is not that popular in Italy, so I went to university." De Angelis has carved out an impressive career in 15 years as a professional sailor. He has won five world titles in major keelboat classes from J-24s to one-tonners between 1987 and 1996 and also helped Italy to the 1995 Admiral's Cup title. It was that record which saw Patrizio Bertelli, head of the Prada fashion empire, choose de Angelis as his skipper, even though de Angelis had never before raced in the America's Cup. De Angelis was working with Cayard on a round-the-world race campaign when Bertelli lured him away. "I took a long while before I said yes," he said. De Angelis's quiet nature is in stark contrast to the fiercely competitive personas of America's Cup veterans such as Cayard and Dennis Conner. The tall Italian, however, does not care for suggestions that his gentlemanly, almost bookish demeanor makes him ill-suited for the ruthless world of match racing multi-million dollar America's Cup yachts. "I don't go out sailing to prove. I go out sailing to do my job and the results have to prove what I can do, or not," de Angelis said. "I look quiet...but what does quiet mean? The fact that one speaks slowly and measures his words, that he's not a street fighter?" De Angelis has so far provided the proof on the water. Cayard and Conner both discovered that he can handle the sleek, grey-hulled Prada boat named Luna Rossa with a cool efficiency. Prada led the challenger finals 3-1 until three crucial mistakes in three successive races put AmericaOne ahead and within one race of taking on a confident Team New Zealand in the America's Cup. But just when it appeared that the Italian challenge had folded, de Angelis and his crew sailed immaculately under intense pressure in the final two races to come from behind and win the challenger series. The success came after long-time friend Cayard had said he wanted to see how the Italians reacted under pressure. "In the end...you have to forget the people, you are racing one boat," de Angelis said. "It doesn't matter what people say on the shore." "Tell me, what you can do with all the words [Cayard] said before? In newspapers, he can say he's going for the kill." "Well, where is the kill?" Prada's win over American opponents perceived as arrogant was greeted with delight by New Zealanders. The Italians' exuberant celebrations also injected some humanity into a sport often seen as elitist and the domain of multi-millionaires. After the win de Angelis was voted second behind Latin pop star Ricky Martin in a New Zealand women's magazine poll of the world's sexiest men. "Oh my God no, I think that's too much," said de Angelis, whose crew had to tell him who Martin was.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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