INTERVIEW

Luca Rosetti 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 La Boulangère Mini Transat, 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝-𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐞𝟒𝟎.

Before going back over your great victory in the Mini Transat, can you tell us about your sailing career and your past experiences?

 I’m originally from Bologna, so I’m not from a seafaring family.

I started sailing during the summer holidays at the age of 6, but it was just for fun, but the competitive spirit soon caught up with me. So I joined a sailing club with a competition section and started with the Optimist, which is where I took part in my first regattas. I went on to do laser racing and then match racing. I tried out different types of craft because I wanted to discover different experiences.

Then I started the Mini Transat 2019 on an old boat (n° 342) because I wanted to discover the ocean racing. It was a superb experience but when I arrived in Martinique, I immediately said to myself that I wanted to set off again with a competitive project and a high-performance boat. I was slowed down in my progress because of my budget, but above all because of Covid, which stopped me dead in my tracks with my Mini Transat 2021 project. As a result, I’ve been preparing the RACE CARE project for the Mini Transat 2021. At the end of this edition, I took over the reins of the project as skipper, I moved to France to be able to train in the best conditions and I took part in all the races of the season until this Mini Transat 2023.

So you’ve been ashore for a few days now, what are your impressions and how do you feel after this victory?

I still can’t quite believe it. It’s really something huge. I’ve just got my phone back and when I switched it on, it was incredible to see how many messages I received from Italy, France, my friends abroad, my friends from the Globe40… I had an incredible welcome in Guadeloupe, so many people were there to welcome me. It’s this enthusiasm that makes me realise that I’ve achieved a superb performance, but I’ll need a few more days to really realise it.

By winning this edition of the Mini Transat, you become the 2nd Italian to win after Ambrogio Beccaria, which makes you very proud?

Yes, I’m very proud. Quite simply because Ambrogio is the GOAT, the unbeatable. To find myself winning this Mini Transat alongside him scares me! On the other hand, I know that just because I’ve won this Mini Transat doesn’t mean I’m at his level. He’s already got a huge amount of experience and a lot of victories. But it’s not just him, you have to be able to take on all the other skippers. Now I have to concentrate fully on my new project!

How do you explain this good period for Italian sailing, with more and more successful projects in ocean racing, including Ambrogio Beccaria, Alberto Bona, Alberto Riva and now Luca Rosetti, who won this Mini Transat?

For several years now, the Italian Federation and the Class Mini have been doing their utmost to try and develop ocean racing in Italy. Italy is the 2nd most represented nation in the Mini Transat. A few years ago, Italian sailing projects were more ‘low budget’ adventure-oriented. Today, the projects are geared towards performance and competition, which means that the level of training and competition has increased. That’s great and we can only be delighted for Italian sailing. The 3 skippers you mention have a huge amount of experience in Mini, Figaro and now Class40 and are putting Italy at the forefront of the ocean racing scene. They represent the top level.

When we listen to you, we get the impression that everything has gone smoothly for you and that nothing could happen to you, but you must nevertheless have had moments of doubt or solitude?

I haven’t had many lonely moments in this Mini Transat because last year I took part in the 3rd leg of the Globe40 between Mauritius and Auckland and the experience of being at sea for 35 days helped me a lot. I had the impression that this Mini Transat went pretty quickly in the end. For example, I never put the arrival waypoints on my GPS, I was really focused on the trimming and the speed of the boat. I’m starting to have a lot of miles on the clock and a fair amount of experience in long-distance races.

I still had some difficult moments and doubts because the weather wasn’t easy to understand. You can have doubts pretty quickly because you don’t have a lot of information on board. On the penultimate day, I had a huge bout of stress with fatigue and I was really afraid of losing the Mini Transat; the wind forecast wasn’t really what we had in the zone and I was really afraid of losing all the lead I’d built up over the past few days. It was impossible to eat or sleep during the final hours of the race. I really went to the limit to get this victory and that makes me proud.

You took part in the 1st edition of Globe40, what did you think of the race and how did Globe40 help you achieve such a feat in the Mini Transat?

Taking part in the Globe40 was a superb experience, it really is a crazy race.

Organising a round-the-world race is never easy, especially a 1st edition, especially when it comes to the logistics for both the racers and the organisers.

It’s a great race for the skippers, but also for the partners. For a partner, having the opportunity to display its colours on a boat all over the world is a unique opportunity. There’s the possibility of organising public relations operations on incredible stopover. Generally speaking, ocean races start in France and return to France without stopping. The Globe40 allows you to race around the world, stopping off in magical places where you can meet new cultures.

In terms of experience, the Globe40 helped me a lot in terms of my psychological approach. It helps you to better understand how to take care of the boat and the skipper over a fairly long race.

You’re leaving the 6.50 circuit in the best possible way. How do you hope to continue your young career, and what are your plans?

I’ve already started work on a Class40 project, and a few sponsors are going to support me in this new project, but I’m still looking for partners.

For the time being, the idea is to gain experience on these boats and that’s why I’m going to be doing a delivery trip back from the Transat Jacques Vabre. I’ll be able to continue my apprenticeship and gain experience on this type of craft with a view to having my own project. It’s great, I’m delighted.

Is your aim to be at the start of the 2nd edition of the Globe40 with a 100% Italian project?

Yes, it’s a goal, even if it’s true that there isn’t much time before the start in 2025 to find a budget, train and make a boat reliable. It’s a very interesting race and I’d certainly like to get there.