Vasco Vascotto talks to Valencia Sailing

One thing most observers agreed upon last week was that Mascalzone Capitalia was one of the teams that showed most improvement and consistency. Finishing third not only were they the best Italian syndicate, they managed to position themselves a mere point behind Emirates Team NZ and ahead of the other top challengers BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa. Although they didn't win any of the races they never crossed the finish line worse than 6th.

A couple of days before the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup we talked to the Italian skipper, Vasco Vascotto, who was happy but certainly not relaxed. Although he is satisfied with the crew and boat, there is no time to rest and we managed to steal a few minutes on his way out to another day of intensive training aboard ITA-90 and ITA-99.

Valencia Sailing: I guess you are now one of the happiest people around the Port America's Cup.
Vasco Vascotto: First of all, we are happy we are really close to the competition. We are sportsmen, sailors and we like to race. We trained a lot during the previous months and we are happy to see and show others that this intensive training paid off and improved our performance.

Valencia Sailing: How would you rate Mascalzone Capitalia's performance in Louis Vuitton Act 13? Was it an important event for you?
Vasco Vascotto: It can be really important for some reasons but it can also be very dangerous for various other reasons. You have to be realistic and not over react to these good results. The fleet in Valencia has proven to be very competitive and there are 11 challenger boats that can win every single race. It is very important to keep working in the same direction and not lose focus on the essential things, the good maneuvers, the good tactics and excellent sailing. We want to be a team nice to watch because if we sail well we have more options to win the races.

Valencia Sailing: How were the first official races of ITA-99? Alinghi's Brad Butterworth stated she was one of the boats that impressed him.
Vasco Vascotto: I would just be crazy if I said we were not satisfied with her. Obviously, it is very good to be sure you have a boat that can race against any other yacht here and I think we have it. But as I said, we have to sail well. The boat is not a problem, we sail fast in almost all conditions, we raced in light air, 8-9 knots, and we were satisfied. It's not simply a matter of the boat being fast, it's also an issue of sails and crew work. Everybody in this team has worked hard in order to achieve better performance every single day. In addition, our sails have now allowed us a good improvement in conditions that were challenging in the past.

Valencia Sailing: Have you decided what boat you will race next week?
Vasco Vascotto: We are considering this decision these days. For example, yesterday ITA-90 won the race against ITA-99 and it will be a tough decision to make. We will opt for the boat that will provide us with more confidence.

Valencia Sailing: Three weeks ago I asked about the unusual weather conditions that still continue as we speak. Will the first week of the Louis Vuitton Cup prove to be tricky as well?
Vasco Vascotto: I'm still waiting for the famous "Valencia weather". It should be warmer, drier, not as wet. Nevertheless, sooner or later summer will arrive here and the moment it does the significant temperature difference between land and sea will produce a really good seabreeze.

Valencia Sailing: You personally, and your team's navigator, Nacho Postigo, are fleet racing maestros. Should we take your team's performance in the last Act with a pinch of salt? Is match racing going to be tougher for Mascalzone Capitalia?
Vasco Vascotto: First of all, I'm happy to know I didn't forget how to sail in a fleet race. Don't forget we have only been training match racing and this is what we have been focusing on. Sailing in these races is very similar. It's just a matter of sailing fast in the race course. For all these teams both fleet and match racing are almost identical. The most important issue is to have a good start. Our pre start helmsmen, Jes Gram-Hansen and Cameron Dunn, have been training very hard during the last year and they performed very well in the difficult pre starts of the fleet races.

Valencia Sailing: What about the rest of the challengers? How do you see them? You almost managed to steal the three-point bonus from Desafío Español.
Vasco Vascotto: Desafío Español had the opportunity to gain some points in the early years of the 32nd America's Cup. They had a really good boat package from OneWorld, one of the strongest boats from the previous Cup. They gained some points there and had the opportunity to learn a lot from that boat. Don't forget that we had to work hard with an older boat that was not fast and now that our boats are fast we see how much we have improved.

Valencia Sailing: So, your goal of being in the semifinals is still intact.
Vasco Vascotto: That's not my goal! I have always said that my goal was to sail well. Who knows? It could even turn out to be better than that but it could also be worse if you don't sail well. The goal is to sail well although I do agree with Brad Butterworth when he said that the America's Cup was a "design contest" and the faster boat would win. In Act 13 we saw it was a matter of speed but only for Alinghi.

Valencia Sailing: That was to be my last question. I think quite a few people share the view Alinghi are unbeatable.
Vasco Vascotto: Everybody can be beaten. No doubt about that. If at a given race they don't sail correctly, at their level, somebody will be there to beat them. They are not one of the top teams, they are THE top team. That's for sure, they have the crew, money, resources, experience and obviously an excellent boat. Nevertheless, this doesn't allow them to think they have already won the 32nd America's Cup. Everybody works hard to win the Cup and will fight for every single opportunity.