Mascalzone syndicate single and keen to mingle

By JULIE ASH

ITA72, the one and only yacht of Italian syndicate Mascalzone Latino, could venture onto the Hauraki Gulf for the first time today.

The boat's maiden voyage in Auckland was delayed after problems with the travel lift - the machine that transports boats from the boat shed and lowers them into the water.

The lift failed this week, dropping their training yacht USA55 into the water. Fortunately, the boat escaped without any major damage.

"We were very lucky. First we were lucky because it was USA55 and not our new boat, and secondly the cables broke in the last period when the boat was near the water," said Mascalzone Latino team manager Paolo Scutellaro.

The syndicate, which is believed to have a budget of around $70 million, was set up by Vincenzo Onorato in 1993/94 and has won numerous sailing titles.

The team spent two months in Auckland this year training with USA55, the old Stars and Stripes yacht, before returning to Italy to launch their new boat ITA72.

"We spent a month or so in Italy testing the new boat against Mascalzone 10 - the old Spanish boat Bravo Espagna," Scutellaro said.

The 32-man sailing team returned to Auckland a month ago. Onorato, the syndicate president and skipper, arrives from Naples early next month.

The team live in a central city apartment and make their way around town on 80 new mountain bikes which they brought with them from Italy.

"I think they are very excited just to be here. It is a huge and amazing event," Scutellaro said.

"We can see that we have a small team. If you look at the other teams they have more people, bigger bases and have lived here for longer. It is a budget thing. If you have less money you have less people, just one boat or less masts."

Being the only one-boat campaign, Mascalzone Latino are well aware of the huge challenge ahead.

"It is really hard to just have a one-boat campaign. We spent a lot of time with just one boat in Italy and it was terrible," Scutellaro said. "It is difficult to tell if you are doing well or not. It is boring for the sailing guys because what you need is competition."

The team had already raced against Victory Challenge and GBR Challenge and were keen to line up against some of the other challengers, he said.

"We would like to race more if the other teams have time to do it. We need the competition."

The syndicate were realistic about their chances in their first America's Cup.

"Our goal is to win as many races as we can and gain some experience which we could use in future America's Cups."

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