Soon after completing the restoration of Kaléa a sailing friend, having taken a look around, turned to me and said:“It would have to be you Tim that can see the benefits of downsizing to a bigger boat.” What I think he meant by that, and he’s actually quite right, is that a bigger boat is easier to sail, far more comfortable, you can go further and everything happens at a slower pace – perfect for a yachtsman entering the final third of his classic sailing career! What my friend didn’t realise was the challenge I had set myself after acquiring the boat in Rome in April 2019.
HISTORY
is a Mediterranean superyacht of her time, built with no expense spared and Italian through and through. Commissioned in 1965 by a wealthy Genovese entrepreneur, was built to exacting standards by Cantieri di Pisa, launched in 1965, and was to be the last sailing yacht built by this famous yard. In 1985 she was bought by the Milanese lawyer and his wife, Salvatori and Paola Trufiro who undertook a substantial modernisation of the boat at the Valdettaro Shipyard, Le Grazie, renamed her and owned her through until 1992. Salvatori and Paola have gone on to own a number of other notable Italian superyachts, and in 2013 were thrilled to see their “Italian masterpiece” in Sardinia. In 1992, she was bought by the former Italian Naval Officer, Sergio di Lazzaro. She was based in the Tyrrhanian Sea at Cala Galera and Riva di Traiano and cruised the Mediterranean continued to be managed by the family through a company called Azzurro Yachting, used for family cruising and chartering covering the extensive area from Barcelona to Turkey. But by 2015, apart from a limited amount of family use, was laid up and put on the market.
