Untitled - Powerboat Archive

Cover story: Edoardo Polli
,.
PRO\/O, OORRO, RO
EPOIR
tff
"
di Vincenzo Zaccagnino
o ha convinto a correre in offshore
Stefano Casiraghi. Era
l'inverno del 1986 e il marito
di Carolina di Monaco tragicamente
scomparso lo scorso anno comincid
a bombardare Edoardp Polli
di telefonals. nAlla fine ci riusci,,
confessa il presidente e amministratore
delegato del Gruppo Legler-
Polli, gigante italo-svizzero del tessile.
nMa devo riconoscere che ero assai
dubbioso. Poi, pii che altro per
sottrarmi alla sua insistenza, mi ritrovai
su un monocarena di Tullio Abbate
al Gran premio di Porto Cervo di
cinque anni fa. Partimmo malissimo,
e ben presto ci ritrovammo in un
vortice di scie in sedicesima posizione.
Allora Stefano non era il grande
campione che E diventato doPo. Io
mi misi in rotta dietro gli altri e lui
comincib a urlare come un ossesso,
perchd uscissi dalle scie. E io mi domandavo
perchd aYevo accettato e
mi ripetevo che dovevo essere pazzo
a ritrovarmi su quel mostro rombante
con vicino uno che continuava a
urlare. Poi, pian piano, vedendo che
superavamo molti degli altri, cominciai
a entusiasmarmi. In fondo, questo
offshore non d cosi male, pensai.
Finimmo solo settimi, perch6 all'ultima
boa un motore ci piantd. Ma ormai
ero convinto: avrei continuato>.
Cosi Edoardo Polli, 45 anni, moglie e
Conquistoto oll'offshore
I l^ r l. \
d0 L0strognl/ ne e
divenuto il polodino. Allo
ricerco dello vittorio piU
bello: rCon uno borco
fotto di testq mior
tre figli di otto, sei e un anno, racconta
il suo incontro con lo sport di
cui oggi E uno dei massimi registi, oltre
che appassionato pilota e ricercatore.
D infatti presidente della Iota,
I'Associazione internazionale dei
team, e rappresenta la categoria dei
piloti in seno all'Uim, la Federazione
mondiale motonautica. E un uofno
duro, coraggioso, molto professionale,
e ha preso le redini di questo particolarissimo
sport con la stessa energia
con cui guida la holding tessile
che presiede.
.Abbiamo portato avanti il discorso

Qui sopro, Edoordo Polli sul colomorono
di Renoto Molinori con il quole ho vinlo
lo scorso onno uno provo del compionolo
itoliono. Nello pogino o fionco, il Cot 44
Codecoso 2, spinlo do quotlro Motori
Moderni Alloni con cui Polli ho corso
I'ultimo slogione e ho comincioto,
ridipingendo lo siofo di nero, quello di
quesl'onno, Oltre o questo borco,
botlezzolo col nome dello sponsor Sdo, il
leom Roinbow che fo copo o Polli ne
ollineo ol vio oltre due'
44
della sicurezza, dopo i tragici incidenti
che si sono verificati fino alla
morte di Stefanoo, precisa. nQuando
succede qualcosa di tragict-r si cerca
di intervenire irrazionalmente, bloccando
tutto. Bisogna invece agire
con freddezza e intelligenza, senza
esagerare. Ed E quello che abbiamo
fatto. E inutile immaginare cose diverse:
lo sport d questo, le Potenze
anche, mentre le velociti sono destinate
ancofa ad aumentafe. Non bisogna
interrompere il processo evolutivo
di un'attiviti. Basta rendere i mez'
zi su cui corriamo pii stabili e sicuri,
aggiungendo dotazioni come i sistemi
e le capsule che ora vediamo in
glfa'.
Il oresidente della Iota non ha dubbi
in proposito, mentre continua a raccontarci
le sue strategie. Ne parliamo
nel suo studio milanese fasciato di
mogano, in una nube di fumo azzurrino
che scaturisce dall'immancabile
sigaro. Come detcrminezione. certezza
di opinioni, aggressiviti... e
amore per il fumo ci ricorda un altro
grande capitano d'industria e di mare,
Raul Gardini. Che ha gii messo a
punto le slle macchine vincenti,
mentre Edoardo Polli sta ancora lottando
sull'affascinante e ripida strada
che porta alla vittoria.
nProvi a pensare al mondo dei caval-
1i,, mi dice, ne immagini un gentleman
a cui affidano un animale dalle
doti eccezionali. tirato su da altri. Lui
deve solo saperlo guidare, fare il fan-

""ri:1rt
il
**
tino insomma. E cosi lo porta alla vittoria.
Immagini ora un altro gentleman,
proprietario di un allevamento,
che si tira su un puledro, lo allena, 1o
monta e alla fine 1o porta alla vitt

Qui sopro, Edoordo Polli sorridente e
vittorioso insieme con il nipote Vincenzo,
occosionolmenle ol suo fionco in uno
ooro. A deslro, nell'obitocolo del suo
Sjo. Nello pogino o fionco, in ollo con
lo moglie, un'ex folomodello svedese, e
con il lerzo figlio, Nikolos, noto un onno
fo. A cenlro pogino, con i suoi coequipier:
il lecnico Moreno Lotto (o
sinislro nello foto) e il piloto Morco
Rigonti. In bosso, ollre due immogini di
Polli, perplesso dopo un ritiro e in
versione businessmon duronle un
dibofiito orgonizzolo dollo nostro rivislo.
4b

Formula flno automobilistica,.
Il presidente della lota ha fatto provare
ad alcuni dei grandi nomi del
circuito stradale il suo catamarano da
corsa. Sono tutti scesi un po' stravolti,
ripetendo sempre la stessa frase:
.V

42 TF'AT FTRST YOU
ffi DON'T SUCCEED...
by Vincenzo Zaccagnino
Edoardo Polli, 45, is the chairman and
managing-director of Lagler Polli, x massive
Italo-Srviss textile operation. The
first person who convinced him to take
up offshore racing was the late Stefano
Casiraghi.
It ail began in 1986 when Caroline of
Monaco's husband started bombarding
Edoardo Polli rvith phone calls. Polli
confesses that "in the end Stefano convinced
me, but I have to say I wa$ pretty
dubious at first. Then, mainl-v in order to
stop him bothering me, I agreed to go on
board Tullio Abbate's monohull in the
Porto Cen'o Grand Prix of that -Year. We
had a terribie start and soon found ourselves
in sixteenth position, trailing behind
a whirlwind of wakes. In those da-vs
Stefano wasn't yet the great champion
that he later became. I was following the
course behind the others and he started
shouting like a man obsessed, telling me
to get out of the wakes. I kept on asking
myself what on earth I was doing there:
I must have been out of my mind to go on
that fumbling monster, next to a man
n'h

(nw---.
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E*crrsHD'turt
vinced that I wanted to carry on racing."
This is how Polli, married with three
children aged eight, six and one respectively,
recounts his first encounter with
offshore racing. Today he is one of the
sport's leading lights, in addition to being
an enthusiastic pilot and researcher.
He is president of IOTA, the International
Offshore Team Association, and
represents the pilots' category in UIM,
the world speedboat federation.
He is a tough, courageous and highly
professional man, who has thrown himself
into this unusual sport with the same
energy that he uses for running his textile
company. He tells us that "we've been
working hard on the question of safety
since Casiraghi's tragic death last year.
When something like that happens, your
natural instinct is to over-react and stop
everything. On the contrary, you should
keep calm and this is what we've tried to
do. You can't do anything else, really.
This is the nature of the sport -
the
speeds will only increase, if anything.
You can't interrupt the evolutionary
process. All we can do is make the craft
safer with equipment like the capsules,
which are already being used in races".
The IOTA president seems pretty convinced
as he talks about his strategies.
'We are sitting in his mahogany-panelled
studio, surrounded by a cloud of smoke
that emanates from his ever-present cigar.
His determination, certainty and aggressiveness
is reminiscent of another
captain ofboth industry and the sea, Raul
Gardini. Yet if Gardini has already perfected
his winning machines,. Edoardo
Polli is still climbing the steep path to
victory.
"Try thinking about the world of
horses," he tells me, "and imagine the
jockey -
the gentleman who is entrusted
with exceptional animals that have been
bred by others. All he has to do is ride
them to victory. Now imagine another
gentleman, the owner of the stud farm,
who raises the foal, breaks it in, rides it
and takes it on to victory. His excitement
and satisfaction must be far greater than
that of the jockey.
"For me it's the same thing. Fabio Buzzi
offered me the monohull with which he
had won the wodd title. It was cleady a
winning boat but, had I bought it, I
would have been little more than a lockey.
Indeed I've got it into my head that I
should race a boat designed according to
my ideas, with an original transmission
system and Alloni engines, which have
been adapted for sea use. In this way I
can experiment with the boat, race it, see
it break down and start again, trying to
understand what exactly went wrong.
When I have been on other craft, I think
I've showed that I know how to win. But
I want to win on board one of my own
boats, in order to have the complete
satisfaction that only that sort of victory
can give".
Polli is perhaps the only man capable of
making offshore racing expand in this
difficult period. He isn't short of ideas or
srategies and he is clearly an optimist.
He maintains that the current crisis,
above all at the level of sponsorship and
investment, is a direct consequence of
the world recession and the Gulf War,
which has left its mark in all sectors. But
crises tend to pass, whereas offshore is
progressing, from a technical point of
view. It is necessary to spread the word,
for it is only in this way that success can
be consolidated.
"In order to grow further," Polli says,
"offshore racing must be marketed
properly. Things mustn't be the way they
were in the past, when undue emphasis
was given to the interests of individual
sponsors. The media, especially TV,
must explain that this is a tough sport
and that it is no longer for people who
want to show off. 'W'hen you're racing in
the sea at 22O kilometres an hour, you
need to be a professional, rather like the
Formula One drivers".
The president of IOTA has invited a number
of grand prix racers to try out his
catamararr. All of them have come back
to shore, looking petrified and repeating
the phrase, "you guys are ctazy." This is
because the sea isn't repetitive like the
track, with tables for gear changes and
the guarantee of constant conditions. At
sea, everything is unpredictable, like the
waves which will suddenly make you
jump while you're doing 2O0 kilometres
per hour, or the wind which can get between
the catamaran's hulls and make
them lift uncontrollably.
But it is precisely the insidious nature of
the sea which attracts Edoadi Polli.
"When I was five I started sailing on a
mahogany Baglietto baby boat. I've still
got it," he confesses. "Then I became an
angry sailor. I started with a FlyingJunior
and then I progressed to a Flying Dutchman,
and then the Star and the Dragon.
But the only one I enjoyed was the FD.
When I'm not offshore racing, I spend all
my free time at the sea. I never miss a
weekend, from April to October and I
also sail at Christmas and in February. I
have abandoned the snow and the mountains
for good: only the sea enables me to
get away from it all and re-charge my batteries.
It makes me feel happy".