Andrea is the youngest Italian skipper in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2011 edition, a double-handed transatlantic race from Le Havre (France) to Puerto Limon (Costa Rica). A pool of companies from the green economy sector supports him.
Andrea sails on Hip Eco Blue, an Akilaria Class 40, prepared and tuned in La Rochelle by Andrea and Tommaso Stella, who has always worked at Giovanni Soldini's side.
Andrea, crossing the ocean, brings a message to the world: Green is Blue!
Hip Eco Blue was born from the idea of a pool of companies that strongly believe in alternative energy and in a better future in the name of the green economy: Studio Energia, Telmotor, Friem, Trasfor and Elektronorm.
By joining themselves in a Green Team, they decided to apply their principle to people: they believed in the energy of Andrea's alternative life plan, where sailing immediately appeared to be the perfect expression of the green economy values.
Green is Blue is the motto that was born from the strong link between the boat's low environmental impact and the natural elements that surround it.
An edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre which saw numerous withdrawals due to the harsh weather conditions encountered in the Atlantic.
Andrea and Tommaso Stella conclude in ninth position with a positive balance and a lot of accumulated experience.
"The boat is all in all fine, we had worked above all on the boat reliability and it paid off, we did not break anything fundamental, also thanks to the weather strategy (let's not forget that more than 50 percent of the boats that chose the north route they did not even reach a third of the way), despite the fact that we too took our beating on the back, eh eh!
Perhaps the worst moment was the last night, when Partouche, who we leave behind for 90 percent of the race, passed us on the wire only thanks to the pure speed difference of the boat. The most beautiful? I don't know, there were many... the overtaking during the "match race" with Partouche, the squall where we managed to make a good supply of fresh water that was running out, the glides at 20 knots in the few "stable" days, and the hug of friends upon arrival!
Absolutely positive results, despite the errors that still occurred. We managed to be almost always fast, not to make big strategic mistakes, to cope with all the failures, repairing or adapting to the problems that gradually arose: a rich store of knowledge for the next race!"
