Away from the noise, crowded harbors, and hubbub.
The boat as a safe place, a protective shell, an ideal habitat for relaxing, but also for working.
In short, a space where one can be well and at peace, in company or with oneself, because not always, when one wants to go, there is someone available. Vincenzo Vigo, an advertising executive by profession, is CEO and creative director of Mosquito, the acronym he created in 2013, and the author of very famous campaigns such as the unforgettable “Denghiu” created to promote an English course for De Agostini with Aldo Biscardi as testimonial, the saga of the invisible man and that of José Mourinho for Sambuca Molinari or the world in animation and 3D for the CRAI Group, tells us about his passion for boating.
Starting with a small yellow dinghy when he was a teenager, he is now a devoted owner of a Sasga 42 HT, having also owned a 34-footer from the Spanish shipyard and various other boats.
In his approach made of prolonged sailing, roadsteads and wonderful landscapes, there are those precious tips that make you want to go to sea 365 days a year, and even some nights.
Then there is that great respect for the environment and for others-not always present today-that should characterize all boaters. Here is his story.
Let’s go to the origins, how did this passion for the sea come about?
“So, what I’m about to say sounds crazy, but it’s true: I used to do bed cruises as a child. I, from above, would be the captain, a plate in my hand as a rudder, binoculars and chips, and below were my brothers. We used to travel stationary like that. Then because I never let them go above the bridge growing up they mutinied. That’s how it started, then when I was fourteen my father told me he would like to buy me a moped. I told him, “No, Dad, I don’t want a moped. Why not a dinghy?”
He agreed.
I am almost 66 years old, Sicilian, and at that time there were no big dealers.
We went to a store, basically a peddler, that had these dinghies, I have to say hideous, French dinghies that were called Mapa, maybe Mapà, and we bought one that was about two meters sixty with a Jonhson four horsepower.
A smoke and a stench–obviously two-strokes, a good 2 percent mixture and off we went.
From there, the passion never stopped growing.
I remember when I got a Rio 310, something of a myth then.
It was a bathtub, but with a 15-horsepower Evinrude you were flying…”
So boats have always been a part of your life?
“I actually had to put this passion aside for a while.
I had moved to Milan and Turin for work.
Where I was staying there was no sea.
In the meantime, I had exhumed a boat that a Sicilian craftsman had made for me, a wooden lance with a planing hull, which I used to take out just when I went back to Sicily.
It was beautiful.
Later I had a Bani 760 gozzo, the ones they make in Porto Santo Stefano (near Grosseto n.d.r.).
Then, in 2016, I met the Sasga.
They had just arrived the new 34
, a 9-meter, which in some ways looked like a joke. Outside small, precisely not even 10 meters, but inside huge. I took one and wanted it with 260-horsepower engines, which was more than the suggested power. At first they didn’t want to, today they mount the 270 horsepower (laughs, ed.). I feel very attached to this brand. After three years, when I turned sixty, accomplice to my six feet tall, wingspan and having one bathroom, I switched to the Sasga 42, the boat I have now. It is not the newest design in the yard because it is from 2001. It has one and a half cabins, and maybe there are more habitable boats on this size today. But it has a wonderful galley, a unique seaworthiness and elegance. I don’t like ‘irons in the fire’; there’s real seaworthiness here.”
“How do you usually navigate?”
When I was younger, I had a doctor friend who took me on a small sailboat, a 470, a completely different experience because it requires time, passion and care.
However, that slowness, the passion for travel, has stayed with me.
I don’t need to take the boat to go swimming at 50 knots.
Many boats today, because of the hulls they have, if you don’t run, you suffer.
This one from 6 to 18 knots is perfect.
I put in the stabilizer, a Quick, which other than a little noise being air-cooled, is great.
I also put in the watermaker because I do a lot of roadsteading and this way I can move independently for several days.
And where do you generally navigate?
Now I keep it in Ischia precisely because it is nice and quiet.
For me living in Rome, Ponza for example is like going to Tiburtina while in Gaeta you are in the middle of the nightlife, but with the islands two or three hours away.
So I start from Ischia and do the whole Coast.
If I have to tell you a name I find Punta Licosa to be a magnificent, almost magical place.
In general, however, Ischia, the Amalfi Coast, but also Ventotene also because with the 42 I get in almost everywhere. 
More seas on the horizon?
Now I’m thinking of putting it in Greece.
I’ve been to Sicily, to the Aeolian Islands, and I find the strait to be special to cross.
I like to be at sea even when it’s big because often there are two or three sailboats and me, motor, and that’s it.
You don’t see anybody else.
Nobody goes out, the big and small yachts all stay in the harbor.
To think that in Sasga’s range I have one of the “oldest” ones.
Still, up to two meters of wave, at 13 knots, you go like nothing is wrong.
You ride a little, but you go.
Then the stabilizer helps you here too, but you’re quiet all the time.
I don’t get seasick, and the stabilizer helps.
What more could you want?
So with this peace of mind, I would like to do even more sailing, and the destination that appeals to me the most is Greece. 
Do you have a typical crew?
My daughter who is very good on board or some friends.
I don’t like to crowd her because spaces on the boat are sacred.
That way we can all experience it the best.
Also, I often go out a lot by myself.
It’s not for everyone, especially with a 12-meter motorboat.
How did you get started with it?
Well, the reason is simple: you don’t always find people. To say, when you go to play tennis you have to have another person, but in the boat fortunately you may not. You would like sometimes to have a friend or a girlfriend, but one time they can’t come, another time the boat is far away, the next time there is too much sea. And I must say that being alone on board is beautiful. Of course, you have to know what to do. What many call loneliness for me is a freedom, and if you are equipped there is no downtime. I read and work, a lot. Then I also cook a lot because I have a great kitchen. And then, I say this now after so many years, I think I am a very good chef. Mostly because when I put something on the table they would eat the dishes as well.”
What cuisine do you bring on board?
I also really like Piedmontese cuisine.
It has nothing to do with the sea, but it is among my favorites.
In general, however, I often eat fish or some pastas that I make up.
Peaches?
I think that is a part that can be avoided.
I’ve never been an avid fisherman and not doing it out of necessity I suffer a bit from seeing the little creatures die in front of me.
The last time in Trani I caught a lampuga and it impressed me.
That was the last one, several years ago.
And is 12 meters a lot or a few?
For me, who sails both in company and solo, it is the perfect size.
Then, of course, one adapts and makes do.
But to go to these areas, like Ventotene, it is ideal and that is why I go there at least once or twice a year,.
When you have guests maybe the cabinette is a little bit sacrificed, but even there one adapts.
The point is that going up in size, going already from 12 to 14 meters becomes challenging to manage.
On the one hand there is the cost, of course, but just in general, it becomes a different kind of boat, so being two is always better.
It is not the size as such, but the fact that after a certain size the dynamics change and what one can do or not do with one’s arms.
Trivially, an extra step and a half to go to the top of the mooring can affect the quality of the re-entry.
And going out, for example, becomes more weather-related because alone you don’t feel like it and it ends up that even though you have more space, the occasions for which you use it are less, that’s it.
So I’m fine with that for now.
The best experience?
I would say the transfer from Menorca when I went to pick up the boat (upon delivery of a Sasga boat, the owner can “pick it up” by sea from the shipyard in Menorca n.d.r. ).
200+ miles to Stintino.
The strength of the hull and the grandeur of a sea that envelops you and you see nothing but the stars.
So even the boat at night alone?
Doesn’t that scare you?
It is a wonder, more than that.
I’ve also done the Straits of Bonifacio twice, which I love, but it’s the open sea that fascinates me.
Of course, then after a while I also like to see the land.
When I had the 34 (always Sasga), which is a shell, we had two meters of wave on the transom and the boat of course was moving, rolling, but I was not afraid.
If you feel safe you know there is some pain, but nothing happens.
You don’t have the feeling of “oh my God, what’s going on.”
Credit goes to the crazy assembly quality, that has to be said.
But it’s on boats like this that you really enjoy sailing and you don’t get scared.
A moment not to be repeated instead?
I used to roadstead in Casal Velino.
I caught, at night, two years ago a big storm, very strong wind.
I was three hours circling on the anchor and what can you do?
Nothing, you can’t sail the anchor, there’s water boiling around.
You just wait, you just wait.
The sea teaches patience…
Patience, courage and perseverance, but also not to take anything for granted.
I have a lot of respect for this element, the sea.
That time I was not afraid, honestly, but discomfort at not being able to steer.
In the circumstance I was in, I was not in serious danger to my safety, however, there was the discomfort of not being able to do anything.
I admit that this situation was my fault because I had already taken a half whirlwind at Cape Palinuro.
We entered the harbor, but there was no room.
So we went back to a little cove that’s nearby.
Only there was a club that was blasting music.
So I said, “Let’s leave, we can’t stay here, let’s roadstead.”
The water was flat, and I said to myself that by now the blizzard had been there and had passed.
She probably heard me and came back.
So in addition to respecting the sea, there is also a call for others to be more respectful….
I find that ports today are too noisy.
Many boat owners have not understood that boating is not fashion, but primarily a philosophy of life.
You do not go boating because it is trendy, but because it is a wonderful way to experience the sea.
No more blasting music.
I have become self-reliant and go to roadstead.
I named my boat Tatou, which means “armadillo” in French.
The boat is my armor, a place to relax and put myself at peace.
Then when you’re alone in the middle of a bay and someone moors you ten feet away what do you want to say to him?
Maybe he puts the music on, too?
The way you sail, is there any other boat that fascinates you?
There are many very good shipyards in the world, this I know.
Besides the hull, I have to say that I also give a lot of weight to elegance, to aesthetics.
On board my 42 there are some things to improve, but it is a design that is now several years old.
So I must say that it has never occurred to me to look for anything else because I find this an ideal solution for me.
Of course, though, there are other boats that I like.
Some are a little out of reach, I’m thinking of the Dutch like the Mulder or the Australian Riviera, which are very good in quality, but it’s another way to move.
Elegance, seaworthiness.
I Mulder-are you a lobster owner?
They fascinate me even though I find them a bit sacrificed in space.
Boats like the American Hinckleys, though, I really like them.
I’ve been to Nantucket (Massachusetts), U.S., and it was packed there.
Beautiful boats, really, but they also cost a lot of money.
Are you on board year-round?
No, mainly from May to mid-November.
Then when daylight saving time goes away, the days are short, I don’t actually go out often, partly because I live in Rome.
If I lived, for example, by the sea I would probably go out even in February and March.
Waters you dream of plying?
A trip to the Atlantic.
Maybe not with mine, but it’s something I miss and want to do.
And some things, if you don’t do it, you can’t even imagine.
On that crossing from Menorca I saw behind me a very bright wake, a crazy poetry.
And what a light.
So much more than darkness.
Wonderful.
In the ocean I think this can even be amplified.
Saxdor 340 GTWA, un super walkaround dal prezzo interessante
