A Tribute to Giorgio Brezich

by Pietro Fantoni

(Translated from snipe.it)

It’s difficult for me to write about Giorgio Brezich without resorting to rhetoric and sentimentality, things he certainly didn’t appreciate and would have disliked.

In the Snipe class and in sailing in general, he was a master for many. His sailing and leadership career spanned many generations, from the late 1940s to just a few years ago when he retired to private life. He left everyone with fond memories in the world of sport.

For me, Giorgio was more than just that. Revealing more personal situations, it was Giorgio who, with a few calm sentences, clarified my rather confused ideas, comforted me, and gave me practical advice on the eve of my departure for the World Championship in Japan, when my mother had just fallen ill and, honestly, I didn’t know what to do.

When it came to making choices, Giorgio was resolute and rarely changed his mind. I managed to impose my will on him once. It was probably about twenty years ago, on a Friday night. Jacopo (Ferrari Bravo) and I, along with Stefano (Longhi) and Alberto (Piccinini), were driving to Rimini for a Regata Nazionale, with the CDVM van and our two boats on the trailer when we suddenly saw Giorgio’s car stopped in the emergency lane with both trailer tires flat. I remember we called a tow truck that loaded the trailer with Giorgio’s boat. We pulled off at the first highway exit to strongly persuade Giorgio to load his boat onto the roof of the van. He was adamant that he wanted to leave the trailer and boat at the repair shop and return to Trieste the next day with his crew, Lucio (Penso), missing the regatta. I clearly remember that we had the tow truck pull alongside the van, and then, with immense effort, we moved the boat onto the roof of the van, which was quite high, without the aid of a crane. Giorgio was skeptical, but in the end, we succeeded and arrived in Rimini at 4 in the morning. The next day, after sleeping only a few hours, we all raced regularly. In the end, he thanked us for not listening to him and acting on our own initiative.

When I joined the Board of Governors, I always consulted with him on every important decision that needed to be made; later, even after he left the Board, he still wanted to be kept informed of what was happening within the International Class.

As a measurer and Chair of the Rules Committee, he was always rigorous in applying the rules, and for this reason, he had many admirers and some detractors who wanted to “bend the rules” and race, even if they were not eligible. An indefatigable proponent, even more so than the Anglo-Saxons, of the principle “rules are rules,” knowing that allowing one exception would open the door to a dangerous precedent.

For me, he was, I have said it and repeated it many times, a mentor, teaching me so many things and dispensing advice both as a sailor and later when I joined the Board of the International Class.

Giorgio was a direct, fair, and extremely rigorous person. He was a passionate man who loved our Class, his club, the Triestina della Vela, and the Gulf of Trieste.

In racing, he was always extremely competitive. I remember that, even in local regattas, the battles were fierce, but extremely fair. More than once, ashore, his analyses were illuminating: he would explain what my moves had been and his counter-moves, analyze why he, at that particular moment, had gained and I had lost. We would delve into interesting discussions about the race that had just finished. And he would sincerely compliment me if Marinella and I had passed him and Lucio downwind, thanks to our speed (after all, it was a “family affair” overtaking).

He was also an encyclopedia on the evolution of the Snipe and was able to give a logical explanation of the effects of a particular adjustment or tuning. Everyone is good at memorizing the numbers in a sailmaker’s tuning guide, but few, for example, can explain in detail the connection between the length of the spreaders and the positioning of the chainplates with the tension and the effects that occur on the lateral mast bend.

Every time I went abroad to race, everywhere there was someone who asked me for news of Giorgio and asked me to give him their regards. For our area, the center of everything is the Gulf of Trieste, but his closest friends should know that he was known and highly appreciated not only in Trieste and Italy, but also in the most distant countries, for the work he did in the Class as Chair of the Rules Committee and as Commodore. His fame went beyond borders and therefore “the Son of Sacchetta,” as he was rightly called, became the Commodore, universally known and appreciated [Sacchetta is the innermost part of the port of Trieste, where the city’s two oldest sailing clubs are located].

It is interesting to note that, although he had been a Snipe sailor since 1946, that is, since he was 6 years old, Giorgio has always been open to innovations and changes. He proposed many modifications that modernized our boat and he himself asked to test new solutions that in some cases were not approved by the Board, in my opinion wrongly, as for example in the case of the top full batten, experimented and then abandoned due to the opposition of a nation and its sailmakers.

Giorgio was also an inexhaustible source of photos, stories and anecdotes about the Class. He had a vast archive of images, newspaper clippings and other memories, some of which he had scanned and which we then published, on his initiative, in various articles on SnipeToday.

Giorgio knew the Gulf of Trieste better than anyone else. As mentioned, his competitive activity has spanned decades. He was competitive for more than 50 years, winning numerous trophies and titles (Italian Nationals 1967, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 2000; Junior Nationals 1957, 1959, 1960; South Europeans 1972; Mediterranean Championship 1973; Master Nationals 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, Coppa Duca di Genova 1987-88, 1989-90, 1993, 2000). His name is engraved several times on the base of the most important trophies in our area and beyond. Thanks to him, raising the level of competition and also encouraging participation, the fleets of the Gulf of Trieste (which also includes Monfalcone and Muggia) have been the most competitive and successful in Italy, forming a real school of sailors. He was among the organizers or promoters, at his Triestina della Vela, of which he was also President, of the European Championship in 1982, of the Women’s Worlds in 2000, of the Junior European Championship in 2004, of the World Masters in 2009, and of the South European Championship in 2018, as well as numerous Italian National Championships, junior and master.

Thanks to him, and I don’t think I can be contradicted, the epicenter of the Snipe in Italy has been this corner of the Adriatic.

When he stopped sailing the Snipe, on which he was competitive until the last regatta he participated in, Giorgio built a beautiful wooden Dragon, with which from spring to autumn, he went out almost every day, early in the morning, with the borino wind. Sometimes I happened to cross paths with him and he inevitably came towards us, to greet me and Marinella, while we were training, showing off HIS sail number 15790 of HIS Barbanera IV.

We will miss him!

Pietro Fantoni

SCIRA Past Commodore