Aurelio Dalla Vecchia

Aurelio Dalla Vecchia was an Italian sailor and he inherited the name Aurelio from his grandfather who was a sports timekeeper. Aurelio’s own father was the legendary sailing manager Pippo from Napoli. Dalla Vecchia went on to dominate many offshore and one-design regattas including the legendary Middle Sea Race of 2007, the Roma x all 2011 IRC as helmsman, the 1987 J24 European Championship and, in later years, numerous offshore regattas with the crews of the Circolo del Remo and Vela Italia.

Dalla Vecchia competed in two Olympics, both in the Soling class. Firstly at Long Beach in 1984 and then Pusan 1988. His fellow crew members were helmsman Gianluca Lamaro and bowman Valerio Romano. The three men all came from Napoli and established themselves a formidable crew in this class.

Dalla Vecchia was the Italian Star champion in 1985 and the European J24 bronze medal winner at Napoli in 1984, and then won the title at Kiel in 1990. One of his last and most popular boats was Le Coq Hardi of the Pavesi brothers. The entrepreneurial father of three sons, Dalla Vecchia passed away at only 66 following a long illness.