Mauro Pelaschier

Mauro Pelaschier was born into a family of sailors, and began sailing at the Oscar Cosulich of Monfalcone club. He started sailing dinghies but then moved to the Finn class, winning the first of nine Italian titles in 1967, adding a bronze medal at the 1975 European Championships. He was a substitute for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics but competed at München in 1972 and Montréal in 1976, placing 13th and 9th, respectively.

In the same period Pelaschier also competed in the non-Olympic IOR classes, winning six Italian titles and participating in 1981 in the selections for the crew of Azzurra, the first Italian boat involved in the America’s Cup, for which he became helmsman. He repeated the experience in 1987, skippering Azzurra III, and in 2007 as head of the Mascalzone Latino team. In 1983 he won the One-Tonner World Championship, in 1987 he was at the helm of Marisa in the Admiral’s Cup, and in 1989 he made his first ocean crossing, participating in the Discovery Race, from Cadiz-to-Santo Domingo. Pelaschier won multiple titles, including the 1990 and 1991 Giro d’Italia of sailing, the 1992 Discover Race from Cadiz-to-San Juan de Puerto Rico, the 1995 Maxi World Cup, and the 1998 Barcolana in Trieste.

In 2000 Pelaschier became national councilor of the Italian Federation, mainly dedicating himself to the organization of boats and crews for major sailing events and teaching, while organizing master classes for many types of boats. He also directed telethons for research into genetic diseases and in 2006 became an advisor to the BMW Match Race Academy. In 2019 Pelaschier was named a commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic “for his authoritative contribution in raising awareness of the respect and protection of marine ecosystems”.

On 29 June 2018 Pelaschier completed the circumnavigation of Italy as an ambassador of the One Ocean Foundation. That effort was to spread the word for respect for marine ecosystems and to spread the Charta Smeralda, a code based on conservation of the marine environment.