The sailmaking company Andrea Mura Sail Design was born in 1985 from Andrea’s dream to pursue his childhood passion for sailing, his attraction for the sailing world and his interest in the performance of sailing boats.
With the Italian Sailing Federation (FIV)he and his team have travelled the world to race in the most important Olympian regattas.
He has never failed to take a tour of the sailmaking plants of the places he visited, thus acquiring sound knowledge in this field.
He is highly attentive to details, finishing touches and fabrics, always trying to work out the technical and design aspects of the creation. He has thus developed precise and specific skills in this domain. Andrea has won numerous titles, including two European ones on 420, one Junior prize on 470, two Olympian races on 470 and one Tornado, in addition to eleven Italian titles (420, 470, Hobie Cat 16, J24, Mini Altura, five times on Este 24 and Vela d’Altura on Luja 50”). He has also collaborated for eight years with North Sails Italia for the development of the 470 sails for the Olympic races in Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988.
At the age of 18, in 1982, he was awarded the silver medal of “Valore Atletico Nazionale” (national athletic distinction) by the minister Spadolini. During his military service, Andrea was already looking ahead and starting to think about and organise his sailmaking activity. He found an empty hangar in what has now become the first Natural Oasis in Sardinia, in the Molentargius Natural Park of Cagliari, surrounded by flamingos and a unique fauna and flora, a stone’s throw away from the sea.
His involvement in the sail production doesn’t prevent Andrea, an eclectic sailor capable of facing many contemporary commitments, from pursuing his international racing career.
During his military service, Andrea was already looking ahead and starting to think about and organise his sailmaking activity.
He found an empty hangar in what has now become the first Natural Oasis in Sardinia, in the Molentargius Natural Park of Cagliari, surrounded by flamingos and a unique fauna and flora, a stone’s throw away from the sea.
His involvement in the sail production doesn’t prevent Andrea, an eclectic sailor capable of facing many contemporary commitments, from pursuing his international racing career.
Since 1985, it has been a succession of international victories for Andrea, onboard the most beautiful sailboats, from the smallest ones to the Maxi and Super Maxi, and the opportunity for developing, planning, creating, and testing one sail after another.
In those years, Andrea was already showing a strong predilection for developing the best airfoil for a sail, or the best geometrical shape according to each type of boat. The complexity of the task is increased by the elasticity of the sail under strain, and the aeroelastic deformation which changes according to the project profile and the type of fabric used.
He has a natural talent for matching the hull and boat performance to the sails*, since every single boat needs its own airfoil and a precise shape for its sail, each boat being different from the other.
In order to get that feeling which allows him to know what type of sail each boat needs, Andrea has to sail on the boat, and be in harmony with it before creating its perfect sail.
It is a task that requires excellent planning, mechanical and testing skills all in a single person, which is rather unusual in the sailing world where sail production more often than not falls under Research & Development.
This has been an amazing and complex challenge, allowing Andrea to produce sails which are always lighter, more solid if required, and always high-performing.
In 1989, he was contacted by Tommaso Chieffi to become part of the team of the America’s Cup “Il Moro di Venezia”, headed by Raoul Gardini. The team won two world titles, one in the 50 foot category with “Abracadabra” and one Louis Vuitton Cup.
He sailed alongside Paul Cayard around the world, as trimmer and strategy manager, for over 2000 hours, providing crucial innovation in the sailing and rigging of the Moro di Venezia fleet of five.
This experience as trimmer and strategy manager reoccurred on an international level in 2000 and 2002, on board “Birbon”, as part of the crew of King Juan Carlos of Spain, and on board Pierluigi Loro Piana’s boat, “My Song”.
Andrea has also gained endless experience on Maxi Yacht and Super Maxi for over a decade.
In 2004 he was awarded the bronze medal of “Valore Atletico Nazionale” a national athletic distinction.
In 2005the sailmaking company Andrea Mura Sail Design received the “Best Sailmaker” award, a prize rewarding the high quality of its sails and its Research & Development project on performance development, in collaboration with CRS4 (Consorzio Ricerca Sardo 4).
In 2005 he was also awarded the “Navicella d’Argento” which recognised his promotion of Sardinia throughout the world.
In 2006, at the top of his long professional career through buoys or in a crew, Andrea was looking for new challenges and decided to take up a new, technically and economically highly-demanding project, investing all his resources to face the best French ocean sailors.
And so, in 2007, he bought from Pasquale de Gregorio the Open 50 “Wind Express”, Felci project, and renamed her “Vento di Sardegna”. This name combines his identity, his passion, his technology and his choice of colour and design on the hull uses the Four Moors, the symbol of Sardinia, thus asserting his origins and his strong identification with his home land.
Andrea Mura therefore became the bearer of the history, traditions and culture of Sardinia, the pearl of the Mediterranean, all over the world.
He then started a long and challenging preparation for ocean regattas and went trophy hunting, taking the colours of Italy and Sardinia into the international limelight.
He won four editions of “Roma x2” and “Corsica x2”, establishing in 2009 a new performance record for distance covered from Ventolene to Cartagine (Wally Record Trophy) in 31 hours 40 minutes and 21 seconds.
Andrea then obtained the extraordinary logistic support and patronage of the Major State of Italian Military Navy, which had never been granted to a civilian before, and was elected an honorary member.
In 2010, he trained to take part in the Route du Rhum, his first transatlantic single-handed regatta. This takes place every four years.
He left Saint Malo, in Brittany, on October 31st, 2010 and reached Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe at the end of a 3600 mile journey through the perilous waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. The race was a source of deep emotion for Andrea, Sardinia and the whole of Italy, including the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano.
Andrea became the first Italian ever to win this iconic race, historically a predominantly French affair.
In 2010, he also received the coveted prize “D’Albertis” for his sailing achievement during the Route du Rhum, which the Italian Yacht Club president, Carlo Croce, presented to him in Genoa.
In 2011 he obtained the “Maschera Punica” for his promotion of Sardinia in the world, delivered by the mayor of Cagliari, Emilio Floris.
In 2011, Andrea received from the Yacht Club Montecatini the “Straulino” prize, for a lifetime of sailing, from the Sicily Region the prize “Faro Blu”, from the Sardinia Region the prize for “Tenacia”, and from the Rotary Club the “Vanto di Sardegna”
This was all a huge success for Italian sports, and for national sailing, for which Andrea was rewarded with the “Best Sailor of the year 2010” prize
In 2012, together with Riccardo Apolloni, he won the “Twostar” race, a two-handed transatlantic regatta, completing the crossing in 13 days 12 hours and 47 minutes, a record still unbeaten today. Only one month later the crew also won the Quebec-Saint Malo along with Luca Tosi and Tommaso Stella, being first among the monohulls and setting yet another new record of 11 days, 15 hours and 59 minutes.
These achievements were once more awarded the highly-coveted prize “Yacht Capital Award”, a recognition for Andrea’s great sailing skills.
In 2013, after the publication of his book “l’Avventura, l’Ignoto e la Paura” (Mursia) which won the 2014 Carlo Marincovich literary award, Andrea decided to take part in the Ostar (One Star) , the top and most challenging single-handed transatlantic race, given the adverse conditions of prevailing winds, currents, and the freezing temperatures of the high latitudes. The race set off on May 27th, 2013, from Plymouth in England, and reached Newport, Rhode Island, USA, after a 3000-mile non-stop, unassisted crossing. Francis Chichester won the first race in 1960, and it has since become a landmark for the most talented world sailors.
Once again Andrea Mura was the first Italian sailor to win this race on a monohull.
In 2013, the national president of Confindustria Giorgio Squinzi rewarded Andrea with the prize “Confindustria” for “the image of a victorious Italy”.
A few months later came the last sailing success of that fulfilling year, the Transat Jacques Vabre. The two-handed transatlantic crossing connects the 5,400 miles between Le Havre in France and Itajai, Southern Brazil. Andrea was asked to race on Multi 50 “Rennes Metropole / Saint Malò Agglomeration” and became the first Italian to get this offer from a French skipper, the Breton Gilles Lamiré.
It was the first time Andrea had had to race on a multihull, finishing third. For this he was awarded for the second time the title of “Sailor of the year Tag Heuer”.
In 2013 he was named goodwill ambassador to UNICEF.
After a fourteen-year collaboration with the English giant Raymarine, the leader in high performance marine electronics, and with much positive feedback, Andrea was nominated “Sailing Ambassador” for his major and constant contribution to the development of marine electronics for navigation technology.
In 2014, he once again took part in the Route du Rhum and finished second, just behind a multihull.
In 2014 he was awarded the silver medal of the “Order of Merit” from the National Navy, the first time it had been awarded to a civilian.
In 2015, he was offered the opportunity to purchase the Banque Populaire Imoca 60 project, and the construction of a new Imoca 60, which would take part in the Vendée Globe 2016, began in the Persico shipyards of Bergamo.
The boat was made using state-of-the-art technology, and was equipped with Italian-made innovations still unknown in France, such as Dynema SK99 Low Crimp sails, a prototype not yet available on the market, created by the sailmaking company Andrea Mura.
It took 50 professionals from all over the world and over 45000 hours of work before the boat was launched in the port of Lorient, in Brittany. Unfortunately, soon after the launch and tests, the boat had to be sold for lack of funds and Andrea’s dream of participating in the Vendée Globe for the first time on a brand new boat vanished.
In 2016 he won for the fifth time the “Roma x2”, this time single-handed.
After his immense disappointment over losing the Imoca 60, and the opportunity to take part in the round the world race, on May 29th, 2017, at the invitation of the Club of Her Majesty the Queen of England, Andrea decided to come back to the racing world and to compete once again in the highly challenging Ostar race.
He painstakingly prepared the boat with several technological innovations to better face the terrible weather conditions in the northern Atlantic which he had already dealt with in 2013.
Over 3000 came to wave him goodbye on his departure from Cagliari.
Ostar 2017 proved to be one of the toughest races ever, becoming a record-breaking regatta:
- • 21 boats on the departure line, only 8 on arrival.
- • 2 sunk boats.
- • one boat dismasted.
- • 2 skippers rescued by the Canadian coastguards
- • one skipper, Andrea, making it over the 58th parallel north.
- • A depression commonly called by Canadian meteorologists “The perfect storm”, (like the film) 15 mb lower than the fatal Fastnet storm of 1979 in which 15 people perished.
Andrea won the race for the second time in a row, 600 miles ahead of the second boat, thus equalling the achievements of the notorious French skipper Loick Peyron, with the 2012 Twostar victory and a record to top it all.
On October 10th, 2017 Andrea received honours from the Presidente del Consiglio of Cagliari, Guido Portoghese, and from the mayor of the town, Massimo Zedda, “for honouring the town with [his] extraordinary sportsman skills and [his] constant dedication to the weakest”.
On 28th October 2017 in Plymouth, at the Royal Western Yacht Club of Her Majesty the Queen, Andrea is awarded for the great victory of the Ostar in 17 days and 4 hours, with a lead of 4 days from the second.
Also in 2017 Andrea is named Testimonial of the One Ocean project, strongly supported by the Commodore of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Riccardo Bonadeo and Princess Zara Khan, for the protection of the oceans from microplastics.
On January 26, 2018 a sculpture dedicated to the champion Andrea Mura was inaugurated in the port of Cagliari.
“Work donated by the sculptor Roberto Ziranu to the Port Authority of the Sea of Sardinia in honour of the oceanic skipper Andrea Mura who, through his victories, brilliantly takes the colours of our land to the world”.
On March 4, 2018 Andrea was elected Honorable to the Chamber of Deputies with more than 60 thousand votes in the electoral constituency of Cagliari.
He was the first professional sailor in the history of the Italian Parliament, and also the first Member of Parliament to resign only 5 months after the beginning of the legislature, as the project for which he was a candidate was prematurely completed.
On June 9, 2018 Andrea married Daniela.
Among a thousand difficulties and distractions Andrea managed to prepare “Vento di Sardegna” for the upcoming Route du Rhum and in September he left Cagliari for Saint Malò together with his wife Daniela and their 10-day-old son, Lucas.
This time the regatta didn’t go as Andrea had hoped, due to a serious failure in the telecommunication system, occurring only two days after departure, and he had to drop out for the first time from an ocean race, while he was in second position.
In July 2018 the IOC, at the request of the FIV, awarded Andrea with the most coveted Italian sports award, the Gold Medal for sporting merit, for winning the Ostar twice.
Since 2010, Andrea Mura has been in over 35 million media recognitions in Italy alone.
Andrea Mura Sail Design is one of the most competitive sailmakers in Italy and is famous worldwide for the high performance of its sails at prototype level and their high resistance: some of our sails which we made in the 80s are still in use today on the world seas.
Some of our sails which we made in the 80s are still in use today on the world seas.
Palmares:
- – Eight years of FIV national team from 1980 to 1988
- – Two European titles in 420 in 1981 and 1982 – Italy and Austria
- – A Junior World Title in 470 in 1984 – Austria
- – Eleven Italian titles in various classes between Olympic and Deep Sea Sailing
- – Two Olympic campaigns 470 and one in Tornado
- – An America’s Cup as the trimmer of “Il Moro Di Venezia” 1989 -1992
- – Two World titles (America’s Cup and 50 feet “Abracadabra”)
- – Winner of Roma x 2 – 2006
- – Winner of Corsica x 2 – 2006
- – Winner of Roma x 2 – 2008
- – Winner of the Middle Sea Race doublehanded – 2009
- – Winner of Roma x 2 – 2009
- – Ventotene – Carthage – Wally Record Trophy (31h 40m 21s) – 2009
- – Winner of Roma x 2 – 2010
- – Winner of Route du Rhum – (St Malo – Guadeloupe) – 2010
- – Twostar winner with records (13 days and 12h) – (Plymouth – Newport USA) – 2012
- – Québec – St Malo with records – (11 days and 15h) – 2012
- – Ostar Winner – (Plymouth – Newport USA) – 2013
- – Third at Transat Jacques Vabre – 2013
- – Second at Route du Rhum – (St Malo – Guadeloupe) – 2014
- – Winner of Roma x 1 – 2016
- – Ostar Winner – (Plymouth – Newport USA) – 2017
Awards and honours:
- – Silver medal for national athletic value IOC – 1982
- – Honorary member Compagnia della Vela Venice 1992
- – Honorary member Yacht Club Cagliari 1992
- – Bronze medal for the national athletic value IOC – 2004
- – Sailing Oscar as “Best Sailor 2005″.
- – Prize “Navicella D’Argento 2005″.
- – Honorary Member Italian Navy – 2010
- – D’Albertis” Award for the act of seafaring – Y. Italian Club – Genoa – 2010
- – Lions “Punic Mask” Award – City of Cagliari – 2011
- – Award “Straulino” – Y. Club Montecatini – 2011
- Regione Sardegna Award- 2011
- – Rotary Award “Boast of Sardinia” – 2011
- – Sailor of the year 2010
- – Blue Lighthouse Award – Sicily Region – 2011
- – “Yacht Capital Award” – Genoa – 2012
- – Sailor of the year Tag Hauer – 2013
- – Member of RORC – London – 2013
- – Confindustria Award 2013 for “The image of a victorious Italy”
- – Honorary Member Yacht Club Porto Rotondo – 2014
- – Unicef Goodwill ambassador – 2014
- – Silver Medal for “Merits of Marina” – 2014
- – Honorary member AIPEC (Italian Association for the Economy of Communion) – 2015
- – City of Cagliari Award – 2017
- – Sculpture dedicated to Andrea Mura, donated by the sculptor Roberto Ziranu to the Port Authority of the sea of Sardinia – 2018
- – Member of the Italian Parliament – 2018
- – Gold medal for National Athletic Value IOC – 2018
