1969-1970

 
FOUR FRIENDS AT THE BAR 

                                                                                                   
Riccardo Mambretti recalls: "In Liguria, Levanto, four friends meet to see if they can design and build a boat capable of accommodating 5 or 6 passengers, with enough room to sleep and eat, comfortably seated with a good view of the sea, with sufficient space for 3 or 4 persons in the sun at sea, cook, seat safely and have all the facilities and comfort on board. The performance, such as speed and fuel range, should be fine, and the cost ... not even mentioned because everything already seems crazy! The only absolute limit, at least then, was its maximum length, which should not exceed 21 ft. because it would have been "wintering" in the warehouse of Amedeo, the length of which was just 22 ft. I remember as if it were now the words of Gino: "if you can, I’ll buy it." The four friends are Mario Caprara, Gino Paoli, Amedeo Campodonico and me. The four of us have a long experience of sea, engines, fishing boats, and have been friends for many years. I will not cite here the weird and definitely random similarities of our story with the song of Gino "Quattro Amici al Bar" (four friends at the bar). Long story short: Mario and I designed the boat, “Dogale” shipyard in Venice built it, Amedeo kept it inside his house and Gino became the owner, only after to be sure he and the other friends had tested that strange boat for 2000 nautical miles, in all weather and sea conditions, often carrying their wives ... you know that pleasure boats have to be cherished also by them! Returning from a long cruise in Yugoslavia, the UFO so the boat was christened by the boatyard’s staff - was transported in Genoa: Astrid Muckermann, UCINA Secretary General , offered us the opportunity to show it to the public, in the courtyard at the entrance the prestigious Genoa International Boat Show. It looked in fact more like a flying saucer than a speedboat. Since then the name UFO has never left us, even for the many projects in the years to come. ”