Few figures in the yachting of last century have had the inspiration and vision of the Lombard engineer Giulio Cesare Carcano – born in 1910 – who left such important marks in sailing and in the history of design.

Starting from the mechanics, the V7 engine that still forms the basis of the Moto Guzzi productions, the two-man bob for the 1956 Olympics, and through rowing, to get to the long theory of ‘strange’ boats, all characterised by the name that began with V, and ending with A.

Starting from Volpina, the 5.5 International Class with which he presented himself on the starting line of Helsinki World Championships as an authentic outsider. It was 1961 and concerning the performance of I-30 (this is the number on the engineer’s mainsail), the journalist Bruno Ziravello ended an article on the Italian crew with these enlightened words: “they gradually began to race, at first with results which were not very satisfying, then they started to annoy… “.

Phi!Number was involved by Vittorio Zaoli, sailmaker of the boat. With Fabrizio Cavazza at the helm, Duccio Colombi as tactician and Vittorio at the sheets, the boat wins the Italian Championship in 2016, while is classified third the following year in Glucksburg, in the North Sea, in one of the historical regattas for the metric classes: the Enoshima Trophy.

Certainly Volpina, together with Marga, is one of the most elegant “woods” of Phi!Number fleet.