Clovis Chronicles ep. 1 “Can You understand why my Sailboat is my Second Mother?”
I’m Riccardo Fracchia, 28 years old, and since I was very young I have planned to sail around the world and have always, or at least since I remember, had a great passion for sailing, sailboats and well, all boats.
When I was 8 years old in 1997, my father, the last of a family who for generations has always worked in buying and selling boats, bought the Clovis ketch, a very special boat. In 2002, after 5 long years of great work on the boat in the port of Antibes, Clovis became a traveling home for him and a constant thought for me.
At the time I was living in Como with my mother, Ambra, while all through the sad school days of winter I waited for the summer when I would sail and work as a sailor aboard Clovis, learning and reveling in her infinite potential.
Clovis became a “second mother” and a school, teaching me things that cannot be learned with people, but only by being in close contact with nature.
In 2014, after my father had been captain for almost 20 years, the time came for him to make some hard decisions, and the future without a “generational passing down” would have meant for him and Clovis making a final stop at some port to live out the rest of their days.
At that time, at only 24 years old I had under my belt thousands of miles of navigating the sea. My father saw my tenacity, passion and projects that I had never stopped creating and studying to bring to fruition, and he decided that I was sufficiently skilled to take total command. In a short time I completely changed my life, finally being able to devote myself entirely to Clovis.
I put all my now useless belongings up for sale; such as my motorcycles and my van, and the things I cared about the most I gave to my loved ones.
From 2014 to today, my girlfriend Marika, my great friend Luca and I have made enormous efforts and great sacrifice to give Clovis what she deserves, spending long winters working on endless maintenance and on fine and detailed preparations that slowly bring her back to the right condition to face what awaits her.
The efforts are then rewarded by intense summers of sailing and training, and sharing some of the work and all of the satisfaction with our partners.
We are getting ready once again for our big departure!