Raffaele Giuliani | Mate SW82 Ammonite

Raffaele Giuliani – Mate SW82 Ammonite

Raffaele, you met Ammonite’s Owner along with Captain Patrick Wynn in 2021 when you raced aboard Ammonite during the Southern Wind Rendezvous/Armani Superyacht Regatta. It was love at first sight and you were offered a place as permanent crew in the role of deckhand/mate.
How have your previous working experiences as a professional racer and sail maker helped you in your everyday life aboard Ammonite?

Having a background as racing crew in regattas and as a sail maker surely helped me to understand the deck complexities of a yacht as technical as Ammonite. I could fully appreciate her astonishing sailing qualities and performance, and even while cruising I truly enjoy the incredible amount of control which is allowed by her rigging and deck layout, which always allow me to trim the sails to their sweet spot. You can feel if she has been properly trimmed or not and she’s certainly a yacht that can charm any seafarer or guest with an eye for performance sailing.

Ammonite sails with a three-member crew. In addition to your sailing skills on deck, what extra duties or additional roles do you cover when guests are on board?

We usually get the toys out when we anchor, so that’s the time that guests discover that there’s more
to chartering a sailing boat than sailing.
Having been extremely keen on water sports for my whole life it’s nice for me to see others realize what a playground surrounds them when they’re on a yacht.
Service and interior tasks are another big part of my role beyond sailing and something I’d never really done before Ammonite. I enjoyed it and I think that later in my career this interior experience will make me a better captain when it comes to managing this fundamental part of chartering.