Mr Prada brings substance and style

By Suzanne McFadden

They call him Mr Bertelli. Most of the crew couldn't say what his first name is. It's just "Mister".

Patrizio Bertelli is also Mr Prada... of Prada, one of the world's elite fashion houses, and Prada, the Italian America's Cup challenge.

He bankrolls the richest of the 1999 challenge syndicates, but the fact that the Italian boats carry the name of his business on their hulls seems almost purely coincidental.

Mr Bertelli is not coming to Auckland to sell a little black dress or a pair of leather loafers. He is a genuine yachting buff, who, in true Kiwi style, built yachts in his garage before he became a fashion billionaire. His true passion is sailing.

Says Laurent Esquier, the challenge's operations manager: "His leadership is one of our greatest characteristics. He understands mast and sail, and as a businessman, he knows efficiency and focus. He's a driven man who loves boats."

The Italians' base at the northernmost end of the America's Cup village exudes understated Prada style. Or so I'm told.

The huge silver and red barn is out-of-bounds to anyone but the team. You must report to two burly security guards before you get anywhere near the Fort Knox door.

Prada spokeswoman Alessandra Ghezzi dispells the rumour that inside there are marble bathrooms."It's big, but very industrial. Like our head office in Milan, everything is white, right down to the rubbish bins," she says.

"Prada is still very plain - very much understated elegance. People expect us to walk around in very expensive clothes.
We have plenty of clothes, but they're very simple, very functional - tshirts and things.

"Every penny Mr Bertelli spends goes towards something he feels is needed."

One thing Bertelli is very specific about not skimping on is food.

Prada fill three floors in the new Heritage Hotel - once the Farmers store - including the top floor boardroom. They have three live-in chefs - two Italians, one Kiwi - and the boss takes a particular interest in the menu.

"He wants us to be fed well," says Ghezzi. "If Italians don't eat pasta every day, they go mad." One of the campaign's suppliers is an Italian pasta manufacturer - so they can take own tagliatelli and fettucine wherever they go.

They have set up their own gym in the hotel, and spend two hours there every morning before going out to sea.

When they aren't working on the boats, the crew head to Piha to surf. "It's so novel to us - we don't have big waves on the Mediterranean," Ghezzi says.

Mr Bertelli is not in Auckland yet. Like last summer, he will come to watch his crew in the Road to the America's Cup in March. He is even well-qualified to sail if need be.
In the 1970s he raced quarter and half-tonners, and he now owns three classic yachts. Last year he chartered New Zealand's original America's Cup boat, KZ7, and won the world 12m title.

He started his business career making shoes in Tuscany. He then met and married Miuccia Prada and the pair transformed the Prada label - last year they reaped net sales of $NZ1.3 billion.

Bertelli is known for his "very strong personality".

"People from Tuscany are very passionate - they shout and scream," Ghezzi says.

"He's the real leader of our challenge. He's not interested in product exposure here - the link between fashion and the America's Cup is not strong to us.

"He is simply passionate about sailing and he treats the crew like his sons."

The extended Prada family have been out on the Hauraki Gulf every day this week, sailing two of the training boats they bought from Kansas billionaire Bill Koch and his America3 campaigns.

It's not only learning about the boats before their new pair are built. But the crew must learn the skills of matchracing, under the guidance of Kiwi coaches Rod Davis, Don Cowie and Alan Smith.

Prada skipper, five- time world champion Francesco de Angelis, and his tactican, triple Olympic medallist Torben Grael, have dabbled on the world matchracing circuit for the first time this year.

When three other campaigns - the Swiss FAST 2000, America True and Americaone - arrive around Christmas time, the Italians will put up a friendly challenge to anyone who would like some race practice.

Prada haven't engaged in any jousting with their only neighbours at the moment, Young America. The New Yorkers are here only until the end of December and are sticking to their own intensive testing programme.