Team NZ’s man of passion

Team NZ’s Giovanni Belgrano is happy to give up Italy for the healthy lifestyle of New Zealand. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Giovanni Belgrano confesses he has yet to find an Italian restaurant that really takes his fancy.

But the yacht designer isn't too worried about reacquainting himself with the taste of home. In fact, he is so happy with life in New Zealand, he reckons he will stay for good.

Belgrano is one of the new "foreign" members of Grant Dalton's Team New Zealand.

A structural engineer, Belgrano is responsible for making sure the material the boats are made of, which is mostly carbon fibre, is up to the job. In other words making sure the black boats stay in one piece.

"My job is to deliver reliability of the structure and make sure we have the most competitive, slickest, fastest boats out there," Belgrano said from a swish grey office in the team's base in Auckland.

"After what happened last time, reliability is a big thing."

Born in the Italian city of Genoa, which has the Gulf of Genoa on one side and the Apennine Mountains bearing down on the other, Belgrano's introduction to hulls, sails and rigs came as a youngster cruising with his parents and two younger sisters.

"My mother is German-Hungarian and my father, who was a doctor, was passionate about boats, although I think I have exceeded him and am more passionate," Belgrano laughs.

"My father was a bone specialist. He used to experiment with making plasters lighter and smaller. Now I experiment with boat structure."

Belgrano said he did okay at school - "I was nothing spectacular" - but was more at ease on the water.

An accomplished sailor, he made his mark in the 420 and 470 classes at world championship level.

"I had the chance to go for the Olympic trials, but I gave that a miss and went and studied in England. It was a hard decision, but my interest was so much for technology and the design of boats."

He moved to England in 1979 when he was 18 to study yacht design and composite materials, before joining the Isle of Wight company SP Systems, which specialises in the manufacture of materials for use in large, lightweight high-performance structures.

The company has worked on numerous racing yachts. "Of the eight yachts that competed in the last round-the-world race, over half were engineered by our engineers."

His first America's Cup was with Italia's Il Moro in 1992, which he followed up with Prada in 2000.

He sat out the last cup, but jumped at the chance to join Dalton's syndicate.

"Although you may see a lot of foreign, non-New Zealand names in key spots in the team, we are all doing it with the Team New Zealand spirit.

"There is so much good in keeping it simple. The ethics and the whole spirit feel right."

Two years out from race one of the challenge challenger series Belgrano is comfortable where Team New Zealand are at.

"The next phase, which is not very far away now, is building the first boat ... our new baby."

It will be the product of endless hours of number crunching, tank and material testing.

"You can't design an America's Cup boat and send a set of drawings to the other side of the world and assume all is going to be fine. These boats are living, breathing, creatures that develop all the time. You have to continuously be involved, understand and observe.

"I know some people in Formula One and I speak to them regularly and find out if there is anything we need to know ... we are not going to be out-tacked by anyone."

While his days at the team's Halsey St base are long, what free time he does have is spent on adventures with his wife Christine and children Tom, 14, and Georgina, 11.

"Tom loves the outdoors and mountain biking and climbing and so on. He is as happy as it gets here, as is my daughter. They like the kind of lifestyle - simple and free.

"We just love the country. It is a great place to be and we love the people. There is just no question this is our home, this is where we want to be. We sold our home in England and we are living here and have no plan to return."

He does, however, occasionally pine for Italy, where his mother and two sisters still live. But pizzas and pasta are something he doesn't mind doing without.

"There is so much good food here. That is what we have come for, a healthy lifestyle. I have to deliver - because it is so important to everyone, this mission."

GIOVANNI BELGRANO

Born: Genoa, Italy

Lives: Auckland

Position: Principal composites engineer

Career highlights:

2004-07: Emirates Team New Zealand

1995-2000: Prada

1992: Il Moro

Also: Ellen MacArthur's Kingfisher, helped write the America's Cup class rule in late 1980s, was a partner in SP Systems.