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Value Team will now become the second boat of the young and successful Piazzetta Italia Sailing Team. After the first year full of success with the Audi Melges 20, the Roman team will now compete in the 2010 Volvo Cup.

This new boat, introduced by Captain Giallongo, is not a one design keel, but a D-One. The D-One is a revolutionary product, created by Luca Devoti, which will participate in the Volvo Cup this year.

Captain Giallongo has told us with great enthusiasm, “This is not a step backwards, even if the boat is smaller than the Audi Melges 20, but a step forward in innovative sailing, expanding our horizons. We are a small team with a large scope, with our experience in the Laser 4000 and support of our club in Bracciano, Planet Sail.” Giallongo adds that he will not be at the helm of the boat, because he has already committed as a helmsman for the Audi Melges 20, but Stefano De Cata, his good friend and director of Sportivo del Team, will be the ideal candidate to quietly suprise the Volvo Cup.

“Our program may appear disjointed,” De Cata says, “but we have chosen the D-One because it follows our philosophy, just as the Audi Melges 20 does, to have a fun boat, that gives a new understanding of sailing. No one here is professional. We all take time away from our personal lives to race. It has been exactly one year that we have been working on this project. Just as we were beginning with the Audi Melges 20, we saw the first design and were immediately in love. The fact that the boat was designed by Morrison and Devoti was a guarantee to us.” De Cata continues, “Captain Giallongo sent me to test the boat last September in Castiglione della Pescaia and I immediately fell in love. For us the acquisition of the D-One is an intermediate step and is necessary for the evolution of the team. In the future, there will be many surprises and you’ll see our boats in various classes and maybe in the near future we will add a ‘big sister’ to our stable.”