Race Nautica Marine, a market leader in boat sales

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Sailing, the great excellences of the sailing world tell their stories and reveal their projects. In this column, discover all the companies and people who have made important contributions to the multifaceted world of sailing, which enables us all to go to sea in all forms and contexts.

In this episode, we take you on a tour of the history and news of Race Nautica Marine, and its owner Giovanni Tarantino, who tells us how it all began.

It takes passion (and expertise)

The whole true story of John Tarantino and Race Nautica Marine, his established company. From auto repairman to market leader in boat sales. And all because of the “fault” of an accident….

Giovanni Tarantino, a Tuscan DOC, heads Race Nautica Marine, an established business in the nautical sector as a Dufour, Solaris, and Fountaine Pajot dealer, charter and management boat consultant, ship-chandler with its bases and its four sales outlets with attached offices: one at Punta Ala harbor , at Puntone di Scarlino, at Marina Cala de’ Medici, and at Cala Galera. The secret to success-it’s no secret. Race Nautica stems from its innate passion for boats and, as we shall see, a definite moral choice. But let’s go in order. His story does not exactly begin by the sea. In Suvereto, in the province of Livorno, Giovanni Tarantino ‘s business until 1999 was as an auto repairer affiliated with the Lancia brand. What, then, does boating have to do with Tarantino’s life? “Mine was born first of all as a passion,” Giovanni tells us, “I have always been boating and I have always liked racing. I started with classic dinghies from the club in my area and then, as soon as I had the chance, I finally bought a boat of my own.”

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Tarantino the optimizer

In 1999 Tarantino, like any sailing enthusiast, visited the Genoa Boat Show and was thunderstruck by the novelty brought by Grand Soleil: the 34.1, a 10-meter cabin cruiser that combines sleek lines with a sporty hull so as not to disfigure in racing. “Agitation was my first cabin boat with which I raced consistently; once I put it in the water and tried it out, however, I realized that the hull still had untapped potential.”, John Tarantino tells us, who continues: “Thanks to the manual skills I acquired through my work as an auto repairer, I optimized the already high-performance hull of my boat; thus, once winged, I made improvements to the bulb, the rudder blade (which I made in carbon, modifying its profile) and many other details that, put all together, made the boat very competitive. Because of my achievements with Agitation, I also won the “Owner of the Year” award in IMS class in 2001 “. Seeing the results obtained on race weekends, many friends and owners with the same boat began to ask Giovanni to modify their boats as well. When the boats to be optimized began to be more and more, the idea of turning his passion into a job began to pop into John Tarantino ‘s head. “The work I was performing was beginning to bear fruit, because the boats I optimized were actually competitive. I remember that in the early 2000s some owners had protested “my” boat, because they imagined there was some obvious irregularity. As soon as I heard about it, I ran to Scarlino, in plain clothes, to see what was going on; I saw the stevedores at work around the boat, and the owners who had complained kept shouting that the boat was irregular because it had been refitted by a certain Giovanni Tarantino. Calmly and quietly I presented myself and the surveyors could only congratulate me because my modifications were well within the tolerances of the regulations. Even though I knew that these limits existed, I still wasn’t sure that I had met the tolerances.” . Is that when John Tarantino decided to open a sole proprietorship, which deals with machining and optimization on hulls?

Never again boats for tears

“Not really, ” Tarantino tells us, “because at that time I was still busy with my main business. Race Nautica, which obviously owes its name to the racing boat business, was born because of an accident. An elderly lady, in fact, brought her car to be repaired in my body shop and, upon picking it up, burst into tears. Not out of happiness, but because she did not have the two million liras needed to pay and did not know how to do it; my heart clenched, and at that moment I decided that I should no longer allow myself to buy boats by “exploiting” the tears of others. I sold the workshop along with the body shop and concentrated 100 percent on boating, making my bones for a few years as a sole proprietor. I then created Race Nautica Marine Ltd. in 2005 and have never changed since.” .

The evolution of Race Nautica

“I complemented the repair business with boat sales. At the time I was collaborating with Grand Soleil, either because I was already their customer and knew the product, or because the same shipyard entrusted me with its boats to be optimized. In 2008/09, in addition to sales, they asked me to become responsible also for the technical office of the shipyard based in Forli. When the adventure with Cantieri del Pardo ended, I changed brands and went on to sell Jeanneau, until Giuseppe Giuliani, founder of Grand Soleil, asked me to return with him to the new Solaris corporate structure. Today Race Nautica sells Dufour, Solaris, and Fountaine Pajot boats. Our strength is offering a 360-degree service to the customer, starting mainly with advice; we also offer advice on chartering, from setting up a company to getting your own boat working. Race Nautica offers assistance all over Italy, thanks to a team of technicians ready to move with a fully equipped van; we also offer assistance remotely thanks to a dedicated e-mail address and a cell phone that is always on, we are able to help any broken down boat remotely with photographs and a sort of repair guide to the specific problem. Race Nautica also has an always-stocked warehouse of high-turnover spare parts and two ship-chandler stores to accommodate the needs of boat owners. Our base is the Porto Verde Shipyard at Puntone in Scarlino, with whom we have been cooperating for many years now.” . Last but not least, Race Nautica (www.racenautica.it) can also boast ISO 9001 certification. In addition, Race Nautica Marine has adopted the organization, management and control model, which provides procedures and measures to prevent the commission of crimes, pursuant to Legislative Decree 231 of 2001.

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