If boatyard customers were all like Mauro, the boat manufacturers would have no need to advertise in the media. In his absolute normalcy, simply boating whenever his professional commitments allowed him to, Mauro is the ideal testimonial. For 20 years he has been using Spigola, his Tuccoli T280 Hardtop, incidentally the first in the series, with the same pleasure and satisfaction as the first time. Whether he uses his fisherman to go fishing, and when he can, Mauro fishes more than willingly, or cruises with Rita, his wife, and Sacha, his son. He always returns to port happy.
When we say that he fishes, the Calabrian pharmacist means in all manners. Above the water: drifting, giant tuna, deep-sea fishing, swordfishing; deep-sea fishing, squid fishing: “We have some beautiful ones here, although the electric reel… doesn’t make it the most exciting fishing,” jokes the owner. But also in apnea, under the surface of the sea. Where he and his son also dive with tanks and regulators. “But here we always come back up empty-handed, because it is right to leave things as they are, or rather better”.
When it comes to cruising, however, Mauro does not mean the beautiful days at sea, a two-hour glide from the port of Roccella Ionica (Rc), where the boat is based. Some of the photos accompanying this page were taken in the Aeolian Islands, over 100 miles from home. A sign that the family spends more than a whole day on the boat. And in this case all aspects of the cruiser must be fulfilled.
Says the satisfied owner: “Spigola is an excellent cruising boat because you never get tired on board. With a clean hull and flat sea you can reach 31 knots easily. In the initial stages of the project, I relied on the reasoned enthusiasm of Marco Tuccoli, who chose two Yanmar 4-cylinder diesels with 250 hp each. They have an excellent weight/power/hull ratio and the T280 Hardtop gets up on plane with the thick speed of a Rib. I don’t like high speeds for long. For me the ideal sailing is trolling, travelling at six to seven knots. If it’s transfers I can go on for hours, but sailing at 23 knots. And under these circumstances I only have 40 litres per hour of total consumption. This is also thanks to the hull lines: I always sail without trim tabs (which I only use when the sea is going sideways) at 22-23 knots, a lot of distance and very little diesel. The interior is great for us. When I’m cruising with my family I have everything I love with me: the sea, the boat and above all Rita and Sacha. If I had to change something I would give a bit more space to the service areas like the kitchen or the dinette, but otherwise I am really satisfied with the way it is built, inside and out.”
I have always practised fishing from a boat. About 25 years ago, after many open boats, I was struck by the Tuccoli T25. And that’s when I met Marco Tuccoli, and also his father Ivano. All happy with my boat, after a year Marco asked me back for the T280, a whole different boat. I liked the idea so much that I even got the prototype. We talked a lot at the beginning of the project to work out the details. And in the end this resulted in a year without a boat, waiting for mine to appear at the Genoa boat show… What’s more, I was supposed to have it by October, but between press tests, photo sessions and presentations to interested people I could only get it in April (laughs)
The initial visual impact was excellent. Wonderful, very aggressive, with the tuna tower, the American diverters, and with that colour. I believed Marco and was completely satisfied with how Spigola was. I decided to call her that, like all my boats, because as a spearfisherman I have always considered the bass to be the most beautiful prey.
Use has confirmed the first impression. It’s a perfect boat for fishing, with that bow that opens its way through the waves and with an excellent buoyancy reserve that wards off buoyancy even in dry and steep seas. What’s more, it’s nice and wide in the stern exits that make it less wobbly. In fact, despite all the superstructure that makes it soar above the waterline, I have never had any stability problems. Of course on rough seas it rolls a bit more, but never in an annoying way. I’m always on top to steer. I never use the internal bridge.
From a construction point of view it’s a perfect example of a boat produced by great Italian shipbuilders. Very well built. Every two years I take it out and I’ve never found osmosis or delamination problems.
All this satisfaction has been positively contagious, so much so that it has convinced a couple of friends to take a Tuccoli. One is Vincenzo himself who will moor his T250VM next to him, the other is a Tuccoli Moby Dick 21 owner.
There are beautiful American fishermen, but I would buy an Italian boat and therefore a Tuccoli.
I’d be really undecided because each solution has its advantages. I don’t know, I have no preconceptions. I would choose based on the boat and the engines. Although I have seen that the new outboards are really nice engines. And for sure their maintenance is less. I now want to land and sandblast my engines, with an outboard this would be much easier (laughs).
One late afternoon in September, I was alone, on my boat. I had practically completed the circumnavigation of the Aeolian Islands by trolling. A hundred miles sailing at 6 knots: a spectacle. Towards the end of the second day I was returning and holding the bow towards the east. Behind me, as I approached the easternmost islands, the sky took on the warm, fiery colours of sunset. Alicudi and Filicudi were watching me from behind the stern and before me lay the spectacle of Salina, Lipari and Vulcano, decorated in the magical hues that herald the arrival of a wonderful late summer night. I didn’t catch a fish all day, but that moment I will carry it with me forever as one of the most beautiful moments I have experienced at sea.
