Memorial plaque to Agostino Straulino, a yachtsman from Lošinj

Naziv

Kategorija

04 Monuments and memorial plaque with maritime titles and motifs

Klasifikacija prema RKD

Science and engineering • Memorial heritage

Vrsta baštine

Immovable cultural property • Material cultural property

Grad

Mali Lošinj

Opis

A memorial plaque (in Croatian and Italian) to Agostino Straulin was placed on the façade of the old Maritime School in Mali Lošinj in 2014 on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of his birth. Agostino Straulino (Mali Lošinj, 10 October 1914 - Rome, 14 December 2004) – wind magician, paired with his best friend and fellow citizen Nicolo Rode, was a two-time Olympic winner and three-time world champion in sailing in the Star class. Born into a family with a long maritime tradition, at the age of five he already knew how to swim and sail a boat, under the watchful eye of his father. He soon got a small boat with a two-meter mast as a gift from his father and uncle. His uncle explained to him how to use the equipment and then told him: "Now you know everything, jump in, rig her and go." They called him the "wind magician" because he knew how to "smell" wind change before it came. As the master of the school ship "Amerigo Vespucci", he left the port of Taranto under full sail, without engines or tugs, through the narrow passage of the drawbridge in 1965, which to this day no one has repeated. That same year, he sailed to London on the River Thames. He received nine medals for his services in the Italian Navy. For five years in a row (1997-2002) he won the Italian regatta for veterans over 60 years. He won for the fifth and final time at the age of 88, two years before his death. In 2001, the President of the Republic of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, appointed him Knight of the Grand Cross and awarded him the Order of Merit. In 2000, he was proclaimed an honorary citizen of Mali Lošinj. He was buried in the family tomb in Mali Lošinj in 2004. A small plaque was also placed on his birth house.