In Memory of Prince Karim Aga Khan IV
A legacy of tradition, innovation and success, inspired the vision of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV – the Founder and President of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS)
Through the YCCS and from its very foundation, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan promoted values of excellence, innovation, passion for the sea, respect for the environment, and support for the next generation.
His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, passed away peacefully in Lisbon on 4 February 2025, aged 88, surrounded by his family. His Highness the Aga Khan was the founder of the YCCS in 1967 and had been its President ever since.
The entire Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, its members, Board of Directors, Commodore, Board of Auditors, management and staff extend their deepest condolences to His Highness’ family and the Ismaili community.
The YCCS will honour his vision by continuing its mission, combining a passion for the sea with a profound love for Sardinia.
YCCS pays tribute to His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV
Porto Cervo, 5 February 2025. In 1967, the forward-looking vision of His Highness the Aga Khan led to the founding of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS). Since then, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV served as the Club’s President, guiding it to achievements that have shaped the history of Italian sailing and established the YCCS as an international benchmark in the yachting world.
The idea of founding the YCCS came from His Highness the Aga Khan and a group of friends – Andrè Ardoin, Giuseppe Kerry Mentasti and Luigi Vietti – with the aim of creating a non-profit sporting association to bring together lovers of the sea and nautical sports to celebrate beauty and excellence. Since its inception, the YCCS has combined sailing tradition with an innovative spirit, organising world-class regattas and competitions that continue to attract leading names in global sailing.
The exceptional location, the facilities created, and the unique natural landscape have made the YCCS sporting calendar a point of reference for professional sailors and enthusiasts alike. This success is testament to the visionary leadership of His Highness, who saw the potential of a wonderful area of Sardinia and contributed to the creation of what is now a centre of excellence.
His Highness the Aga Khan’s deep passion for the sea and sailing drove him to support historic endeavours in the yachting world, starting with the first Italian challenge for the America’s Cup launched in 1981 for the Newport ‘83 edition. Azzurra became a symbol of determination and passion, an icon of Italian sailing that inspired generations of sailors. The team’s participation marked a fundamental turning point, elevating the Italian sailing scene on the international stage.
Another milestone was achieved in 1992 with Destriero, a water-jet powered vessel that set an unbeaten transatlantic record, covering the distance between New York and England in a record time of 58 hours, 34 minutes and 40 seconds—a feat that remains unmatched to this day.
In addition to his sporting achievements, His Highness the Aga Khan always demonstrated a strong sense of respect for the environment and the sea. Driven by this ethos, in the year it celebrated the 50th anniversary of its foundation, the Club, with the support of the Aga Khan family, launched the One Ocean sustainability initiative, which saw the first forum held in Italy dedicated to the preservation of the marine environment.
Through the YCCS and from its very foundation, His Highness promoted values of excellence, innovation, passion for the sea, respect for the environment, and support for the next generation. With this in mind, the Young Azzurra project was created in 2020, a programme designed to support talented young sailors in their professional development.
The YCCS will honour His Highness’ vision by continuing its mission, combining a passion for the sea with a profound love for Sardinia.
The members of the Club, the Board of Directors, the Commodore, the Board of Auditors, and all the management and staff express their deepest condolences to His Highness’ family and to the Ismaili community.
Azzurra – America’s Cup Italian challenge
Forty years on, the main protagonists recount the sporting feat that popularised sailing in Italy for the first time, and brought the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda onto the international stage.
On 18th June 1983, in Newport, Rhode Island, Azzurra took part in her first race for the Challenger Series of the 25th America’s Cup. That day the opponent was France III and Azzurra claimed victory, the first in a long series that took the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s 12 Metre yacht all the way to the semi-finals of the qualification stage.
This endeavour, supported by H.H. the Aga Khan and Gianni Agnelli, would touch the hearts of Italians and go down in the history of sailing in the country. Azzurra’s crew was led by skipper Cino Ricci and helmsman Mauro Pelaschier, with an organisational structure supported by 17 companies, entrusted to Gianfranco Alberini, Riccardo Bonadeo and Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary, during the dinner held at the YCCS on 18th June, a short film was screened, which is now available below. The short film includes interviews with Princess Zahra Aga Khan, Mauro Pelaschier, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Riccardo Bonadeo, Tiziano Nava, Nicolò Reggio, Nicola Sironi, Patrizia Ferri, Andrea Vallicelli, Enrico Isenburg, Carlo Borlenghi and Jacopo Marchi.
The 40th anniversary of Azzurra continues to be retold through the recollections of the main protagonists interviewed for the short film.
Prince Karim Aga Khan has forever remained in the hearts of Italian sailors especially for the wonderful adventure that was “Azzurra” the first challenge of an Italian yatch in the mythical America’s Cup. Despite Azzurra coming third in the competition, it was still very much like a victory because Cino Ricci, Mauro Pelaschier and teammates returned to Italy welcomed as heroes. In fact, with that feat they had made an entire population fall in love with a sport until then considered for the few. Thanks to the Aga Khan sailing is now the third most popular sport after football and Formula 1 racing.
Destriero – an unbeaten transatlantic record
The Destriero Challenge was born from H.H. the Aga Khan’s passion for new naval technologies He promoted the project with the support of the leading representatives of the Italian industrial sector of the time: Giovanni Agnelli (Fiat), Franco Nobili (IRI), Umberto Nordio (Alitalia) and Arrigo Gattai (CONI) and prestigious sponsors such as Agip, General Electric, MTU and KaMeWa.
The name, Destriero, in the Middle Ages indicated the most daring and courageous of steeds, just as the idea of building the fastest ship of all time was a daring and courageous one in 1990. The design was entrusted to Donald Blount, who called on the support of Pininfarina, and was built in record time by Fincantieri at the Muggiano shipyard.
On 6 August 1992, Destriero, a fantastic example of Italian naval technology, left behind the Ambrose Light in New York, the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the Verrazzano bridge to embark on the record-breaking attempt.
At dawn on 9 August 1992, at 6.14 a.m. and 50 seconds, staff manning the Bishop Rock lighthouse in the Scilly isles off England, still shrouded in fog, were surprised to hear the voice of Cesare Fiorio over the radio: “Good Morning, this is the commander of the ship Destriero, we left from New York, please register the date and time of our passage.” “Good morning Destriero, we were not expecting you so soon…” was the operator’s reply.
Destriero, flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda burgee, had covered 3,106 miles in 58 hours, 34 minutes and 50 seconds, at an average speed of 53.09 knots, or 98.323 km/h, taking 21 hours less than the English catamaran Hoverspeed, holder of the previous record.
Waiting for the crew on their arrival was H.H. the Aga Khan, President of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and the main supporter of the project. In addition to the Blue Riband, Destriero was also awarded the New York Yacht Club’s Columbus Atlantic Trophy and the Virgin Atlantic Challenge Trophy, created by Richard Branson.
The 9th of August is a historic date for the Italian shipbuilding industry, marking 30 years of a record that still stands undefeated, set by the ship Destriero. Since 1992 the “Blue Riband” for the Atlantic crossing has belonged to all those who participated in the design and construction of the ship and the realisation of the challenge.
For more than 30 years now, Destriero has been the fastest ship in the world.
YCCS & Sustainability – One Ocean Foundation & Charta Smeralda Ethical Code
In 2017, the year of its 50th anniversary, the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda launched the One Ocean environmental sustainability project.
The YCCS’ desire to add its voice to one of the most urgent issues of our time came from the knowledge that as a Yacht Club, the sea is the primary element underpinning all of its main activities. In 2017 the initiative culminated in the One Ocean Forum, the first forum organised in Italy on the subject of marine protection, realised in partnership with UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the SDA Bocconi Sustainability Lab.
On 3-4 October at the Forum in Milan 800 people participated in 12 hours of work featuring contributions from researchers, eye witnesses and international companies. Following the success of the forum, in 2018 was established the One Ocean Foundation.
At the conclusion of the One Ocean Forum that took place in Milan in October 2017, the Charta Smeralda was presented and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda was its first signatory.
The Charta Smeralda represents an ethical code intended to guide individuals and organisations to adopt environmentally friendly behaviour. YCCS promotes this code of conduct to its Club members, its partners and all participants in its sporting activities.
Everyone can contribute to preserving the marine environment by signing the Charta Smeralda and pledging to follow the guidelines it contains.
To sign up click here
About Costa Smeralda & YCCS
The 35 mile-long Emerald Coast – or Costa Smeralda in Italian – was an undeveloped stretch of rocky coves when it caught the eye of the Aga Khan, in the late 1950s while sailing his yacht. Since then, the Emerald Coast famous for its landscape heritage, unique white sand beaches, deep coves and pink granite rocks was developed into a premier tourist destination. The impact of its development has become a text book example for economic and social development for many countries and the Italian government lost no time in awarding His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan with two of its highest state honours.
The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) was founded on 12th May 1967 by His Highness Prince Aga Khan IV, Andrè Ardoin, Giuseppe Kerry Mentasti and Luigi Vietti as a non-profit making sporting association for fellow sailing enthusiasts and with a view to promoting related activities. The sporting events organized by the Club and the victories won by Members flying the Club’s burgee have helped to establish the YCCS’ position at the forefront of international yachting. Today the YCCS enjoys reciprocal agreements with the Yacht Club di Monaco, the New York Yacht Club, Royal Yacht Squadron and Norddeutscher Regatta Verein. The YCCS is represented by the Board of Directors headed by its President, Princess Zahra Aga Khan and His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV is the President of the YCCS.
Italian State Honours
Twice decorated with Italy’s highest state honours, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV has been recognized by the Italian government for his immense contribution to the economic transformation of Sardinia through the development of Costa Smeralda.
The Italian government recognized his contributions by awarding His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV two state decorations:
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1977, and
- Knight of Labour, Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1988
These honours captures the continuing appreciation of the Government and peoples of Italy, especially the people from Sardinia for His Highness and the permanent bond they share with him, one of people, place and history.
Editor’s note:
While every effort is made in trying to remain true to the original author of all articles we bring to our audiences at Ismailimail, much gets lost in translating the original piece from one language to another. The choice of words, the expression of feelings, the historical and cultural norms, semantics, the author, all these and many other factors get diluted and/or lost, even with the aid and convenience of the all powerful tool like Google translate.
This piece, originally in Italian was highly poetic and exuded profound love in the expression of sentiments that the people of Sardinia feel for His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan. Reading it to learn, internalizing it to understand, and translating it to share was an eclectic dance of the heart with the mind.
It is our hope that you were inspired by the impact that His Highness continues to have in Sardinia, Italy and around the world.
Research, Translation, Insight & Perspective by A. Maherali
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