Remembering Pedro “Nucho” Sisti

by Micky Costa

It was 1979 and being 16 years old I had the offer from the well known “Allegreto” to join him as a crew on the Snipe.

He was from the “other” club across the harbor. So there I went sailing with this super intense guy 35 years older than me in what became my best sailing school and super technical crash course on putting boats together.

Many of the younger guys, especially in Europe didn’t have the chance to know Pedro or Nucho as everyone knew him. A very special person for the class and yachting in Argentina.

Nucho was not only precise but primarily a great mentor who supported and pushed me to do better on every aspect. He’d come and get me to be sailing at 8am during week days and defined a very organized routine.

I learnt the process of developing a technical concept, think of geometry and prepare a yacht properly while making great friends with the old “rivals” from the neighboring gang of the Club Nautico Olivos.

I think we also made a bit of a bridge as many others followed to become friends across the Puerto de Olivos.

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The great thing about my new skipper was that while he was perceived as a very severe type in reality he was always approachable, kind, sincere and an excellent friend, also a great photographer.

A great teacher whom along with “La Rubia” Ema toured me and Peter, the little dog, across Argentina riding a Fiat 1500 and “Leandro” the wooden Lineburger A-12733 behind on the trailer.

Today, if I have the chance to “work-play” putting blocks, fittings, gadgets and ropes together in some nice racing yachts in the same way I did with Nucho at the dawn of the 80’s, is mostly due to the great luck of sharing a bit of the road with him.

He had setup a mini premature version of what today’s grand prix teams carry along the season but for the Snipe game in a country with little infrastructure.

There were the appropriate tools, the scheduling, the continuity, the notes, the care and the passion for constantly checking why an specific rope or system wasn’t leading as it should so it had to be re-arranged to work better the next weekend. Re-measure and try again and again.

And it had to be improved either that same evening or along the week but definitely not next Saturday morning. And you better did it well…or you’d see his face.. I can’t remember how many centerboard leading edges I did filed under his survey.

He was unbeatable in the light to mid conditions with a unique trust on his observations, the compass and angles.

He had simple rules, constant process, good diet and always a last coffee when the boat was hanging at the crane.

“Do your boat homework during the week, wake up early, go sailing or train before going to work and be ready for the weekend…and think a lot about the boat !!! “

“Just setup the right gear that mostly works for all properly, as you probably need more time to learn how to tack and gybe well rather than waste it choosing from several different jibs.”

Nucho went to the Olympics in Dragons, won the Snipe S.A. Champs and many others, became a reference to many of our Snipe sailors and among others, was a motor pushing the Argentinian class to win major international regattas. He was close to the young people, helping others, fought for the proper process in the regattas while not being afraid of saying something politically incorrect.

I eventually moved up north but never forgot what Pedro had done for me and others and while I was lucky enough to earn my living doing similar things to those on “Leandro” he followed with the same passion of the “block and tackle” hobby in the brand-new-old Grumete class rejuvenating wooden keelboats.

We had a last encounter almost four years ago in San Isidro and there he was, stumbling on deck, scratching his head in this classic boat with the same determination of forty years back. I could not believe that at 80 plus years he was still so keen on improving the functioning of a small keelboat.

I think Nucho was always a thoughtful but very young lad as he, like many of us who enjoy boats, carried this boyish passion of genuinely messing around boats a very very long way.

Gracias Nucho!

Micky Costa

Photos:

1. McCAll – Chapin – Sisti, Long Beach, Snipe Worlds 1981

2. Nucho and Ema, Long Beach 1981

3. Nucho and Micky, Long Beach 1981