What’s up? Alberto Menegatti

Alberto Menegatti passed away, much too early, on Tenerife, El Medano February 23, 2015. R.I.P. Alberto Menegatti

Article August 24, 2014

The Italian slalom sailor Alberto Menegatti has been suffering a forearm tendonitis for more than a year. The pain actually started one month before the PWA event in Alacati last year.  Alberto stated in our interview from last year: “I was not even able to hold a pen or just to fill up my car with the petrol. I had an inflammation on both my tendons and it kept me off the water for 1.5 months…. So far I am still injured and need some more time to heal.”

The truth is Alberto Menegatti is still having pain and decided to skip the event in Fuerteventura and Alacati. But lately we saw more and more videos and pictures in the social media channels popping up, which show Alberto blasting around at his home spot Lake Garda in Italy. Just today we have received an e-mail from one of his supporters, Point-7 boss Andrea Cucchi, with a video showing a typical morning windsurfing session at Malcesine. So, we thought to hook up with Andrea, for a quick update about Alberto’s physical conditions.

A typical morning with Alberto Menegatti at Malcesine

Continentseven: Alberto Menegatti did not compete at the PWA Slalom World Cup on Fuerteventura. Why?
Andrea Cucchi: It was one year that Alberto was trying to be on the water under his normal training schedule, but this was causing further inflamation to his tendons. So he was going for it for few days, and then had to be off the water and get treatment continuously. Therefore he was not able to train as he would have needed to achieve his goals. It’s hard to take a real break if you have the motivation, and I guess the choice for Alberto to finally take a real break was a tough one, but necessary. His training now is still a recovery training. Short periods on the water, not every day, not sailing too overpowered. In the gym he is doing light weights to bring his muscles into balance. It’s a kind of maintainance training to keep the body used to the movements, but with little power involved. Different specialists have different opinion on how his recovery schedule should be, so we all hope he took the right one.

Continentseven: In the actual video from Malcesine, it does not look like Alberto has any problems on the water and he even pulls down the sail without help. Why is he then not on the list for the PWA World Cup in Alacati?
Andrea Cucchi: True, but he cannot sail more than an hour a day, and with bigger sails, it’s where he is suffering the most. Pumping and so on. I believe he is now sailing maximum one hour every 2 days, and is having everyday treatments with the physio and such. I think he would be able to compete, but after the whole event his problems could still come back as it’s still too early. I believe he also feels that at his level, if he needs to invest his time in the PWA, he wants to be at 100% fit. He has work to recover before that. He loves Alacati and he knows he can do good. 

Continentseven: We saw he is on the list for the indoor event in Poland. Will he take part?
Andrea Cucchi: He would love too, but we all pushed and convinced him to skip it, as we want him to be healthy first. For him and also for us would have been a great chance for promotion, but his time will come soon again. He needs patience. As Point-7, we signed up Alberto’s sponsorship for 2015 already, and I guess also all his other sponsors, as we trust he will come back stronger than ever. He has helped  testing a lot for the new AC-1zero15 racing sail, as he was more often available, and with the increase in performance of the new edition, he is now more motivated than ever. He would love to be in Poland for the indoor as it’s a great opportunity, but health comes first. He has still many years of racing in his career, so it’s correct that he gets back to shape 100% before he drags on with this problem for a longer time.