Eight Bells: Luigi Lang

Dr. Luigi Lang

It is with great regret that I report on the passing of Dr. Luigi Lang on April 13 in Genoa, Italy.

Luigi was a valued friend and long-time supporter of the International Twelve Metre Class. In addition to Luigi’s many other activities, for the last 20-years he has served as Class Vice President for the Southern Europe 12 Metre Fleet.

Luigi was one of those involved in the founding AIVE (Italian Classic Yacht Association) and in developing the CIM Rule used for handicap racing of classic yachts in the Mediterranean.

Luigi was a meticulous historian, researcher, and author, having co-authored the definitive history of the Twelve Metre Class, ‘The Twelve Metre Yacht’, published in 2001 in both English and Italian (Dodici Metri), and republished in an expanded edition in 2010.

I was fortunate enough to meet Luigi in 2000 at the YC de Monaco during a classic yacht symposium, and we became good friends. We pooled the information we each had collected about 12 Metres over the years. More recently, Luigi gave much of his research collection to International Twelve Metre Association (ITMA) to help keep our history a public record.

Luigi was also involved in the Prada Challenge for Classic Yachts which was part of the America’s Cup Jubilee in 2001, and was the principal organizer of the Twelve Metre World Championship held in Barcelona in 2014 sponsored by Puig.

On behalf of the Class, we have extended our deep sympathies to his family and his myriad of friends. We will miss his friendship, experience, and sage advice. – Wm. H. Dyer Jones, President, ITMA