At the beginning of the 80s, on Lake Garda, the fleets present were mainly made up of sailing boats of the Free Class, and of boats of the various IOR classes. They were very different boats; the former were subdivided into categories functional only to the length of the hull, the others were distinguished according to the ratings which were determined by elaborating, with complex formulas, some of their most significant characteristics. The ratings in fact represented the fees for making boats more or less homogeneous with characteristics and performances that were also very different from boat to boat.

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In those years, in fact, the lack of sailing boats was perceived which, without large investments, could guarantee speed, entertainment and gratification for owners and crews. In other words, it was a widespread desire not to humiliate the spectacular and competitive component of the races, through complex compensation systems that determined the winner not through the result achieved in the water but with elaborate calculations made at the table.

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The happy intuition of Ettore Santarelli and Gian Paolo Pisa was in fact to give an answer to this expectation through the design and construction of the Asso 99.

On 15 January 1983, at the nautical base of Canottieri di Salò, the first specimen of Asso99 was launched, named "Spinello" by its owner Gian Paolo Pisa. It was an immediate success! The boat was innovative and characterized by the beauty of the lines and by far superior performances to those of many more expensive boats of the Open and IOR classes. In a short time, with the construction of other Asso99s, the need arose to form a Class and to equip itself with precise rules and its own regatta calendar. More than 150 Asso 99 boats have been produced so far, while even today the sailing fleet proves to be numerous and admired on the regatta fields.