Musto Skiff GoSAILING Performance Cup at Portoroz,Slovenia

Musto Skiff GoSAILING Performance Cup in Slovenia © Paul Manning

Musto Skiff GoSAILING Performance Cup in Slovenia © Paul Manning

Musto Skiff GoSAILING Performance Cup in Slovenia © Paul Manning

As class secretary, I took the opportunity of an invitation from my good friend Mitja Margon to visit the GoSAILING Performance Cup 2010 to check out the facilities and general arrangements for the venue which will be the host of the 2011 European championships.

A number of visiting sailors also had this idea, but used it as a bit of practise on the race area and in the restaurants!

The GoSAILING team's Katarina Kerševan has been working hard on the club's website www.gosailing.si which will form the basis for all information regarding the regatta, accommodation, how to get their and places in beautiful Slovenia that you can visit. If you take a look at www.gosailing.si/?p=309 there are top 50 things to see in Slovenia. This will have a link directly from www.mustoskiff.com and will have featured articles in upcoming e-newsletters.

Event PRO Bojan Gale (with long experience on Race courses around the World, recently also from Youth Olympic Games and Extreme 40 Worlds) plans to have the NOR up around November. There will also be regular features from class member, Slovenian Sailing Federation Vice Chairman and team principal of GoSAILING's Mitja Margon on how to sail in the area and information from Jure Jerman on weather patterns. Jure recently guided Phil Sharp to 1st overall in the Route du Rhum and many other solo sailors on their good results with his meteorological expertise.

The team are very well organised and enthusiastic, and it was good to go out on the PRO's committee boat to watch the race management, which was very slick and well organised. I was also very impressed to see that when we got ashore Bojan and Katarina had already published the results via a link between the club house and committee boat, and Katarina had been publishing live information about the sailing as it happened straight onto the site. This will be a feature of the Europeans that previously class members have undertaken. (Here Rick, you don't have to do anything!)

On arrival the weather was warm, around 25 degrees, and sunny. We spent a practise day going through boat set ups, and generally chatting with some afternoon unofficial racing in 8-15 knots of South wind ("Jugo"). 1st day of racing was held in stronger "Jugo" which occasionally dropped to 10 knots, but was mostly between 15 and 20 knots. Due to a very rare weather system affecting the Mediterranean and Adriatic, we unfortunately lost two days racing with winds gusting to 30 knots plus from North-East ("Bora"). Even then Martin Mayrhofer managed to record 21.4 knots downwind in the near flat water conditions. There were big boats racing up the Adriatic, and they were not having so much fun in more wind and big seas!

A bit about the venue

The weather
As a general rule the autumn weather in Slovenia is in the mid 20's, with bright sunshine and occasional cloudy days. In a similar way to Lake Garda, this area has a catabatic wind called "Bora" which comes down from the nearby high mountains and further off Alps creating a strong northerly wind. In some cases this can become what is known as a "Black Bora" which is the same, but stronger! The otherwise aquamarine waters turn an angry black with white wave tops and the wind can regularly reach 30 knots. You can also get a Sirocco or "Jugo" wind, which is a more gentle southerly breeze, warm, but can shift in direction. Finally, the predominant breeze is a sea breeze which fills into the bay from the North-West and seems to increase to around 12-15 knots.

The venue
Portoroz is a very pretty classic Mediterranean seaside resort. The hotels that line the centre of the towns sea front are modern and stylish, with the exception of the Palace hotel (member of Kempinski group) which is simply stunning and over 100 years old. There are plenty of restaurants and shops, as well as a huge casino on the hillside.

For families, there is a short sandy beach in town center and nice coastal line which offers plenty of spaces for swimmers, including few piers. There are good quality swimming pools along the sea front, and the sea was 21 degrees!

Accommodation
Katarina will publish more on this on the website, but there is pretty well anything from the above mentioned Palace hotel right through to apartment hotels and camping. All of which is either a short drive or walk from the dinghy park.

There are two sailing areas, an inner and outer. One is inside the bay, which can mean that it is possible to race in strong winds due to the protection the bay provides. The other is just outside the bay, which provides an open sea environment. Both areas can be easily viewed from shore, and the furthest race course is not far to sail.

Where is the venue
Again there will be more details on this, along with possible excursions to Venice (which is just across the Adriatic) and other things to do on the event website, but basically Portoroz is about 30 minutes south of Trieste, and the bay's north shore is Slovenia and south shore Croatia.

Please take a look at www.gosailing.si and if you have any questions, please contact GoSAILING on