Amer Sports Two prepares for Barcolana Race

by Vittoria Trojer on 5 Sep 2003 Trieste, Italy - The last preparations for the boat ‘Amer Sports Two’ are heating up for the
world famous Barcolana race, which is celebrating its 35th year.

The Barcolana race is famous for the two thousand boats that all line up on the same starting line for one single day of great sailing in the waters off the coast of Trieste, Italy.

‘Amer Sports Two’, a VOR 60’, was designed by Bruce Farr in 2001, on occasion of the Volvo Ocean Race and is 60 feet long. This boat was used by the women’s team in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, 2001-2002.

In order to prepare for the Barcolana race in October, the team will be training and racing in the Super Open Cup, one of the many races at Sail Week.

The helmsman, Lorenzo Bodini, is not new to the Gulf of Trieste, being a local talent and having already succeeded in several Barcolana races with ‘Goose and Gander’, which arrived in second place in 2001 and with ‘Trappola’ in 1998.

Bodini is an Olympic athlete, having competed in the last two Olympic Games in 2000 and in 1996, alongside his brother Marco Bodini, who will also race on board ‘Amer Sports Two’.

Regarding this new entry in the Barcolana race, Lorenzo explains, ‘ We are very happy to be present with this boat, which sailed the last Barcolana race last year. However, this year, we think we have a great chance of being among the most competitive teams, having on board a very experienced crew.

We will race a few days before the sail week begins so we can see where we can optimise the boat and modify the last details and then finally establish the sails program.’

The Barcolana race is on the 12th of October but the sail week begins on Monday 6th of October. During the whole week, many events are planned and anyone is invited to join in the fun!

www.maxranchi.com