Barcolana presented by Generali: two days to the start of the events
by Barcolana 28 Sep 2021 11:24 UTC
1-10 October 2021
Two days until the registrations close and three days until both the on land and at sea events take off: Barcolana53 presented by Generali is ready to go.
The edition of the "new routes" will in fact be inaugurated at sea on Friday October 1st, with the beginning of the Portopiccolo Maxi Race @Barcolana and the Melges24 @Barcolana, and on land with the Conference "Trieste marittima tra passato e presente" organized by Trieste's Port Authority.
Registrations - Registrations for the Barcolana - short of possible extensions - will close on September 30th, the same as last year: from October 1st all the yachtsmen can go to the headquarters of the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano to collect the documents necessary for the regatta together with the goodie bag, this year filled with surprises. In addition to the online registrations for the Barcolana at www.barcolana.it, one can also register now for the other regattas too. These include, in particular, Barcolana Young (open until September 29th), Barcolana Classic by SIAD, Go To Barcolana da Ravenna - which will present the Hera trophy - and Go To Barcolana from Slovenia. On the website of the Yacht Club Portopiccolo one can register instead for the regatta dedicated to the Maxis.
Rounditaly - RoundItaly ends its first edition with a record time set at 6d 18h 03m 57s - marked by the first to arrive, the maxi Pendragon - and by the excitement of the participants, tired but satisfied on the finishing line in front of the headquarters of the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano. This new regatta has shown us just how much our sea demands not only great navigating skills but an excellent preparation of boat and crew, especially in a time like this with such unstable weather conditions.
But let us rewind the tape: after the departure on September 16th, the five boats found themselves up against gusts of wind from the South, which immediately made it clear that it would not be a leisure cruise.
While Carlo Alberini's Maxi quickly overtook the rest of the fleet, the Class40 group and the First 44 Argo, during the first 500 miles towards the Strait of Messina, navigated in a sort of dance that had them both far apart and really close.
At the first gate of Messina, in fact, after a slow descent of the Southern Tyrrhenian, the three Class 40s passed the checking point a few minutes - if not seconds, like the first two - from each other. During this phase, the First 44 Argo lost important miles, slowed down by light winds and the opposing currents of the strait. And while Pendragon began eating up the miles at an impressive rate, thanks to the sustained winds of the Ionian Sea, the fleet of followers got separated in the second section of the route, which connects Messina with the second gate of the regatta, namely the cape of Santa Maria di Leuca.
Here the Class40 Ediliziacrobatica had to stop for roughly an hour for a supply of water, irretrievably losing miles and precious time to its direct opponents which, having left Puglia, positioned their bows towards the Albanian coast to begin the ascent of the Adriatic. It was the Adriatic, though, that proved to be very tricky, with a storm that attacked the fleet for about 30 hours, forcing the competitors to practically sail upwind as far as the Istrian coast. And while Pendragon passed the finishing line very swiftly (September 23rd at 11am), the others navigated along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, arriving between 7 am of the 24th and 8am of the next day.
The first among the Class 40 was Kamak of Stefano Raspadori with Alberto Bona and Andrea Caracci, to be followed by Kika Green Challenge of Cristiano Verardo with Cecilia Zorzi and Pietro Luciani and, arriving third, was Ediliziacrobatica of Ernesto Moresino with Francesco Farci and Lorenzo Meroni. Finally, after 9 days 10h 41m 56s, at 3:41am of Sunday night, the First 44.7 Argo of Luciano Manfredi crossed the finishing line in Barcola, after a long voyage which brought him to Trieste. With an overall age of 213 of the four Argo sailors, as well as various vicissitudes - including the breakdown of the on-board electronics - they managed to accomplish the task of arriving in front of the Pendragon on corrected time and thus win the IRC victory.
"I wish to congratulate all the yachtsmen who participated in RoundItaly for being tenacious and inspiring - said the Chairman of the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano, Mitja Gialuz - and I wish to thank them for having written this beautiful page in sailing history. From the images and from the stories, the spirit with which this regatta was born shines through, a regatta that unites Genova and Trieste, YCI and SVBG, Salone Nautico and Barcolana. We have witnessed a spectacular and, technically,a very challenging race: I am convinced that this event will become a classic of offshore sailing in the Mediterranean. I wish to thank our friends of the yacht Club Italiano, Fincantieri, Promoturismo FVG, Confindustria Nautica, the Federazione Italiana Vela, and the General Command of the Coast Guard for their extraordinary work these past few weeks. Driven by the enthusiasm of the participants, over the next few days we will set to work on the second edition".
"Having been able to unite Genova and Trieste is a great success for us organizers - stated the Chairman of the Yacht Club Italiano, Gerolamo Bianchi - and I am convinced we have traced an important route for the future of offshore sailing in the Mediterranean. Five boats in this first edition set the time record, crossing four Italian seas with dedication, effort and enthusiasm, and us with them. A journey of 1130 miles along our peninsula which, I am sure, has taken on a new value in the international sailing calendar".
With over 30,000 participants from all over the world, E-RoundItaly, the virtual twin of RoundItaly, has also ended, confirming the great success it had already obtained in its first edition in 2020. The first virtual sailor, French Tipapacheri BSP MCES, who crossed the finishing line not long after the real class40, boasts a journey time of 8 days 03 hours 34 seconds, followed by two fellow citizens, Buddha BSP MCES and Taberly-TPN.
On land: presentation of Barcolana un mare di Racconti - Third edition of "Barcolana - Un Mare di Racconti", an event created in partnership with Fondazione CRTrieste and Comune di Trieste, scheduled from Monday October 4th to Saturday October 9th in the Sala Lelio Luttazzi in the Magazzino 26 in Porto Vecchio, Trieste.
Organized as a cultural event as part of the presentations included in Barcolana presented by Generali - requested by the chairman of the Società Velica Barcola e Grignano, Mitja Gialuz, conceived and directed by the journalist and writer, Alessandro Mezzena Lona - the Festival dedicated to travel and the culture of the sea this year offers an edition that foresees roughly twenty guests. Travelling in the vast sea of literature, Barcolana un mare di racconti wanted to build a bridge between Trieste and Europe.
Barcolana Sea Summit - The full program of the Barcolana Sea Summit is online - at the following websites www.seasummit.it and www.barcolana.it - and it is also possible to reserve one's place to participate in person in the event on the protection and the development of the Mediterranean Sea, scheduled from the 6th to the 9th of October at the Trieste Convention Center in the Porto Vecchio of Trieste. To begin with, there will be 200 seats available for each session, in full compliance with Covid-19 rules and regulations, given the large spaces made available by the TCC. All information regarding the reservations are available on the dedicated page.
Barcolana Sea Summit foresees three days of meetings, for a total of eight sessions: each session deals with a topic related to the health of the Mediterranean. Presented in an informative and appealing style, the event is designed to provide the opportunity to compare institutions, industries, ports, science, environmental associations, not only by emphasizing the urgency to act in order to protect the Mediterranean, but also by highlighting the positive activities already initiated by numerous enlightened companies.