2022 sporting season of the Yacht Club Italiano

2022 sporting season of the Yacht Club Italiano © Yacht Club Italiano

The Yacht Club Italiano is pleased to announce the dates in its 2022 sporting calendar.

As well as confirming all the classic regattas from February to October, 2022 will be enriched with further events that have had great importance in the history of the Club and point the way to its future: the first two marked the confirmation of two regattas brought back last year, the Genova Sailing Week and the Regate di Primavera di Portofino, with also the RoundItaly, underlining the commitment of the Club to offshore races and finally, though not less important, the Campionato Europeo Melges 24 which will be held in the waters of Genoa next autumn from October 22 to the 29th.

"After the complicated season we are leaving behind us," says Gerolamo Bianchi, President of the YCI, "we are also very satisfied with the results we have obtained in circumstances that then proved a great success. The most evident demonstration of how we can learn great lessons from the most difficult periods and how we can transform a problem into an opportunity. We have seen a very compressed season packed with sporting events in which we have managed to consolidate and press ahead with our programs; we were also helped by the benevolence of the weather which, adding to the peculiarities of this period, never let us down - there was sometimes even too much of it - transforming traditionally tranquil regattas into epic races that impressed themselves in the memories of us all. We look forward with confidence to the New Year with the activities of the Yacht Club Italiano that by now cover almost all the months of the year, and allow us to organise regattas from the Optimists to the big maxi yachts.

All this is possible thanks also to consolidated collaboration from the Clubs close to us, our partners old and new, the many Ligurian sailing clubs, the support of the Federazione Italiana Vela and the Institutions which in recent years more than ever have shown enormous support for sport. So it is with renewed optimism that we present our new sporting calendar and a heartfelt "see you back on the water" to all those taking part in our magnificent regattas!"

February

The events of the Club begin with the four weekends of March dedicated to the International Genoa Winter Contest. The first two (5/6 and 12/13) are for 420s and Optimists; the third (19/20) for the ILCA and the last (25/27) for H22 one designs. An excellent location to make the most of winter conditions in the Gulf of Genoa, often characterised by strong north winds and a calm sea.

March

From the 24th to the 26th there will be the second edition of the Genova Sailing Week which has its origins in the first regattas organised by the Club. In fact it was during the week from April 4-16 of 1887 that the first International Regattas open to all classes were held, with 15 entries in that first edition.

As the years went by, the week became an increasingly important event with representatives of many nations fighting for the Coppa d'Italia. The regattas of the Genova Sailing Week are open to ORC/IRC classes and are a moment of transition between the end of the Winter Championships and the start of the spring racing season.

April

From the 15th to the 20th the Mini 6.50s will be back fighting for the Grand Prix d'Italie - Coppa Alberti in this classic offshore for the small oceangoing class which, in recent years, has found in Genoa one of the most important centres for the Mediterranean fleet. Another returning event, from Friday, April 22 to Monday, April 25, will be the Regate di Primavera a Portofino. The town of Portofino will again open this sporting season for maxi yachts in the Mediterranean with the return of the Regate di Primavera, after the successful 2021 edition and thanks to collaboration between the Yacht Club Italiano, municipality of Portofino, International Maxi Association and main partner Rolex.

May

This is the month of the Dinghy 12s which will be back for one of the Club's favourite races, the Bombola d'Oro - Trofeo SIAD, as ever with Santa Margherita and Portofino as a natural backdrop to what is now become a classic for the Dinghy 12s. The small dinghies will be on the water from the 20th to 22nd May in the two categories VTR and Classic competing for the trophy which in this year will celebrate its first 25 years!

June

The Rolex Giraglia, the super classic which, after the 2021 edition in Italian waters, returns to its original format, starts on the night of Friday, June 10 with the Sanremo - Saint-Tropez; then on June 12, 13th and 14th coastal races off Saint-Tropez and then the start of the offshore on Wednesday, June 15 round the classic 243 mile triangle Saint-Tropez - Giraglia - Genova. The week of the Rolex Giraglia will end with the prize-giving on Saturday, June 18 at the Club headquarters.

September

Thursday the 22nd will see the start of the second edition of the RoundItaly, the 1130 mile offshore race organised with the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano with a unique, spectacular obligatory passage through the Strait of Messina. RoundItaly Genova-Trieste will start on September 22, the day of the inauguration of the Genoa Boat Show, uniting with a spectacular offshore race the two capitals of Italian sailing, of Italian shipbuilding and passion for the sea in a moment of maximum visibility.

Saturday, September 24 is the day of the Millevele, sailing off Genoa which is attracting increasing interest and participation and is an important appointment among the events of the Show. For what has become an authentic festival of sailing and a celebration of the territory, boats of every category and size are expected on the water for a real-time challenge over the three coastal courses from Genoa to Punta Chiappa.

October

The Coppa Poggi, scheduled for Saturday 22nd and Sunday, 23 October, is a classic race for 420 dinghies and ILCA and as the recent tradition marked the end of the YCI sporting season, but for this year will have to give up this role to make way for the Melges 24. In fact from October 22-29 Genoa and the Yacht Club Italiano will be the base for the European Championship of the Melges 24 class, one of the most long-lived one design races designed in 1992 by the American designers Reichel/Pugh and still today a very widespread and much appreciated class all over the world.

"International Melges 24 Class - commented the the newly elected Vice Chair Europe of IM24CA, Piero Andolina - is happy to discover new venues and proud to be hosted by the historical Yacht Club Italiano, one of the oldest and most renown in the Mediterranean area. Choosing Genova as venue of the European Championship 2022 is a wonderful opportunity for our Class: Genova is an attractive and favourable venue in the central Mediterranean, a city that blends history, art, traditions and fascinating surroundings with facilities, services, easy access through motorways and airports, as well as through the harbour that ease shipping the boats from overseas. International Melges 24 Class with a great confidence trusts in the experience of Yacht Club Italiano to run high level and famous regattas and is looking forward to a great event and sailing experience in Genova!".

The regattas and events are made possible thanks also to the valuable support of the institutional partners of the Yacht Club Italiano: Rolex, main partner and official timepiece; the institutional sponsor SIAD and technical partners Gruppo Boero and Gruppo Navico. These were joined in 2021, and we hope to have still alongside the Yacht Club Italiano event partners increasingly close to the activities of the Club: Belmond, Banca Passadore, Loro Piana, Veuve Clicquot, Iren, Slam, Veneziani Yachting, the North Sails loft, Banca Patrimoni Sella & C.

Another important piece of news, which concerns 2023, is the assignation to the Yacht Club Italiano of the 8m SI World Championships, which will be held in Genoa between the end of August and the beginning of September. The prize will be the prestige Coppa d'Italia, donated to the Club by King Umberto in 1898 and which from 1909, with an interruption from 1951 to 1999, is awarded to the world champion of this Class that has written sailing history.

www.yachtclubitaliano.it