Barcolana International Sailing Regatta at Trieste, Italy
by Johno Fullerton 12 Oct 2015 08:37 BST
11 October 2015
The Maxi 72 Robertissima III took line honours to claim victory in the 47th edition of the Barcolana in Trieste in a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 25 seconds.
Organisers had delayed the start by two hours on Saturday when the local 'Bora' blasted the Gulf of Trieste with gusts of 80 knots during the night. However fortu-nately the Bora subsided by morning and left mostly overcast skies and a light and patchy 5-10 knot offshore breeze and flat waters for the start of the race at 12.30hrs (local time).
The highlight of the Barcolana is always the mass start with around 1700 boats starting on the same line, but as the cannon fired, owner, Roberto Tomasini Grinover with local talisman Vasco Vascotto calling the shots, hoisted the gennaker and shot off downwind ahead of a huge armada of spinnakers.
The breeze got quite patchy around the 13 nm course and there were opportunities to make gains and lose places, but the superior boat speed of the lighter professionally crewed Maxi 72 left the larger/older maxis in her wake.
As the breeze got fluky along the Trieste coastline off the last turning mark at Castello Miramare, Robertissima lll got clear to cruise home to finish in front of a huge expectant crowd amassed in the race village erected in front of another key Trieste landmark, the Piazza Unità d'Italia.
Second to finish was Jena No Borders Team Iveco, an 80ft maxi owned by Benussi Furio and Zorzi Marcello. The final position on the podium was filled by Pendragon, another one off maxi owned by Roberto Zambezi.
Visiting local favourite Paul Cayard, steered the Frers 64 Onboard Anywave to fourth hunting down third place in the last 300m only to be pipped on the finish line.
There were a number of great performances particularly by some of the quick sports boats but many take part in the Barcolana for the experience and enjoyment of the mass regatta and the fun that it delivers. The Barcolana is traditionally held during the first two weekends in October.
Quotes from Robertissima:
Roberto Tomasini Grinover (owner) -"Emotion unique! great victory! magnificent week, in the midst of friends. I think that winning this race is a gift" (next year we will launch a new boat).
Vasco Vascotto (tactician) - "The Barcolana is the feast for all. We are happy to win and in this way, with no luck. We had a good race and our guys have manoeuvered very well. Now I want to enjoy this moment with my friends ".
Division Winners:
- Overall winner & Super Maxi Class: Maxi 72 - Robertissima III - Roberto Tomasini
- Maxi Class: Ceccarelli 52 - Molo Longo Tutta Trieste - Rajko Kujundzic
- Cat 0: TP52 - Unipol - Andrea Micalli
- Cat 1: RC44 - Illyteca - Marino Quaiat
- Cat 2: Millennium 40 - Sayonara Mission Moldova - Roberto Bertocchi
- Cat 4: Ice 33 - Mataran Mk3 - Paolo Nordera
For more details see
barcolana.it