It is more than a century old and since the beginning of its history, which started in 1910 with its founding, the Canottieri Argus 1910(www.argus1910.it) has linked its name to that of the town that houses its headquarters and boats, namely Santa Margherita Ligure. In short, we are talking about a sports club that is the heritage and pride of the Tigullio town and the entire region. That is why, organizing the new edition of the TAG Heuer VELAFestival right in Santa Margherita, we could not but ask them to participate, actively, in our important event, also to allow the many expected visitors to learn about the history, the palmares and the activities of the legendary Canottieri Argus. We then reached the society’s president, Francesco Ferretto, by phone to let him tell us what enthusiasts or just curious about this wonderful sport will be able to find at the VELAFestival. “It was really a pleasure for me,” he tells us, ” to join this initiative and not only, of course, because our registered office is located right in the Santa Margherita marina. In fact, we want to take advantage of this important opportunity to make ourselves known to the world of sea enthusiasts, who are as passionate as we are!, and above all to make people discover and experience the beauty of this sport. For this very reason, we will provide visitors to the VELAFestival with two “costal rowing” boats that we have in our possession and which are the perfect means to make a first outing in the sea and fall in love with rowing. We then made an agreement with the renowned Salani Shipyard that will bring other easy-to-use boats especially for novices to the VELAFestival, again to make them available to visitors.”
BETWEEN HISTORY AND TOURISM
The participation of Canottieri Argus 1910 in the TAG Heuer VELAFestival, however, is not only “sporty,” but also “historical.” In the headquarters of the sports club, which on the days of the event will be open to the public of visitors in fact, there is, and will be open to visitors, a real collection of vintage boats that would not disfigure in any museum. These are at least a dozen “pieces” of great historical value whose construction dates back as far as seventy years. “Our society,” President Ferretto further explains, “is proud of its history and does everything to keep it alive. Just think that in addition to being a century old, we have victories in major national and international competitions dating back to the 1920s. Golden period during which some of our card-carrying members, such as the famous rowing leader Antonio Ghirardello. have perfected that style of “modern” rowing that is still the one used at the highest world levels of the sport. Those who would like to visit our historical exhibition then have another opportunity: that of also trying rowing on gymnasium rowers, the so-called oar ergometers, which are good training practice as well as themselves a form of sport in which people can compete today.” Finally, having his based in a natural and tourist paradise such as Monte di Portofino, the Canottieri Argus, precisely under the sponsorship of theMarine Protected Area of Portofino (www.portofinoamp.it), organizes sea tours to explore the most beautiful spots on the surrounding coastline, the “Portofino Rowing Tours”.
