“I lost the Giraglia to save a boat.”

There is a gentleman who was called to the stage at the Giraglia Rolex Cup awards ceremony at the Yacht Club Italiano, and he was awarded the “Fair Play” award for rescuing a boat in trouble during the night of the gale between July 16 and 17 (Federico Massari’s Grand Soleil 34.1 Mariel, we tell you about it here), 20 miles north of the Giraglia Rock. This gentleman’s name is Franco Salmoiraghi, he is the owner of the X-332 Aria di Burrasca and has thirty Giraglie behind him. He just doesn’t like that award, and he was very bitter.

HOW TO BE PENALIZED BY DOING ONE’S DUTY
“Iexpected to be rewarded as the winner of the combined standings between the coastal and long races in ORC B class, and I was left with an eyelash,” he says. “Rescuing the struggling crew of Mariel (moreover, his direct opponent for a few years, ed.), which had lost its rudder blade, cost us about five hours of time, between detouring to reach the boat-with a libeccio of at least 35 knots and pyramidal waves more than three meters high-and hours spent beside the boat waiting for rescue. Time that, despite our obvious request for reparations, was not granted to us. We were fresh from the coastal victory (3-2-1 the partials) and would only need a quiet finish in the long run, around 10th place, to secure the triumph. But no, I learned with amazement of the 16th place finish at the offshore trial, which caused us to slip to second place. Our request for repair was rejected by the jury“. Motivation, as you can read in the original pdf of the report we attach, supported by the fact that the offshore race of the Giraglia is a race “in itsown right” and “the amount of time lost and the variability of weather and sea conditions make it impossible to give compensation in time or points to the boat.”. According to Salmoiraghi, “it would have been easy to assign us the position we occupied at the passage of the Giraglia, that is, being wide, a third place.” REPARATION REQUEST AND JURY’S DECISION

A QUESTIONABLE DECISION, TO SAY THE LEAST…
A decision, that of the judges, which clashes with Rule 62.1 (Appendix C) of the International Racing Rules. We quote verbatim: “A request for repair, or a decision by the Protest Committee to consider a repair, must be based on the claim or possibility that a boat’s score in a race or series has been or may be, through no fault of its own, significantly worsened by… (item C): aiding a boat or competitor (except, of course, one’s own boat and crew) in compliance with Rule 1.1 (sic!) of the Regulations.” Which states, “A boat or competitor must give all possible help to any person or vehicle in distress.“

… AND A (DANGEROUS) HOAX
The presentation of the “Fair Play” award also was seen by Salmoiraghi almost as a mockery, moreover dangerous: “There has been a confusion here between fair play and duty. The duty (moreover, with legal value, since those who do not do so are liable to prosecution) of men and sportsmen to come to the aid of those in distress. Rewarding me with such a title is a wrong and dangerous choice, which lets through the message ‘if I help you, I am a hero’ and, consequently, that in the event of a call for help, we may as well turn the other way“. And little did it matter if, once off the stage, Salmoiraghi was symbolically handed the first-place trophy by the Xp33 Controcorrente crew, winners of the combined (a splendid sporting gesture): “I will appeal, because I want to get to the bottom of this. “

JUDGED “IN ABSENTIA”
Also because, Franco continues, “when at 2:30 p.m. on the 17th I filed my request in the YCI secretary’s office, the lady who received it in her hands, upon my request as to what time it would be discussed, told me, in the presence of other people, that Mr. Eugenio Torre, jury president would not arrive until 7 p.m. At that point, I took the train to Sestri Levante with my crew to get home, have a farewell shower after 2 days and 2 nights of sailing, with the intention of returning to Genoa by 7 pm. Instead, the hearing was held at 5 p.m. (see closing time 5:55 p.m. on the minutes above). Only then did I find a call on my cell phone, it was Torre informing me that since we were absent at the hearing we no longer had a chance to make our case. Doubly shameful not to have given us redress or even heard us. On top of everything, I had listed Mariel and her owner Massari as witnesses to the fact. At that time they were in Macinaggio after the helicopter rescue. I wonder : Shouldn’t a jury make its decisions with full knowledge of the facts? What was to prevent postponing the decision until Saturday morning since the awards were at 11 a.m. and give time for me to counter and Mariel to confirm my words? But then, it is not a protest involving other competitors and/or the committee but a simple request to recognize Aria di Burrasca for the time she lost in the rescue. Recognition DUE to regulations, common sense and seamanship. As I said at the award ceremony this decision is bitter and deeply disappointing.
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HOW THE RESCUE OCCURRED
“Squall air,” Salmoiraghi recounts, “was the only boat (and I stress, bitterly, the only one among the competitors! Not even assistance boats by the organization were in the water as in past editions: very strange, with 268 hulls in the water and a gale warning…) which rushed as soon as possible to the distress call (mayday) launched by the yacht Mariel, which had lost its rudder about 20 miles north of the Giraglia Rock. We reached Mariel, which in addition to everything, had a broken radio, was not pulling more than 2 miles, and radio bridged with compamare Livorno, Livorno radio, Securité corse stations, and with a freighter, diverted dul place by the French Coast Guard, which after about 2 hours arrived in the area and redosed Mariel from the waves and wind. Truly a beautiful and sudden gale and a big adventure for the crew of the Mariel but also for the crew of Aria di Burrasca, which fortunately ended in the best possible way“.

Eugene Ruocco

MORE:
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE “GALE JUNKET”
ALL GIRAGLIA WINNERS