When I leave Trieste after the Barcolana I always have nostalgia, a kind of saudage. On Sunday we left back to Milan around 11 p.m., dead tired but with this beautiful Barcolana in our eyes and the smiles of our 28 readers who participated aboard four boats in this 27th edition. Certainly not one of the easiest, given the 80 knots of Bora that blew Saturday and delayed the start as well as putting a strain on everyone’s smiles.
On Sunday, however, the scenery changed, the Bora calmed down, the clouds receded, and the regatta started on time: at 12:30 p.m. our four crews were all on the starting line and we at broth of the Clovis (the wonderful 26-meter ketch, TAG Heuer hospitality area who accompanied us on the water thanks to Riccardo, Marika and Sergio) to cheer them on. A few gusts still tested the resilience of our gritty readers, but eventually all four boats crossed the finish line.
Ours was a bit of a regatta within a regatta where the first to cross the finish line was the First 50 Zora with skipper Maurizio Vettorato (owner Pietro Del Maschio) who finished 83rd overall and 23rd in the Cruising category, really a great result for a crew that had never been on a boat together before.
This was followed by Dimitri Barbiero’s Dufour 445 (189th overall, 78th in Cruising) under the command of Simone Gesi.
Third of our boats was Venenzio Ferri’s Sintesi 45, “under the orders” of Giango Tadini, definitely the most spartan of the hulls, so double bravo to the crew, who crossed the finish line 208th overall and 89th in Cruising.
And finally, the Salona 44 “in command” of Matteo Miceli, owner Ettore Baldo (237th overall, and 103rd in the Cruise category).
QUESTION OF BORA: THE OTHER SOUL OF TRIESTE
The people of Trieste are said to be a little crazy, a little strange. Because the Bora entered his veins. This year it was not the Barcolana of Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia filled to the seams. The queen of this Barcolana was one of Trieste’s souls: the black bora. 78 knots recorded Saturday night. A unique fascination: that stormy sea that pulverizes and where to lose your gaze while miraculously standing from the ground. The people in the procession on the Audace pier (which was closed for safety reasons Saturday night) hardly looked at the boats, they watched mesmerized as the wind transformed the sea: stopped to listen to that whistle that enters their ears. There used to be chains hanging from buildings in Trieste for people to hang on to. Saturday night there were hunched people walking as if uphill. This is why the people of Trieste have slender physiques: because they have always been accustomed to engaging hand-to-hand with the wind. Natural selection decided not to keep their centers of gravity low to help them, but made them reserved and somewhat cold for obvious reasons: otherwise this wind would blow away all their emotions. Trieste, its lesso and its wines. His Barcolana. Unique Italian sailing festival: where people flood the streets as we are used to seeing in Italy only for soccer. A Barcolana with Bora is the x-ray of Trieste, because it uncovers its true soul.
