Sailing Italy with bated breath: Beccaria 24 hours away from the finish line of the Mini Transat

These days here at the editorial office of the Sailing Newspaper we are preparing the classic December-January double issue, but the atmosphere is not the usual, it is almost suspended, and at regular intervals a voice rises from a desk: “What does Bogi do?” Mini Transat tracking although it is updated at long intervals it is constantly open on the PCs of our journalists. The Journal to go to press is waiting to hear how this Mini Transat will end, because regardless of how it ends we want to tell you this story.

We are really holding our breath because a result in such a difficult regatta Italian ocean sailing has never achieved, except for the exploits of Giovanni Soldini but these are very different regattas, and we are really close. Ambrogio Beccaria is really close to the finish line, at last count the miles to go are less than 200 with an Eta that has been moved to tomorrow afternoon when it will be lunchtime in Martinique.

Perhaps Bogi will begin to smell land in a few hours, the Trade Wind will change consistency, bringing with it new nuances. We imagine him pulling slack edges under the large masthead spinnaker, with the bowsprit well squared to expose the sail and always sail at maximum VMG in balance between speed and angle to the wind. No one can catch up with him, in his wake the first opponent is over 100 miles away, erased by a real lesson. We cannot imagine what is going through the mind of the Milanese sailor class of 1991, we do not even know if he is aware that he is first because radio communications with the rankings may be disturbed. We had a feeling yesterday that he had slowed down, but it is hard to say for sure. Geomag now sails in a trade wind flow that the pursuers have partly lost. Beccaria is even third overall, with the first prototype François Jambou expected in Martinique within hours.

The only thing we can imagine with certainty is that Bogi will constantly have his nose in the air to watch the clouds and see if one of the dangerous Caribbean thunderstorms, the real nightmare of this incredible Mini Transat finale, is hiding underneath one of them. Incredible, yes, because here is an Italian who could trim almost 24 hours off the entire fleet of French super specialists. And excuse me for saying so. While waiting “stop the presses,” nobody move…. “what’s Bogi doing”?

Tracking HERE

Mauro Giuffrè

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