Mismanaged Winter Championships “killing” the passion for sailing. One shipowner’s outburst

Gaetano Iannini, “an avid reader of sailing and, perhaps, even a bit of an addict, a lifelong sailor,” wrote to us . He has always gone boating, ever since he was a boy. First windsurfing, then on Lake Maggiore with a Besozzi One Design 27, the Viking, a very light, eight-meter pulled boat with a crew of 7/8. Today, at 64 years old, he owns a cruising boat, a 2012 Elan 444 Impression, Sylphea IV, with which in addition to vacations he participates in a few offshore regattas and, every year, in the Fiumicino Winter Championship, since, although he lives in Varese, he keeps the boat in Ostia.

Thoughts on the Fiumicino Winter Championship.

Iannini wrote to us complaining about the way the Invernale was run this year, complete with ratings assigned in a non-transparent manner and regulations changed after the Championship had started. Reading his letter you will also understand the discouragement of an enthusiastic owner who shoots off 1,200 kilometers by car every two weeks in order to attend a regatta and who is mortified “by very unbiased attitudes on the part of those who should be super partes.”.

When winter championships become demotivating

We come to the letter:

“Dear Editor.

…Today, as an older or older man (as my mom, who hated the adjective old, used to say), I enjoy a cruising boat that allows me, in the summer periods, to take family vacations and during the winter to participate in the Fiumicino winter championship, since I have the berth in Ostia, and in the spring to do some offshore racing.

Sylphea IV has also proven to be a very fast and high performance boat, despite being totally stock, so much so that last year we won the championship in the “white sails” category. It would be a mistake to think that we are less fierce or with more fairplay in this grouping than those who compete in racing boats.

The difference is only in the presence of the wine cellar, which is always well stocked, as well recounted in more than one of his reports by your Marco Cohen, my idol, both for his sporting achievements and his goliardic spirit. I had hoped to meet him at the 151 Miglia but he is too fast.

Of course (sarcastic adverb) we were again changed our rating more unfavorably this year (from 616.7 to 580.5), perhaps because we had won a little too much last year? Not even if it were the handicap of golf competitions, a rating that is not issued by international bodies such as ORC and IRC but by the FIV, applying a secret formula, at the exclusive request of the clubs and based on data declared by the owner or taken from cards of “similar” boats.

Surely the fact that everything is so random and subjective is no guarantee of uniformity and does not incentivize new owners to approach the world of competition.

I have a crew composed mostly of young girls and boys who do not yet know how great it is to own a sailboat to share that passion with many other people and maybe compete in competitions.

If, however, the Race Committee changes the rules of the game midway through the championship it can be demotivating.

In these regattas, as is the case in many others, the Race Rules stipulated that each boat was required to have a tracker on board (so that the regularity of the course could be checked), and if this was not done you would be penalized 2% on the actual time.

Since one of our opponents had not turned it on I filed a request for redress against the said CoR with the purpose of enforcing the rules. Ob wrongly they had to execute the penalty but at the same time issued a communiqué in which they changed the rules so that the penalty was at the total discretion of the CoR, and also providing that the Committee could not be the subject of protest over its “non” decisions. In fact, in the last regatta another competitor of ours, for the same reason, was not penalized.

For 4 months every year, every 15 days I drive from Varese to Fiumicino regattas, if this is not passion…? And how many people like me spend many winter weekends in the sea, wind, sun, rain and cold? I think these people should not be mortified by very unbiased attitudes from those who should be super partes .

Dear Editor I will certainly accept your invitation to participate in some of the regattas organized by GdV (the VELA Cup circuit, ed.), which, as I read in the various articles, fully meets the needs of owners like me who want to combine fair but fun competition with a festive environment.

Sincerely
Gaetano Iannini

What do you think?

Do you agree with Gaetano’s point of view? Let us know what you think, or if you have had similar experiences, with a comment to the article or with an email to speciali@panamaeditore.it