More than 70 boats registered for VELA Cup Liguria (May 3): will you be there at the big party?

Three days to go before the first leg of the 2025 VELA Cup: the start promises to be with a bang!

VELA Cup Liguria, more than 70 boats registered!

Everything is ready at the Marina di Chiavari Calata Ovest for the VELA Cup Liguria (race: Saturday, May 3) and, to date, there are more than 70 boats registered! It will be a great celebration of sailing in the Gulf of Tigullio and there is still time to register your boat.

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What the weather will be like at the VELA Cup Liguria (spoiler: sunshine!).

The weather conditions are promising! Here is the bulletin compiled by our expert meteorologist Riccardo Ravagnan of Meteomed, a partner of the VELA Cup.

Conditions expected between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm local time:

Wind: strengthening from the SE (130°-150°), between 6 and 8 knots with gusts up to 10 knots
Sea: slightly rough, SE wave max 0.7 m, average period 4-5 s
Currents: weak (0.1-0.5 kt) from S-SE
Sky: clear throughout the event
Temperature: between 18°C and 19.5°C
Pressure: decreasing from 1019 hPa to 1016 hPa, sign of mild instability coming Sunday

ADVANCED ANALYSIS – Forecast reliability 65/75%.

We also analyzed the vertical and thermal meteograms to give you a complete picture of the atmosphere:
Vertical stability on Saturday, May 3: moderately stable atmosphere until the afternoon, no significant convective activity, no cumulogenesis.
Low mixing layer and regular thermal stratification: excellent wind readability aloft.
Low CAPE and Lifted Index → no thunderstorm risk.
Ideal conditions even for non-professional crews, excellent handling even on a subcoastal course.
Strategic indication: watch out for thermal strengthening between 12:00 and 14:00, when peak wind stability is expected with SE up to 7.5 knots. Good window for those looking for a decisive edge in the middle of the field.

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Find out who’s at the VELA Cup in Chiavari

Let’s take a look at some of the more than 70 boats that have registered for the Chiavari leg, which, in pure VELA Cup spirit, are a wonderful mix of cruising, racing, weekender, latest generation and Classic Boats. And if you don’t have a boat, take advantage of the new “looking for/off boarding” service.

Let’s start with the “big guns”: like Bruno Veronesi’s Swan 78 Azzurro, one of the aficionados of the VELA Cup: “I am fed up with the rating systems that require you to prepare the boat in a very specific way and every year the rules change. I was used to it in the Adriatic, where everything is much simpler, you race in real and whoever comes first, wins. In fact, if it were up to me, I would eliminate the awards altogether. I go sailing for fun, and the VELA Cup for me is a party,” he had told us.

“This is my first VELA Cup. I’m a cruiser, but now that I’ve put the crew together, I won’t miss one! I had a great time“. This is Pietro Bernardini, the owner of theX-56 Joya, after a VELA Cup last year. And indeed in Chiavari he will be lined up on the starting line!

Among the top-performing boats, there is no shortage of ClubSwan 42s, for example, such as Mirko Bargolini’s Spirit of Nerina: Frers’ racer is one of the most successful offshore models, and this time she will have a special mission: to save children’s lives. Spirit of Nerina and her crew will be ambassadors for the non-profit organization La Rianimazione Dei Bambini, an initiative that the VELA Cup will help promote. On the dock, at the Marina di Chiavari Calata Ovest, will be doctors and nurses from the Gaslini Resuscitation Department in Genoa.

Those who would like to support this initiative can purchase the association’s T Shirt (beautiful!) by contributing to the support of the association. Learn more: Instagram @larianimationofchildren and www.larianimazionedeibambini.it or download the PDF brochure here.

Spirit of Nerina It will be one of the boats to beat in Tigullio…along with Massimo Arrighi’sAdvanced A44 Alebi, Fabio Montale’s First 34.7 Firstissima, Matteo Villa’sX-43 Xilla, Salvatore Sarpero’s Vismara 43 Arly, Luca Olivari’s self-built Pinguin 38 Aia de Ma…But watch out also for the many Grand Soleils, such as Bel Rebelot, Sergio Brizzi’s GS 40 C, or Raffica 3, Walter Tronconi’s GS 43 Maletto.

Classic Boats, that is, boats more than 25 years old (which will also have a dedicated ranking) do we have any? Plenty of them, starting with Pietro Giolli’sX Three-Quarter Tonner, through Zunino-Roso’s Baltic 39 Blue Witch, Lucio Ruocco’s Grand Soleil 39 Mirit, Francesco Danese’s Elan340 Britomart, Alberto Rossetti’s Elan333 Diana, and Vincenzo Romeo’s Elan 37 Zerag IV, just to name a few.

Those who follow us know, the formula of the VELA Cup is simple: all boats of any age and size can participate, and no tonnage certificate or bureaucracy is needed. Among the little ones and weekenders, not to be missed are Grazia Celestina 3, an emblazoned Este 24 of the Tigullini Campodonico-Vernengo, Antonio Cogni’s Saffier SE 27 Gared, Alessandro Agosta’s Tofinou 12 Grazia fresh winner of the Marina di Loano Winter Meet, and Nicola Vivanet’s J/92 Pomella J, which has triumphed in the past at the VELA Cup in Chiavari.

And then lots of more or less high-performance cruisers of every generation, from Michele Centemero’sItalia Yachts 15.98 SofiMa to the Dufour 34 Hermissanda II, via the 1982 ketch designed by John Alden Half Moon, by Francesco Nessi. In short, boats for all tastes, really.

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More and more boats are registering every day: we remind you that you can do so until May 3 morning, directly at the VELA Cup “desk” at the Marina di Chiavari Calata Ovest. But pre-registering online eases the time!

The agenda (in very brief)

The VELA Cup Liguria will have a coastal course of about 12 miles. It starts in front of Marina di Chiavari Calata Ovest, then buoys in Lavagna, off Chiavari and Portofino, and finally back to the start/finish line. The regatta takes about 4 hours in total.

Back ashore, in the afternoon (from 6:30 pm) there is the big party-award ceremony at the dock with prizes for those who did well at sea and rich raffle prizes for all. Plus music, food and drinks for all crews!

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