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Contact us if you want to participate to the next Barcolana 2009 race
(from the Official site)
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Past
BARCOLANA 39: ALFA ROMEO
2 WINS AND BREAKS THE RECORD IN 55 MINUTES AND
30"
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Triumph and record for Alfa Romeo 2 at the
Barcolana of Trieste: after only 55 minutes 30 seconds race and Neville
Crichton wins in the Triestine regatta with
1831 different sailing boats on the start line. Crichton has won the
race for the fourth time (2003, 2004, 2006 e 2007) and raced ahead of
the crowd alone carrying out a smooth and technically perfect race: he
waited to get clear before hoisting the gennaker,
being concerned not to cause any damage to any of the 25 thousand
sailors in the Gulf, and rushed ahead towards the first mark at a speed
of over 25 knots.
More than 5 minutes advantage over all other rivals, a good 16-knot
Bora wind, with gusts up to 35 knots, and Alfa Romeo had the victory in
her hands, but only the excellent precision of the owner and helmsman,
the boat's superiority enabled Crichton to break the record on the 16.5 miles
course. Alfa Romeo
2 broke the record of 58'30'' set by Skandia in 2005
finishing two minutes before and is the winner of Barcolana 39. The
race was battled out 5 minutes behind: an interesting duel between Maxi
Jena of Solvenian Mitja
Kosmina, who finished second and the first
maxi class Maxi, Esimit Europa
of Igor Simcic, third and protagonist of an
excellent race from the very start.
Kosmina, skipper of Maxi Jena, after a
troubling start due to some problems with the genneker,
immediately concentrated on clinching his “traditional”
second place in Barcolana because Esimit,
although a smaller boat, was able to sail ahead at the start and was
second at the first
mark, in Slovenian waters. Spectacular but irregular
start of Russell Coutts' Team Omega who together with the Rc44s Team Ceeref (with helmsman James Spithill,
ex Luna Rossa) and Es Bankers (America's
Cup helmsman Dean Barker) crossed the starting line almost one minute
before the gun shot.
In the second leg, while Maxi Jena was catching up, extraordinary Simcic on Esimit-Europa
with Alberto Bolzan at the helm, behind them
the "class battle" between the 6 Farr80 was taking place,
followed by excellent Tuttatrieste2-Fiamme Gialle,
chartered by the Financial Police.
Among the six Grand Mistral built for the round the world race, the
Army's boat, helmed by Cino Ricci, was the
first to round the mark and finished sixth behind Fly-Cometa of Flavio Favini,
6minutes 30" after Alfa Romeo 2. The real battle between
one-design yachts took place in the second leg when Mauro Pelaschier, maintaining the eve's promises, sailed
ahead of the friend-rival Cino Ricci, followed
by Idrusa Calvi of
Paolo Montefusco, Casino Park - Anyway True
of the Bora Sailing Team, and Ricci. This order did not change until
the end of the race. Kosmina's Maxi Jena
crossed the finishing line about 15 minutes after Alfa Romeo 2 ahead of Esimit-Europa's extraordinary crew, winner for the
sixth time in the maxis class, Tuttatrieste2-Fiamme Gialle
– excellent fourth place - e Fly Cometa,
lead around the race course by another America's Cup sailman Flavio Favini. In
the maxis' class, after the queen of the category Esimit
Europa, came Tuttatrieste2-Fiamme Gialle, third TuttaTrieste-Alta
Badia of Stefano Sferza.
In class 0 Calipso 4 of Piero
Paniccia took first place, second came Mucillagine
Rosa of Renzo Sandrin,
third Moonshine of Edoardo Ziccarelli. In class one the first place went to
Paula of Marko Godnic, ahead of Amis of Jon Brecelj, third Nordica of Andrea Micalli. In class two Sajonara
of Roberto Bertocchi won again, Silver Age of
Tommaso Ronconi
second and Cippalippa 5 of Gianluca Visco third.
These are the overall provisional results for the first ten boats that
crossed the start line:
1) Alfa Romeo 2 of
Neville Crichton in 55'30";
2) Maxijena of Mitija
Kosmina;
3) Esimit-Europa of Igor Simcic;
4) Tuttatrieste2-Fiamme Gialle chartered by the
Sailing Division of the Financial Police;
5) Fly-Cometa of Flavio Favini;
6) Drake Passage-Banca Generali
of Mauro Pelaschier;
7) Idrusa-Calvi of Paolo Montefusco;
8) Casino Park-Anyway True of Maurizio Bencic;
9) Ross I-Esercito of Cino
Ricci;
10) Ushuaia - Devco Devco
Srl of Sabatini Paolo.
All results regarding the different classes are posted on www.barcolana.it
NEVILLE CRICHTON, ALFA ROMEO
2: “This is our 4th win in the Barcolana and
there is more enthusiasm among the crowd here than in New Zealand.
It has been a good race with a strong breeze at the start and we were
quite concerned in causing no damage to the boats around us, so we did
not hoist the spinnaker till we got clear. The rest of the race was
quite straightforward and easy. We weren't sure we would break the
record because the wind calmed down in the last leg but we've made it
and it was good fun. We probably won't be here next year but the year
after.”
MITIJA KOSMINA, MAXI JENA: "It has been really tough today because
the main winch got stuck at the start and we couldn't hoist the gennaker properly and also the wind shifted
suddenly some 30°. All this happened in a few seconds and it was very
difficult to keep calm and concentrated. We had to perform a series of
physically heavy manoeuvres and at that moment I was afraid my crew
would not be to keep the pace till the end. And tis
is why I very proud of my crew who concentrated on clinching the second
place, because there was nothing we could do against Alfa Romeo 2 who was
already ahead and Esimit-Europa was close
behind, doing an really excellent race."
IGOR SIMCIC, ESIMIT-EUROPA: "This has been for us one of the best Barcolanas ever. With a 20/25 knots wind blowing we
had to do our best at the start. For the first time we were second at
the first mark
ahead of Maxi Jena, and we were able to lead halfway the second lap,
when Mitja overtook. This result proves that
this boat, and in particular its crew, have done their best today. I'm
very proud of this team, all the effort and work done in these month
has been paid back."
RUSSELL COUTTS, OMEGA TEAM: “Fantastic race today, we had a great
time racing with so many sails and with perfect weather conditions,
sailing close to 80-foot yachts. We had a lot of fun. Bora wind was
strong and you had to make sure you pick the right angle to get to the
first mark. It's a good strategic technical race. We hoisted the gennaker straight from the start. I'll definitely
come back next year for the Barcolana, it's a fantastic race and a
great sailing festival with so many boats involved.”
JAMES SPITHILL, TEAM CEEREF: “Trieste is an ideal site for racing
on Rc44s. In Barcolana we were not as good to get off the line. There
were so many boats and it was a great physical performance involving
all the crew. Our female sailor tuned the mainsail and told us where to
go.”
GASTONE NOVELLI, PRESIDENTE SVBG: "I told you I wanted Bora wind
to blow on the race course and my desire came true. This is the third
year a good Bora wind blows on the Barcolana with a warm sunshine. Its
a perfect climate combination in our Gulf. All boats were able to
finish the race: this is another satisfying success. Next year will be
the 40th edition of the Autumn's Cup: we'll start thinking about it
tomorrow because, every time, everyone is eager to see new events which
cannot be missing for such a historical anniversary of the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano. Meanwhile let's enjoy this fantastic
edition."
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In the beginning, 37 years ago, it was called ‘The Autumn
Cup’: an invitation for the children of the wind and the waves to
meet at the end of the season and sail together across the familiar seas
of home, following a triangular route marked out in the circle of the
Gulf, to then lay up the boat for the long months of the Triestine winter.
Almost imperceptibly, the races’ name changed
over the years and for some time now, we have called it the
‘Barcolana’, linking the regatta to one of the many places in
Trieste that embody the spirit of the race, such as the nearby castle
stretching out into the sea, its rocky promontory battered by waves and
the high plain scattered with rocks and dry branches that marks a divide,
almost a passage through which the North reaches out towards the
Mediterranean.
The Barcolana was born up here in Trieste, and such
a gathering could not be located anywhere else in this area since here,
as in Istria and Dalmatia, the coast is lined with rocky highlands that
are difficult to traverse.The sea, however, is
open for passage, for natural and more fluid exchanges and meetings. The
Barcolana has now become the most crowded regatta in the world, not for
its own sake, but for the sum total of the great enthusiasm of sailors
and spectators alike, motivated by the simple desire to take part.
No sooner does one mention the words
‘sea’ or ‘boat’ than there are deep stirrings in
people’s collective consciousness. These words are connected to
values and ideas that unify, leading to the concept of a
‘regatta’, a gathering of thousands of enthusiasts. Here, in
Trieste, where the backdrop of the hills and the gulf combine to create a
natural ‘sailing stadium’, a small group of enthusiasts have
created a simple, but winning formula, a fortuitous alchemy of technical
know-how and participation on a grand scale, the inexplicable ease of
wiping away the ephemeral - called yachting, that all combine to reflect
eternal values: a day spent with the sea and the wind to be experienced
by everybody, in the widest sense of the word, together.
The Barcolana is a phenomenon that gives many
opportunities for reflection. In the huge influx of competitors it is
possible to make out traces of routes that are a common in the Adriatic
Sea, such as the meeting of different peoples, new ideas for new marine
technology that soon become widespread, the competition between some of
the big names in sailing and together with this, the realisation of a
dream -or perhaps merely an illusion- of those who are sailors just for a
day, or once a year. All of this happens in Trieste during the Barcolana
- not only a huge festival of sailing, but also a keeping-up of
traditions, a demonstration of the true value of sailing, an appreciation
of the cooperation and team spirit that can be seenevery
year on the eve of the Barcolana among the boats moored up on the
quayside.
Above all, the Barcolana is history, an everyday
tale of men working as a community during the long months of organisation
and preparation, a story of intelligent hard work and the liberation of
carrying out a project that transforms itself into participation,
spectacle, competitive spirit and a challenge against the imponderable
that the experts call ‘marine weather conditions’. It is,
above all, the story of a miracle –when a whole city comes to life,meets together, recognises its worth and
participates; wiping out any differences, reserve and discrimination.
Fulvio Molinari
(adapted from the preface to the book
“Barcolana” by Francesco Antonini -ed.
Lint – Trieste,
1997)
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