{"id":45367,"date":"2022-10-13T15:43:15","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/news-general\/regatta-barcolana-2022-wendy-schmid\/"},"modified":"2022-10-13T15:46:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:46:50","slug":"regatta-barcolana-2022-wendy-schmid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sea-help.eu\/en\/this-that\/regatta-barcolana-2022-wendy-schmid\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcolana 2022: <\/span><\/span>A city, the Bora and the biggest regatta in the world."},"content":{"rendered":"

“Just as you can’t understand the Palio in Siena if you only follow the one and a half minutes of the race around Piazza del Campo, you can’t feel the Barcolana in Trieste if you only follow the regatta on the 2nd weekend of October,” says Luigi Coretti, sales manager of Darsena San Marco in Grado, looking at the Barcolana. This “regatta of madmen” as a German sailing magazine once called it, the largest sailing regatta in the world, is in fact only understandable if you know Trieste, the people of Trieste and their passion for the sea at least a little.<\/p>\n

Trieste is the city of the Bora, and just as the Bora unpredictably ruffles every regatta field that ventures out on the 13-nautical-mile course in mid-October, so too is the city during these days a single back-and-forth between the various regatta events. Because the Barcolana is more, so much more, than just a Sunday event in October where a few maxi yachts settle everything among themselves in about 60 minutes, while the majority of the small yachts sometimes need half a day for the course.<\/p>\n

Started in 1969 with just 51 participating boats and meanwhile grown with regularly up to 2,500 boats jostling at the starting line, the Barcolana is in reality a 10-day spectacle of sailing. And those who come only on Sunday for the arrival of the yachts at the Molo Audace, the city pier that borders Piazza Unit\u00e0 d’Italia, have little grasp of what the city owes to the sea and why sailing seems to be in the DNA of every Triestinian.<\/p>\n

Trieste – where sailing is capitalized<\/h2>\n

Between Muggia in the far northeast of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Lignano Sabbiadoro on the Tagliamento River and the border with Veneto, sailing is at home with some 7,000 berths. Where elsewhere in Italy up to 70 percent of the boats are motorboats, the opposite is the case around Trieste. Anyone can take part who is able to keep their own sailing nutshell afloat in the throng of sailors<\/a> and cross the starting line between the organizing Yacht Club Societ\u00e0 Velica di Barcola e Grignano<\/a> and the bright white Miramare Castle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Turning<\/a>
It gets especially crowded at the turning points.\u00a9 Archivio Barcolana\/Studio Borlenghi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Sailing isn’t everything at the Barcolana<\/h2>\n

The 10 days of the Barcolana will also see conferences such as the Sea Summit on sustainability and environmental protection, readings, art exhibitions, roundtable discussions and tastings of delicacies all lined up at Villaggio Barcolana. There will even be “sailing” on the moon, when the full moon can be observed by means of a large-format projector at La Lanterna Pedocin, a bathing establishment steeped in history. “Observe the Moon Night” was the name of this worldwide event directed by NASA. The entire supporting program can be found on the Website of the Barcolana<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Regattas for every taste<\/h2>\n

Individual regattas have long been an integral part of the boats involved, which range from mini to maxi. In other words, from the regatta of the youngest, the “Barcolana Young”, an Optimist regatta, to the “Barcolana Maxi” for boats with a length of 16 meters, there is something for everyone. A special highlight is the “Barcolana by Night”. When night falls, Trieste lights up and Ufo 28, Meteor and Melges 24 compete for wet victory in the heart of the city in front of the piazza. Trieste is never more beautiful than in these nocturnal moments, when the spotlight refracts on the water and in the facades of the fine palazzi, when only a breath remains of the wind of the day and the hulls glide almost silently through the water.<\/p>\n

In turn, the “FIV Foil Academy” brings together the under-19 foil specialists for Wasp, Skeeta and IQfoils. This science fiction of sailing is contrasted by Italy’s most beautiful ship: the Amerigo Vespucci lends its very own grandeur to the hustle and bustle in the city and on the water. Quiet as an island, the Italian navy’s sail training ship lies against the moving backdrop, offering the eye a fixed point to which it returns again and again.<\/p>\n

In 2022, a woman wins the Barcolana for the first time<\/h2>\n

And the result? For the first time in the now 54-year history of the Barcolana, a woman won the superlative regatta on October 9, 2022. Wendy Schmidt on DEEP BLUE left all competitors almost powerless behind and cut the finish line in a breathless 57 minutes and 47 seconds. What a performance in up to 28 knots of bora that left many a sail blowing in sheer shreds. Wendy Schmidt also wrote her name in the wake of the harbor with this victory and will hopefully inspire many an admirer to emulate her.<\/p>\n

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