When he arrived he greeted the crowd by dialing the number seven with his hands. In the previous 55 editions of the Barcolana we cannot remember anyone who won seven times.
Furio Benussi, a local navigator from a family of navigators, succeeded, from father to son, as he himself is doing with his very young and tiny daughter Marta, who at 17 years old helmed the winning boat, Arca Sgr, for a long time, steering it between muscular men accustomed to facing any sea condition even on board a walnut shell. He himself declared it: “I will soon be retired, we need to leave room for young people”. Space and rudder.
Barcolana 56 was characterized by a bit of wind, so Arca, a maxi 100, covered the 14 nautical miles in one hour and 28 minutes, dueling wave after wave with Mitja Kosmina’s 90-foot Prosecco Doc, which came in second ; Third place went to Nice, the Fiamme Gialle boat, with the Olympic champion Ruggero Tita on board. A great way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Corps. But Generali and the small MSC, a lake boat from Switzerland that amazed, also showed excellent performances. A victory for the poor one could say: “It was a wreck”, this is how Benussi defines Arca, before it became what it later became.
“Certified as a wreck, we had the courage and vision to put it in the water.” A good wind this morning, which, unlike other years, allowed not only the maxi boats, but also the smaller boats, in short all 1,757 entrants, to cross the finish line. It didn’t seem possible initially, with the wind upwind: the crowd and the tangle of boats at the start were such that the last one to cross the starting line did so 31 minutes after the cannon salvo. A great party at sea, with many boats that, although not competing, were stationed in the sea far from the regatta field, to follow the race. And a big party on land, in a city sold out of Italian tourists and beyond, populated in the center and along the banks with hundreds of stands from every product sector.
“An extraordinary event that expresses enormous energy” commented enthusiastically Mitja Gialuz, patron of the Barcolana, at the end of the regatta. This was echoed by the governor of Fvg, Massimiliano Fedriga: “A unique event in the world that continues to surprise. Once again it was a Barcolana above expectations with an extraordinary popular participation that surprises edition after edition. A magic that punctually repeats itself.” Emergency was also in the water (on board Ancilla Domini, Andrea Illy’s 24.5 meter Farr 80), with an exceptional crew: Caterina Banti, Ambrogio Beccaria, Alberto Bona, Alberto Riva and Giovanni Soldini, who brought solidarity to the Barcolana of Trieste to the finish line. Among the pole, mainsail and ropes there was also the president of Emergency, Rossella Miccio. Finally, the Generali Women in Sailing Trophy to support mixed teams: this fourth edition was awarded to Giulia Leghissa, on Anywave Junior, the mixed crew that crossed the finish line first with a woman in the role of skipper.
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