If the Historical Regatta on the first Sunday of September is the symbolic regatta of Venice, the Barcolana on the second Sunday of October is the Trieste regatta. With its history, its sea, its winds essential for one international sailing competition that returns on the occasion of the 2021 edition, number 53 to make their voices heard not only in the Gulf of Trieste but also abroad. Particular appointment, that of this year, with a rich calendar of land and sea events. Among guests of honor, the gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti which will be in Trieste together with the Italian Sailing Federation.
Significant and captivating is the poster (signed by the Israeli designer and architect Ron Arad) which with its sinuous lines brings together the key images of this historic regatta: the sea, boats and sailing. Suggesting an idea of those "new routes" which is the motto of this edition.
La Barcolana: the “largest regatta in the world” in the splendid scenery of the Gulf of Trieste
The 53. Barcolana, the "largest regatta in the world" as the organizers proudly want to point out, and certainly one of the most crowded, it will be held on Sunday 10 October on a quadrilateral with fixed vertices positioned in the Gulf of Trieste. For a total of 13 nautical miles, with departure between Barcola and Miramare and arrival in front of Piazza dell'Unità. We will sail, between buoy 2 and buoy 3 of the course, off the splendid coast Miramare Castle, one of the symbols of Trieste which, as usual, will participate with a rich program of events on the weekend of the regatta.
Barcolana is considered the most popular nautical event in the world. Every year around two thousand boats compete in the Gulf of Trieste with over thirty thousand enthusiasts at sea. Record numbers in 2018, the year of the fiftieth anniversary: as many as 2689 boats registered. Vento di bora, an unforgettable edition. “The largest sailing race in the world”, as the Guinness Book of World Records quotes. One of the main characteristics of the Barcolana is that it is open to expert sailors but also to simple beginners, aboard boats of different sizes that are distributed according to different categories. The starting line is unique, between Barcola and Miramare, which makes this moment of the regatta particularly fascinating.
The "magic" formula of a story that began in 1969
“Do you have a sailboat? And then you can participate. It runs without compensation and without tonnage. Boats divided according to waterline length. Whoever finishes first in real time wins ”. This is the "magic" formula of the group of passionate sailors who in 1969 turned to the Fiv, la Italian Sailing Federation, to organize a regatta in the Gulf of Trieste. It was granted on the second Sunday of October, and the regatta was called the Autumn Cup. At stake was only the great passion for sailing and a few bottles of wine, the good one from the hills around Trieste. The participants in the end were 51, a good number according to the reports of the local newspaper, Il Piccolo, which spoke of "an exceptional success of participation". To inflate the sails a light libeccio wind that in Trieste (and on the whole north coast of the Adriatic) call garbin.
Since then the Barcolana has come a long way. Today the historic regatta is not just sailing but a rich book of events, which have already begun and will go on until 10 October, the Sunday of the regatta. With a full program of events: exhibitions, regattas, a Sea Summit dedicated to science, business, institutions and associations together for the health of the Mediterranean sea. But also Barcolana a sea of stories, the Festival dedicated to travel and the culture of the sea. Wind and Sails is the title of the photographic exhibition open in Portopiccolo until October 17th. And that for the Barcolana 2021 there is really good wind, in any case better than last year when, due to bad weather conditions, the regatta was canceled. The first cancellation of its history.
(ph credit: Barcolana)
