Barcolana 51 Presented by Generali - Ready to Round the Mark
by Barcolana 28 Sep 2019 15:01 BST
2-13 October 2019
Barcolana 51 Presented by Generali conference © Barcolana
Rounding the Mark - After the success of Barcolana 50 in 2018 and the entry into the Guinness World Record as the Largest Sailing Race in the World - a real turning point for the event - Barcolana 51 Presented by Generali offers to the public a renewed format on land and many protagonists in the sea.
It starts with the calendar: the large festival in Trieste will start on October 2 this year and will contain 11 consecutive days of events that end with the large regatta on Sunday October 13. The centre of the festival will be for the first time in Trieste at Piazza dell'Unità and from Friday October 4 it will become ground zero of the Barcolana. With a larger space to present expositions and host the events on land, the main objective of the new location is to guarantee improved accessibility to the public and provide more experiences to live the event to the fullest. In the sea on Sunday October 13, the large challenge will take place: We are waiting for the list of maxi yachts that will race for the line honour - at the moment four teams are expected to conquer victory - but above all we are waiting for the big names in racing to arrive in Trieste, ready to immerse themselves in the spirit of the event.
The Chairman of the sailing club Società Velica di Barcola and Grignano (SVBG), Mitja Gialuz, said: "With the 50th edition we broke all records, this year we wanted to experience something new and innovative, with a great focus on quality: from the environmental message of our symbol Alice to new cultural contents, from a zero impact village in Piazza Unità paying homage to the sailing of the past, to the breakthroughs of e-sailing and foiling."
According to the Chairman of Generali, Gabriele Galateri di Genola "Barcolana is a sports event that stands out more than ever for its focus on present-day issues. Generali, its historical partner, shares this spirit and has always supported its initiatives and helped promote new ones, paying attention to changes in society, in order to offer an entertaining, positive and sustainable experience to everybody."
The environment, climate change and diversity are the major topics of the events promoted by Generali for the 51th edition of Barcolana. Sailing is a metaphor for the relationship between man and nature and the ideal space for the integration of different cultures and genres: that's the focus of "Generali Sea Talk", with the famous sailors Dee Caffari and Vicky Song (taking place on Wednesday 9 October 2019, in the renovated Palazzo Berlam, along the Rive seafront).
"The Human Safety Net ti svela il mare" is the project for the children of Villaggio per Crescere and the families living in the micro-areas of Trieste, sponsored and created thanks to Generali's global project "The Human Safety Net": children and their families will enjoy a guided tour of the Gulf of Trieste aboard a motorship, to discover their territory and its unique natural heritage.
International Special Guests
Caffari, Lange and Song: Barcolana51 will have three special international sailors, who will share their message to show an increased international interest towards Barcolana. The English ocean sailor Dee Caffari is the testimonial of Barcolana51 and will share her knowledge about safeguarding the sea from plastic as an ambassador for the cause. Dee will talk about the environment, completing the long journey that Barcolana and several partners (WWF, One Ocean Foundation, Hera Group, Despar) started in April to support the good practices towards no plastic in the sea. Dee Caffari will also participate in the regatta, on Sunday 13 October, aboard the Woodpecker Cube of Antonio Rossi - the boat of the presenting sponsor Generali.
From Thursday 10 October, also the Nacra17 gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics - the Argentinian sailor Santiago Lange - will be in Trieste: for the first time in Barcolana, Lange will be endorsing the 69F project on the development of the first foil monohull for crews - one of Barcolana51 innovations - and will join the 69F Sailing Academy.
Among the special guests of this edition there's also the Chinese ocean sailor Vicky Song (??), who is the first woman from the Far East to sail around the world and the first Chinese sailor participating in Barcolana. Vicky Song will promote Barcolana, Trieste and the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia in China and will tell Trieste how the East sees sailing.
The great symbols of Barcolana
Among the testimonials of Barcolana51 there are also two special guests: for this unique event, the Italian Navy tall ship Amerigo Vespucci tall ship will be back in Trieste, while Piazza Unità will host Alice, the art installation designed by Barcolana and created by Hera Group, with the support of Despar and Trieste Town Council.
Ten thousand plastic bottles have been collected during the Summer by Triestinis and have been turned into a 10-metre fish representing a typical large sardine that lives in the Gulf of Trieste. This art installation aims to show the need to remove plastic from the sea, and will be unveiled on 4 October and will remain in Piazza Unità for the duration of the whole event. Alice was created in Herambiente's SCART laboratories - where industrial waste has been transformed into works of art - in collaboration with the Fine Arts Academies of Florence, Bologna, Carrara.
Other SCART works of art will be shown at the exhibition "SCART - the beautiful and useful side of waste" that will be held in the inner courtyard of Palazzo della Regione (Region Building) from 3 to 20 October (free admissions). The theme of these art installations will mirror that of the large sardine located in Piazza Unità: the 30 large works of art exhibited representing human figures, animals and pictures, will be entirely made from industrial waste.
Focus on piazza unità, the new "core" of Barcolana
One of the big novelties on land of Barcolana51 presented by Generali is Piazza Unità: for the first time, the heart of the city will be also the "core" of Barcolana, with a space designed by architects Tazio di Pretoro and Giulio Paladini from the Metroarea studio (Trieste), where visitors can enjoy the event to the full in a new way.
The main square of Trieste will become the focus of the Barcolana Village and will be the location for the InfoPoint, the temporary spaces of the major partners, a restaurant and also the Vip Lounge of Prosecco DOC Consortium. Barcolana Village will have a brand new layout in Piazza Unità, where regenerated containers, trucks and high design temporary structures will be installed. The idea is to focus on this year's main theme of environmental protection. Many activities will take place in the square, the catering area will offer gourmet food and wine supported by the Barcolana brand.
The new layout has been implemented following the requirements of the Department for Monuments and Historical Buildings: the main axes of the square will be left as free as possible, the layout will be airy and structured so as not to belittle the majestic historical buildings overlooking the square.
The traditional races at sea
The traditional events at sea - the races before the regatta - are all confirmed. On Saturday 5 October and 6 Sunday October you can enjoy Barcolana Young, Barcolana Nuota, Barcolana Fun - Foiling edition Siram by Veolia (until October 12), Barcolana Chef and Barcolana Fun LIV U21.
On Tuesday 8 October there will be "Fuorivento" Trophy and the Arpege regattas, and on Friday 11 October there will be the regatta for Italian Navy League boats (organized by the Italian Navy League of Trieste), the Star Class Fine Art Sails (organized by Società Triestina della Vela) and Barcolana Invitational - Venezia Giulia Collio Cup and Barcolana One Design (organized by Società Nautica Grignano), for one-design Melges 24, Ufo, Este 24, Meteor.
On the eve of the Barcolana Regatta, on Saturday 12 October, other races will take place, namely Barcolana Classic (organized by Yacht Club Adriaco) for vintage vessels, Go to Barcolana from Slovenia by Kempinski Palace & MK Group (organized by the Sirena Sailing Club) and Barcolana by Night (organized by Società Triestina della Vela), for Ufo and Meteor Classes.
The future of sailing is here: Barcolana between foiling and e-sailing
Barcolana offers two new events and stories: this year's turning point after the 50th edition is the future and innovation. That is why Barcolana has decided to include in its agenda two emerging aspects in the world of sailing: foiling and e-sailing.
Understanding the meaning of "foiling" is not that easy: foiling lifts the hull out of the water, thanks to the shape of its own attachments, namely the foils. Engineered foils have been fitted to boats that are difficult to handle at sea, such as windsurfs, kitesurfs, catamarans, multihull and small racing boats. 69F lands at the Barcolana, the first 6.9-metre foil monohull designed for a crew, a sailing boat that can fly on water and designed for everyone.
From 5 to 12 October, all sailing lovers will be able to reserve their place in the cockpit of this extraordinary one-design boat and live the foiling experience themselves. For racing teams and expert sailors, instead, there will be a dedicated contest to set a new speed record in the Gulf of Trieste aboard a 69F: it will take place from 5 to 12 October when the therma breeze fills.
The 69F yacht will also race in the Barcolana Regatta: on 12 October, with a crew of great champions, the small one-design will try its top speed on the regatta course, setting its race time and comparing it to that of maxi yachts, which are four times as big. On Thursday 10 October at 6 pm at Società Triestina della Vela, Santiago Lange will give a lectio magistralis about foiling.
But that's not all because Barcolana will organize its own virtual sailing race for the first time: e-sailing is a sailing simulator which is provides a virtual version of regatta fields, boat dynamics and rules through innovative and sophisticated software programmes.
E-sailing is an official World Sailing activity that brings together more than one million e-sailors and it could also become an Olympic sport, with a list of prizewinners comparable to that of real regattas. This year, Barcolana will offer its first virtual race and the chance to learn to use the simulator, with any computer or tablet, at the Barcolana e-sailing Academy (Piazza Unità).
The qualifying races will take place from 5 to 11 October. The best 50 e-sailors will be invited compete in the semifinals on Saturday 12 October and the event will be live broadcast on a dedicated YouTube channel and the Barcolana social media. The best 10 e-sailors will then be selected and they will enter the finals, consisting of three tests. The top five competitors will race for the medal in the evening of 12 October. The winner will receive a cash prize and the title of champion of Barcolana e-sailing tournament.
The challenge for line honour
As far as the organizers know, the most recent information is that there are at least four crews this year that are gathering resources and that are organizing to conquer the line honour of the Barcolana51 Presented by Generali. The team defender, the Fast and Furio Sailing Team, is made up of Furio and Gabriele Benussi, Lorenzo Bressani, Alberto Bolzan, Stefano Spangaro, i.e. "dream team", were protagonists in the victory of 2018. In the coming days it will become clear the boat that they will take: it could be the Morning Glory, the winning hull of the past two years, or the Wild Thing, the boat that nominally won in 2005 with the name "Skandia - Trieste Province of...", completely modified and now 100 feet long, at the start of a four year program.
In the water, there will also be the e-CQS, the hull that just last year challenged the defender and came in second place. Owned by the Australian Ludde Ingvall, the hull is already at the Marina Hannibal and the Tempus Fugit Sailing Team, who brought it to the Adriatic in 2018, will be onboard, with Mitja Kosmina, Andrea Visintini, Andrea Casale, Enrico Zennaro, Antonio Masoli, Marco Furlan, and they are ready for an upset this year. It looks like the Trieste Rambler will also be leaving for Trieste, the 90-foot hull that in 2003 and 2004 won the Barcolana with Neville Crichton: the boat and the team will be entrusted to sailor Francesca Clapcich who is organizing an international crew.
Finally, among the teams that aim for excellence, there is also the Slovenian EWOL Sailing Team which confirmed its participation in the Barcolana on a Maxi yacht but are still deciding which hull to use: the doubts will be resolved by the team leader Gašper Vincec within the end of September.
Events on land
Barcolana's calendar of events includes more than 300 events taking place across the city. Like in past editions, the collaboration of associations, institutions and companies, has helped Barcolana put together a calendar of events that focuses on the passion for the sea and celebrates Barcolana and its unique spirit. The complete calendar of events is included in the Barcolana51 magazine, which you can find at the InfoPoint in the Barcolana store, in hotels and tourist offices in Trieste. The calendar is available also on the website barcolana.it and on the Barcolana51 app (for IOS and Android from September 25) developed by IKON, the digital partner of Barcolana.
A leitmotiv connects the events not to be missed from 2 to 13 October. On 2 October, the traditional hoisting of the flag marks the official opening of the event at the sailing club Società Velica di Barcola and Grignano (SVBG), which is open to SVBG's partners. On the same day, the SCART art exhibition "The beautiful and useful side of waste" will be inaugurated in the Regional Council building in Piazza Unità.
The exhibition has been created by Hera Group and is part of the project #UnplasticTrieste. On the same day, "Barcolana Un mare di racconti" will kick off in San Giusto; it is a festival dedicated to stories of the sea, travelling and sailing. It is one of the big novelties of Barcolana51 which will bring together authors of the likes of Stefano Mancuso, Jan Brokken, Pupi Avati, Stefania Auci, Andrea Tarabbia and Olimpia Zagnoli, the artist who drew this year's poster for Illy. On 4 October the art installation Alice symbolizing Barcolana this year will be unveiled, in Piazza Unità. The exhibition of sea postcards by world-famous artist working in Trieste Serse Roma will be inaugurated at ITIS (Public Service Company). On Saturday 5 October the Barcolana Village will be opened in Piazza Unità; it will include a restaurant and the Vip Area Prosecco DOC, where an exceptional edition of Barcolana Chef will be 'raced'.
Other main events include the first edition of Generali Sea Talk, a brand-new event entering the Barcolana this year and organized with the presenting sponsor to talk about Barcolana's main topics. In this first edition, taking place on Friday 11 October at 5.30 pm in Palazzo Berlam, Dee Caffari and Vicky Song, the two international sailors and testimonials of Barcolana, will talk with Anna Chiara Lucchini (Generali Group Head of Leadership Development and Academy), about some of the hot topics in sailing that are becoming increasingly important also for sailing organizations.
On Friday 11 October a lectio magistralis on sea protection will be given by admiral Pettorino, captain of the harbour office (Revoltella Museum, Auditorium, 10.30 am). Homage will be paid to the 1979 Fastnet race (Revoltella Museum, Auditorium, 7.30 pm) forty years later by Francesco Ettore, Chairman of the Italian Sailing Federation, and a restored video by Franco Pace (narrating voice: Paolo Rumiz) will be shown for the occasion.
In addition, the stories of the great sailors aboard the three Italian boats during the Admiral's Cup (Dondo Ballanti, Riccardo Bonadeo, Bruno Catalan, Chicco Isenburg, Piro Onoranti, Giovanni Sicola) will be told. Last but not least, a briefing for competitors in the Barcolana Regatta is scheduled for Saturday 12 October to provide updates on the race and the official weather forecast. At 10.30 pm the fireworks will conclude the day before the race.