Flag-raising indicates the start of the Barcolana52

Flag-raising inaugurates Barcolana52 © Barcolan

With the traditional 12 p.m. flag-raising at the SVBG headquarters, Barcolana52 officially opened: an intimate ceremony, dedicated, as every year, to the members of the club. "This year" - commented SVBG President Mitja Gialuz - "our flag-raising is dedicated to Sandro Chersi, our 'captain' who left us in July and who is more than ever alive in our hearts during this complex and challenging Barcolana."

This first weekend of Barcolana sees severe weather warnings affecting much of Italy, and which has forced the cancellation of the Barcolana Young, dedicated to the Optimist class. However, thanks to the Melges 24 monotypes, which completed four races today, served as the "baptism of the sea" for this edition.

The call to shipowners to finalize registration procedures - Meanwhile, at the SVBG headquarters, the Barcolana team is working hard to finalize the participants in the regatta: almost 1,400 boats have submitted applications, and this afternoon 1,204 have completed them, getting the "all clear" from the organizers: there is time until tomorrow evening (Saturday October 3) for those who have not yet entered all the details. "Even today," said Gialuz, "we need to have all the precise and complete information, especially the details of the crew, in order to be able to finally admit the boats to the regatta. This is a fundamental principle, particularly for this edition."

Barcolana Fun Siram Veolia: Learn to fly on the water with champions! - Registrations are open (at this link www.barcolana.it/Fun for Barcolana Fun Siram Veolia: the event allows anyone, free of charge, to discover the new frontier of sailing: foiling. From Wednesday 7 to Saturday, October 10 it will be possible to participate in free outings on board the Persico 69F, with experts in the field and safely see 69F up close. This is a unique opportunity to experience the boats that will compete in the next edition of the America's Cup. The event is organized thanks to Siram Veolia: for more information please read the press release.

At Sea / Melges 24 @Barcolana - Peter Karrie of Germany leads the rankings on the first day of the European Melges 24 Sailing series. Act 4 @Barcolana was the regatta that opened the 2020 edition of the event, a leg organized by the Trieste Society of Sea Sports as part of the events related to Barcolana. 19 monotypes at the starting line: having placed first twice, a third and a fourth place finish the German team on "Nefeli" leads in first place, followed by the local Svbg champion Michele Paoletti at the helm of Strambapapà, only one point behind,, who after placing fourth, secured three second place finishes. One more point separates the third provisional place of the podium, where the Englishman Geof Carveth of the Gill Race team with one first, two-thirds and a fourth place finish; The Englishman is also first in the Corinthian rankings dedicated to non-professionals. The regattas will continue until Sunday.

On land / on the road, the "Aria" Installation-Symbol of Barcolana 2020 - The journey of "Aria", the installation-symbol of this edition of the Barcolana, created by the artist Stefano Conticelli, has begun. Inspired by the Barcolana of Trieste, and its message of environmental protection, Stefano Conticelli wanted to create and bring to Trieste an installation for the regatta and the city. It is called Aria, and it will be placed during the night between October 5 and 6 in Piazza Unita' and inaugurated on the evening of October 7. The work consists of a 4-meter by 1.70-meter marble block topped with 4 Corten steel sails engraved with designs inspired by the Middle Ages and created with a milling cutter and graving tool. The sails are anchored to the travertine block with marine grade steel bars dipped in resin. The sails are attached to the bars with stainless steel bolts. Read the full press release about the work and the initiative.

On Land / Window Display Contest - Tomorrow morning, Trieste will wake up "dressed in Barcolana" thanks to the window display competition organized with Confcommercio. The city's shopkeepers have time to register online at the Barcolana website for the competition whose winner will receive the services of a professional window-dresser for Christmas and a special Barcolana Trophy that will be presented during the award ceremony of the regatta. The window displays have to follow the theme of the event, use blue as the dominant color and remain in place until October 11. The competition highlights the growing connection between the city and the event, in a year in which the organizers of Barcolana have chosen not to build the traditional village along the Rive, but instead delegating to local restaurateurs and shopkeepers the task of becoming the protagonists of the reception, food and wine of Barcolana52. "This is both a technical choice to avoid gatherings along the Rive"- explained President Gialuz - "and is also an ethical choice, to support local trade, hospitality and catering in a particularly challenging year for the sector."

On Land / Treasure Hunts - There will be 10 teams, comprised of five people each, who will participate tomorrow in the exciting treasure hunt organized by Fipe and Barcolana in collaboration with the Regional Agency for the Protection of the Environment-Arpa FVG, AcegasApsAmga, Trieste Transport, Tenute Stefano Farina, Cooperativa Sole, Generali Italia-Agenzia Trieste Protti, Trattoria Da Giovanni. The theme of the treasure hunt, conceived by Diego Manna, is water, and the itinerary includes little-known places in the city that show, precisely, the magic of water and the active distribution systems. To reach the different destinations, participants will be incentivized to use local public transport and bicycles. Ten stops each with their own riddles to solve.

E-Sailing / more than 18,500 e-sailors in the Offshore Regatta, training starts tomorrow for the second Barcolana E-Sailing Cup

Offshore Genova-Trieste - After just 24 hours of racing the leaders of the Genova-Trieste eSailing race are currently just off Italy's west coast between Rome and Naples.

It has been a choppy start to the round Italy race with the fleet heading upwind in breeze of 15-20 knots.

The fleet of over 18,000 boats remains closely packed together with the lead changing constantly and the front 50 boats only separated by 1-2 nautical miles.

There's a big French presence in the top 20 boats although this afternoon the two leading boats both flew the Swiss flag. Italy's best placed eSailor is currently 'MediterraneanITA' who sits in 49th place.

"The success of this event" - said the president of SVBG, Mitja Gialuz - "goes beyond all expectations. To have so many digital sailors heading to Trieste for the event that unites us with Genoa is wonderful. Now our goal is that this digital regatta also becomes real, and we will work on it with enthusiasm."

To follow the event, simply connect to virtualregatta.com and follow the broadcast of esailing.tv.

Inshore - As the qualifications of the Italian E-sailing championship, organized by FIV, continue in the virtual Gulf of Trieste, which will see the final take place on the eve of the Barcolana, everything is ready for the second edition of the Barcolana e-sailing CUP. Tomorrow and Sunday they will be able to train before the e-sailing inshore event, which last year was a great success, with over 16,000 unique players, 403 days of play in a week and 116,000 boats in regatta. They will train in the virtual Gulf of Trieste, complete with Castello di Miramare, the Faro della Vittoria lighthouse and the waterfront digitally reproduced, and will race aboard the Passera e-Barcolana 50, the boat of traditional Adriatic design, built and launched in the 50th edition that now has its virtual counterpart.

Training and participation in the qualifiers are free: just connect through the www.virtualregatta.com website. From October 3 to 5 it will be possible to take part in the practice races: the training sessions will serve both to learn about the virtual Gulf of Trieste and to test the Barcolana50 boat. The qualifiers will take place between Monday 5 and Wednesday 7, with a leaderboard that will allow the best to gain access to the semi-finals, scheduled for Thursday, October 8 at 8pm and 9:30pm, both broadcasted live on www.esailing.tv. On Friday, October 9 at 9 pm, also streamed live, the Grand Final will take place, which will decide the top three finishers of the second edition of the Barcolana e-sailing Cup, and will decide the winner of the virtual Barcolana. Cash prizes for the top 3 finishers are up for grabs. The event is open to everyone, all over the world, at the same time: fans of e-sailing inshore and fans of Barcolana will be able size themselves up against competitors and the course itself.