Italian Ice
“Latin” is usually synonymous with “hot.” Spicy food, fiery passion, smoking hot women; it’s all about the heat. Yet today’s Italian action in the Melges 24 Volvo Cup in Torbole was cool as ice. The racing was iced over when a squall killed the thermals in this incredibly local microclimate, with the first race being abandoned to a 70 degree shift and breeze that went from 4 knots to 20 knots in seconds. Yet PRO Fabio Barrasso stayed cool as can be, sending the fleet in to shore to wait for the Ora wind to reestablish itself. In less than 25 minutes, some 70 boats were med-moored to the crowded marina docks without incident, and the chill competitors were eating pasta and drinking wine over relaxed conversation.
When the sun returned two hours later, it failed to bring any wind along with it, and the fleet retired to a watermelon party on the deck of the CVT, returning to the beach just three hours later for drinking and dancing by the fading light reflected on the glassy lake. The entire scene was one of the most relaxed and enjoyable cancelled days of racing I’ve ever experienced. From the Commodore to the World Champions, mellow is the key word here, and that attitude trickles down through the fleet. This is how it is supposed to be.
Still, we got some good action from the short time we were on the water, with an exciting mark rounding when the breeze came on, some light air downwind racing, an explanation of how the winds work on Garda, the head Umpire’s summary of how the specialized OTW penalty system works, all set to the towering mountains that butt right up to the water’s edge.
There are also some good pics, though the dozens of hot chick shots are just now being edited (but our friend Mauro did post one of the nicest asses in sailing journalism here). We also caught up with Silvio Santoni, our cover shot from yesterday, who explained why he just bought ITA-1, the first production version of the Devoti D-One in Europe.
Check back tomorrow for some near-live action from Torbole, with more racing (hopefully), more girls, and more good interviews. We also expect to finally get to check out the Linq CQ-6 and whatever other cool toys we can find lying around.
See you there. With some heat.
