Local Knowledge
I was in Trieste to race in the Barcolana, with our Share640 Zerstoren. Onboard Antonio Scarpa the builder, Adriano Condello the sailmaker and top class helmsman, and me the designer of the boat. Conditions were unstable, gusty wind and a lot of black clouds.
We were in the smallest class at 6,4 meters, with some 1600 bigger than us boats on the line the start was not an easy task. First leg was downwind and we had a simple plan: pedal to the metal on the start line, just sail the boat and go.
So we hoisted the gennaker at the gun, started planing at 15 knots, and bye bye everybody. 1700 boats were there, and we were gone. Rock steady planing straight out of the blocks and all the way, nobody could keep up for a while.
We did the complete leg sailing free and fast downhill on our own sea, the wall of sails behind us was far away and couldn’t disturb us.
At mid leg the baddest maxis (Robertissima ex Ran72 feet , Maxi Yena 80 feet and another one) were in front, we were sailing side by side with a Vor60, surfing all the way with the TV helicopter above us, show time! Volvo 70, tp52, Rc44, every kind of boat was there, and was well behind, we were simply faster ( 2 full knots faster than the rc44, so you know how much faster).
It was magic, exhilarating, and it lasted half an hour.
At the first mark, we fought for 5th place overall with Paul Cayard who was on Anywave a racing Frers 65 . I think they couldn’t accept that we where in front of them on our little war machine (1/3 of their size), so they waited and waited with the gennaker up until it was too late and they went long and wide around the mark. so we passed them inside. (hahahaha! – ed)
The rest of the race was a long upwind leg, and a gusty and bumpy leg near the cost up to Trieste. To go fast downwind you have to be good, but to go fast upwind you have to be rich,so it was just impossible to resist against boats 3 or 4 times our lenght, physics comes into play upwind and biggest win.
It was amazing to see the parade of bad ass boats that were behind us downwind and had to work uphill to pass us, if you are onboard a maxi like Pendragon or a tp52 it must look odd to be behind a 20 feet boat after 1 hour of racing.
It was good to see that the crews of many bigger boats where cheering and applauding for us, that is cool sportsmanship. So we worked our way uphill on the long second leg, than on the last leg the wind was totally unstable in strenght and direction so it was hard work, but we were still grinning because of our downwind ride.
We finished 73 overall, we won our category, the next and the next one too, and we had a great time.
After the line, thousands of people on the dock that saw the race on the maxi screen where exulting for us and thanking us for the show we made,that was an emotion, there are nice people in Trieste. Our boat was fast, beautifully prepared our sails from Eurosail where simply perfect, were are happy for the job well done.
This is the 4th victory in a row at the Barcolana for a Share 640, we started winning in 2012 and this time we were able to really show how fast we are. Photographers Andrea Carloni and Max Ranchi shoot good pics of us
You can see a little clip here. If you sail like that, nobody can touch you! And have more info here and here. – Paolo Bua.
