THE LARGEST SAILING RACE IN THE WORLD
Trieste, 1 - 12 October 2025
Trieste, 1 - 12 October 2025
Barcolana - News13.10.19
The protagonists
Gašper Vinčec, The winner – “This boat in these wind conditions is really fast. We started off really well, I even heard some clapping from nearby boats, they made me feel at home."
Gašper Vinčec, The winner – “This boat in these wind conditions is really fast. We started off really well, I even heard some clapping from nearby boats, they made me feel at home. The wind was blowing towards us from the first mark and we were lucky, we developed our own tactic and we have been the fastest. After the World Championship in Sardinia we now have a close-knit team with ten Olympic athletes. We know how to sail and we know that with this wind you need to choose the right sails, that’s why we immediately decided to hoist a stay sail. That’s when we understood we could make it and we have proudly placed our bow ahead of everybody else”.
MiloS Radojić, Shining - “I am really excited about today’s unexpected success which we had hoped for and really wanted after so much training over the past months. The choice of setting off nearer Miramare only seemed to pay off after we had passed the first half of the first leg and that’s why at the beginning we never thought the final outcome of our race would be so great. Shining is the fourth boat we sail on together and we have all known each other since we were kids, so we started sailing together in the Olympic. Among our friends there was also Peter Podunavac, sailor, sailmaker and greater expert of the Gulf of Trieste”.
Furio Benussi, ARCA SGR - “We were about to secure the title, we tried our best, putting all of our abilities into action in very complicated wind conditions for out 100-footer. We have achieved the bare minimum in a regatta where we couldn’t have asked more of our boat along a course that was, rightly, reduced to two legs to allow all boats to cross the finish line. There wasn’t much we could tactically make up. It’s the end of a wonderful three-year period at sea, though not so much on land, but I am at peace with myself because I know what our future with Arca SGR will be. The boat has great potential, which can be developed through hours of navigation, training and regattas which will surely include next year’s Barcolana. I am proud of this team whom I would like to thank once again for the intensive work they have done in the last three months to rebuild and put back at sea a boat that had been completely abandoned and that now represents the near future of our crew. A personal thank you and on behalf of the Team also goes to all of our partners who support us and to Once Ocean Foundation which we proudly represent”.
Francesca Clapcich, Skipper of Golfo di Trieste – She stated at the end of the regatta: “Barcolana is a great festival for Trieste and it has been a great party for us too. This was the first regatta that the team has raced aboard Golfo di Trieste, so we certainly didn’t know the boat that well, but it has been the first step for future projects which we are in the making. Weather conditions this year have definitely been challenging, with very light wind, almost non-existent, but this is true for everyone. At the start we may have positioned our boat too early and as the cannon was fired we failed to accelerate. Our speed was sometimes good and sometimes bad. But we are pleased to have ranked among the first ten in the overall ranking. Besides our result, I think and hope that we have shown the professionalism of 21 women sailors, each with their own specific role who knows what to do and whose experience greatly contributes to our common growth”.
MiloS Radojić, Shining - “I am really excited about today’s unexpected success which we had hoped for and really wanted after so much training over the past months. The choice of setting off nearer Miramare only seemed to pay off after we had passed the first half of the first leg and that’s why at the beginning we never thought the final outcome of our race would be so great. Shining is the fourth boat we sail on together and we have all known each other since we were kids, so we started sailing together in the Olympic. Among our friends there was also Peter Podunavac, sailor, sailmaker and greater expert of the Gulf of Trieste”.
Furio Benussi, ARCA SGR - “We were about to secure the title, we tried our best, putting all of our abilities into action in very complicated wind conditions for out 100-footer. We have achieved the bare minimum in a regatta where we couldn’t have asked more of our boat along a course that was, rightly, reduced to two legs to allow all boats to cross the finish line. There wasn’t much we could tactically make up. It’s the end of a wonderful three-year period at sea, though not so much on land, but I am at peace with myself because I know what our future with Arca SGR will be. The boat has great potential, which can be developed through hours of navigation, training and regattas which will surely include next year’s Barcolana. I am proud of this team whom I would like to thank once again for the intensive work they have done in the last three months to rebuild and put back at sea a boat that had been completely abandoned and that now represents the near future of our crew. A personal thank you and on behalf of the Team also goes to all of our partners who support us and to Once Ocean Foundation which we proudly represent”.
Francesca Clapcich, Skipper of Golfo di Trieste – She stated at the end of the regatta: “Barcolana is a great festival for Trieste and it has been a great party for us too. This was the first regatta that the team has raced aboard Golfo di Trieste, so we certainly didn’t know the boat that well, but it has been the first step for future projects which we are in the making. Weather conditions this year have definitely been challenging, with very light wind, almost non-existent, but this is true for everyone. At the start we may have positioned our boat too early and as the cannon was fired we failed to accelerate. Our speed was sometimes good and sometimes bad. But we are pleased to have ranked among the first ten in the overall ranking. Besides our result, I think and hope that we have shown the professionalism of 21 women sailors, each with their own specific role who knows what to do and whose experience greatly contributes to our common growth”.
