Barcolana 55 presented by Generali: little wind and lots of celebrations, the regatta starts tomorrow

The wind has calmed down, and the party can get going. On a day that felt summery, Trieste has welcomed all the Barcolana crews – there were 1765 crews at 5 p.m., with registration officially open until 7 p.m. The city is getting ready for a regatta with little wind but a lot of joy. “The sea will give us the sport result tomorrow,” said SVBG President Mitja Gialuz, “but we already know who has won the Barcolana: I am talking about all the registered crews, who tomorrow will be the protagonists of a huge huge celebration on land and at sea.”

The eve of the Autumn Cup is, once again, the day when Trieste joins the great celebration of the sea, coming to embrace and involve all participants. Thousands of people have enlivened the village and the streets of the city centre: onlookers, enthusiasts, sailors and tourists have peacefully “invaded” the Rive and admired the large boats moored in Bacino San Giusto, met the crews and fully experienced the Barcolana at land, among stands, events, and music.

In the afternoon Wendy Schmidt has arrived in Trieste to take part in the official ceremony – exciting as ever – held in Piazza Unità. She gave back the Barcolana Cup and the “Women in Sailing by Generali” Cup in the hands of Mitja Gialuz and Simone Bemporad, Communications and External Relations Director of the Generali Group.

See you tomorrow morning at 10.30, with very light wind forecast. This morning instead there was no wind at all, and the races scheduled for the morning were therefore cancelled. The Barcolana Classic Trofeo SIAD focused on the parade in the Bacino San Giusto: it was a great show, strongly applauded from the shore, which involved 107 boats, ranging from the fascinating hulls born from the genius of the Trieste designer Sciarrelli to some of the oldest boats in the Gulf, up to the more recent IORs and the “Spirit of Tradition”.

While the classic boats paraded in the water, everything was ready for another parade on land – Piazza Unità at 11.00 saw the performance of the Fanfara della Marina Militare (the marching band of the Navy), which arrived in Trieste yesterday to pay homage to the 100th anniversary of Trieste’s Port Authority and brought its salute to the Barcolana today, among the cheering public. The Navy was also at the centre of the celebrations this afternoon, at 4.30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Revoltella Museum, where the 2024 calendar with images by photographer Massimo Sestini was presented.

After much sailing in light wind conditions, the Slovenian fleet reached Trieste. The “Go to Barcolana from Slovenia” ended. In the Open classification, Maxi Jena ranked first, followed by TP52 Generali in second place and Taia 2 & White Goose in third, while Rusalka won the 30-foot category.

At 6 p.m. the competitors' briefing was held at Hotel Savoia, where all technical information and the official weather forecast were provided ahead of the regatta. Leading the briefing, alongside the Barcolana’s President Mitja Gialuz and Sports Director Dean Bassi, was the new Race Committee President, Triestine judge Giancarlo Crevatin, World Sailing's International Race Officer since 2016 and a member of the Barcolana Race Committee since 2013. The focus of the briefing, as per tradition, was on the weather forecast, which shows little wind. Reamining Bora will blow until 9 a.m. and will then turn, with low intensity, towards the North West. It will therefore be a Barcolana for the tacticians, who will search for “mini gusts”.