Holiday in the Adriatic

Result for Miranda Merron in the Cinquecento per Due

Having taken part in the Route du Rhum and the Volvo Ocean Race last year, Miranda Merron last week showed that her experience has paid off when she finished second in the slightly lower profile Italian classic, the Cinquecento per Due coming fifth overall under IRC in a fleet of 24 and first in her class.

In its 29th year, this 500 mile race around the Adriatic has the most flexible of formats. You can race it doublehanded or fully crewed and even have a choice of courses - either 500 miles or 200 miles.

Merron and her team mate, local sailor Alessandra Boatto who had previously sailed the 200 mile two handed version of the race, were sailing a Finot/Conq designed Giro 34, a mini Open 60 affair with a wingmast, shrouds, forestays and no runners. This is the one design boat used for the Round Italy race, the Giro Vela.

Starting in Porto Santa Margerita near Trieste (and not the one near Genoa) close to the Slovenian border, the course for the 500 Gold fleet took them south past the Istrian peninsula round the Croatian island of Sansego, across the Adriatic to the Tremiti Islands, back to Sansego before returning to the start.

Sailing down the Adriatic can provide mix fortunes in terms of breeze. There is the local bora, a northeasterly which can decimate everything in its path and during the race four years ago the crews experienced 70 knot winds.

For Merron and Boatto there was no such excitement. A good sea breeze was on hand for the start on Sunday 8 June. The wind died the first night off the Istrian peninsula causing the fleet to regroup but it kicked in again the following day. "The breeze came up at Sansego and we had a beautiful fantastic 24 hours of gennaker sailing from Sansego down to the Tremiti," says Merron.

When they returned back cross the Adriatic to round Sansego for the second time she believes they were 14-15 hour ahead of the next boat. Had they continued at this pace they would have won the race outright on handicap.

Unfortunately it was not to be. Sailing north again towards the finish line the breeze closed down as only it can in the Mediterranean. "We did the last 90 miles in 35 hours. It was so calm, there was no even cats paws on the water. It was really hot, slightly misty and you couldn't see where the sea ended and the sky began. So it was buckets of water over the head every 15 minutes."

At an average of 2.5 knots they crawled towards the finish line at Porto Santa Margerita finishing at 2.40pm Friday - taking five days to cover 500 miles. "We sailed tactically a pretty clean race. We made the right decisions going down to Tremiti and coming back to Sansego and after that we didn't know if it would have paid to go along the Istrian coast and in the hope that there would be some breeze at night, whereas we went
straight across the Adriatic," said Merron.

Of the race itself Merron thinks that more UK sailors should try it. This year Cino Ricci, organiser of the Round Italy Race and owner of the Giro 34s was attempting to get 'star' sailors to race the Giro 34s and if this worked next year, it could make a competitive race on a highly pleasing course. The Cinquecento per Due celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2004.

"I think it is great race. People should be encouraged to go and do it," says Merron.