The perfect race

58 minutes and then champagne for Grant Wharington Skandia, line honours winners of the Barcolana

How many races can you knock off in 58 minutes 20 seconds and then retire to bar, job done? This was the case this morning for Trieste, Provincia di…better known as Grant Wharington's Skandia maxi on this occasion chartered to a group of Trieste sailors, with Lorenzo Bressani at the helm and Furio Benussi calling tactics.

Held annually off Trieste, Italy, the Barcolana is the world's largest race in terms of numbers of competitors who, unlike for example the UK's Round the Island Race, start en masse at the same time on what must be the world's longest start line.

Traditionally fleet numbers approach the 2,000 mark, but this year for the 37th Barcolana, big winds were the feature. Yesterday yachts in Trieste were being pinned to the dock by the local Bora, gusting up to 40 knots. A whole week of adverse weather conditions has prevented hundreds of boats reaching Trieste from the central and southern Adriatic. Despite the weather the number of participants last night stood at 1640...

This morning the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano and the Sailing Race Committee met to decide on a course of action given the conditions - either to start to all participants at 10.00 (local time) as scheduled, or to exclude the smaller boats in the Passere class, from the race or to postpone the start by a few hours. In the event the start went ahead as normal.

Among the starters were 'Checco' Battiston, who has racked up record times in the Barcolana in 1982, ’88, ’90, ’93, ’94 in various Open class yachts from Condor to Uragan, and the most recent Fanatic. This year Checco Battiston, was at the helm of the 78ft Southern Star. “We will do our best," said Battiston prior to the start, "even if now the Barcolana is a race in which the size of the boat counts more than its crew. Until a few years ago many boats used to fight for the final victory, preparation was very precise, we spent long hours to improve any detail of the boat in order to gain even a tenth of a second. Then came the super-maxis and they lead now. We old sailors haven’t lost our competitive spirit and, despite we have no chance to win, we’ll always have our usual racing enthusiasm”.

One such super maxi was Skandia who today managed to get a clean start among the 1,725 eventual starters. Conditions were still lively with the wind gusting 35-40 knots prior to the start but as the gun went it had dropped to around 25 knots. The coastguard announced over the VHF that given the conditions, the wearing of lifejackets was mandatory.

Soon after finishing Trieste, Provincia di… crewman Fraser Brown reported that they had got away from the line at speed and quickly pulled into the lead under full main and genniker. Towards the turning mark the wind dropped. She completed the 17 mile course in just 58 minutes 20 seconds, in the process demolishing Cometa's course record set in 2001 by 16min and 40 seconds.

The 98ft maxi was followed by the Slovenian yacht, Maxi Jena, with Mitja Kosmina at the helm, and the Open 60 Shining with helmsman Lorenzo Bodini in third.

“We did a perfect race”, said Lorenzo Bressani, helmsman of Trieste, Provincia di… a few minutes after crossing the line, clinching his fourth personal victory in the Barcolana. “We did our best," he continued "with fighting spirit from the very beginning when we hoisted the gennaker at once. It enabled us to gain a good advantage on the rivals which grew throughout the race.

“First of all I want to thank the crew for this wonderful victory. This Barcolana was just perfect. At the start we were rather agitated but the quickness and the perfection with which we hoisted the gennaker, allowed us to leave Kosmina behind still with jib and mainsail.

“It was great to come in first at this spectacular edition of the Barcolana, but it was even more important being able to bring the Trophy back to Trieste with a crew made up of almost all locals. The Province’s project goes beyond this race and during the week before the event, it gave the possibility to many disabled people to sail on Trieste’s boat”.