Barcolana regatta

The Barcolana regatta or more correctly Autumn Cup (Coppa d'Autunno), named after the village of Barcola, is a historical European sailing race born in 1969 thanks to the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano of Trieste. It takes place annually in the Gulf of Trieste, every second Sunday in October and is one of the largest sailing races in the world with over 2000 participants.

NASA satellite image of the Gulf of Trieste

Start of the 38th Barcolana

Sailing the first side of the route during the 41st Barcolana

The Race

The race consists in a four-sided route with fixed beacons, one of them symbolically floating in the waters of Slovenia. The total distance to cover is about 16 NM.

The minimum boat length to join the regatta is 6 meters (19 feet, 9 inches): all kind of monohull sailboats can participate - this led to one of the most heterogeneous regattas of the Mediterranean, in which sailing beginners or enthusiasts are on the same start line as professional racing teams with their 100 foot sailboats.

History

Boats on the horizon, seen from Karst during the 2008 Cup

During the first 20 races, the winners were mostly sailors coming from local Yacht Clubs, but later it started becoming an international event, involving Yacht Clubs from all over the world including the adjacent Slovenia and Croatia, and even Australia, with outstanding skippers such as Neville Crichton, Mitja Kosmina, Lorenzo Bressani.

At the first edition, in 1969, there were just 51 boats at the start line, which was a lot, considering the total number of sailboats in Trieste at that time. During the ten years after the first regatta, the cup was contended between Trieste's yacht clubs, including Società Triestina della Vela, Yacht Club Adriaco, and the promoter Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano. The first non-Italian victory came in 1980 with Rupe from Munich, bringing international interest to the Autumn Cup.

Until now, it has been the world's regatta with the higher number of participants: almost 25000 sailors and a total number of people involved in the event reaching about 250000.

The best views (or at least the most expansive) are from the Trieste Karst above the city.

Walk of Fame

Edition	Sailboat	Skipper	Club
1969	Betelgeuse	Napp	STV
1970	Marie	Pesle	YCA
1971	Carla	Sigovich	Garda
1972	Sandra	Toffaloni	YCA
1973	Vento di mare	Rizzi	STV
1974	Kaiten	Zalukar	SVBG
1975	El Raguseo	Colonna	STV
1976	El Raguseo	Colonna	STV
1977	Papillon	Drioli	YCA
1978	El Cid	Bartoli-Zago	STV
1979	El Cid	Bartoli-Zago	STV
1980	Rupe	Hoffmeister-Stadler	YC Monaco
1981	White Shadow	Drioli	SVBG
1982	Condor	Battiston	YCL
1983	White Shadow	Drioli	SVBG
1984	Condornonsisamai	Becchetti	YCL
1985	Blue Eyed Princess	Bardelli	SVBG
1986	La Fenice di Venezia	Venerucci	CNC
1987	Il Moro di Venezia	Ferruzzi-Nava	Ravenna
1988	Uragan	Battiston	YCL
1989	Il Moro di Venezia 2	Ferruzzi-Nava	Ravenna
1990	Fanatic	Zizala-Battiston	YCL
1991	Satanasso Calbre	Gaburri-Poli	ANS
1992	Il Moro di Venezia	Ferruzzi-Chieffi	YCI
1993	Fanatic	Zizala-Battiston	YCL
1994	Fanatic	Zizala-Puh	YCL
1995	Gaia Legend	Kosmina	YCJK
1996	Gaia Legend	Kosmina	YCJK
1997	Gaia Legend	Kosmina	YCJK
1998	Riviera di Rimini	Benvenuti-Cian	CV Rimini
1999	@DRIACOM	Cilenti	CDV Pd
2000	@DRIACOM	Cilenti	CDV Pd
2001	Cometa	Pfizer-Favini	CVMM
2002	Uniflair	Cilenti-Bressani	CVV
2003	Alfa Romeo	Neville Crichton	Cruising Yacht Club Australia
2004	Alfa Romeo	Neville Crichton	Cruising Yacht Club Australia
2005	Trieste Provincia di	Lorenzo Bressani
2006	Alfa Romeo 2	Neville Crichton	Cruising Yacht Club Australia
2007	Alfa Romeo 2	Neville Crichton	Cruising Yacht Club Australia
2008	Alfa Romeo 2	Neville Crichton	Cruising Yacht Club Australia
2009	Maxi Jena	Mitja Kosmina	Jahtni Klub
2010	Esimit Europa 2	Igor Simcic
2011	Esimit Europa 2	Igor Simcic
2012	Esimit Europa 2	Jochen Schümann	Yacht Club de Monaco

External links

• (Italian) Official site
• http://in.ibtimes.com/articles/20081012/sailing-race-gulf-trieste-barcolana-regatta-italy.htm
• http://www.triest.it/en/node/20