The (interesting) story of a lover of sailing

01Where did the love of sailing come from?

Being from Sopron, Lake Fertő was close by, we did not like playing football, and somehow that is how sailing came about. From ‘65 we started going out to training sessions, out to the Lake with the club section, at a time when you could not sail there without a special permit. We mostly got there by bicycle, or less often on the back of a lorry – even though sailing itself is usually called the “sport of kings” – and that is probably no accident…

0251st Barcolana Regatta* (2019)

The “Barcolana Regatta” has been the world’s largest sailing race series since February 2019; it has been held since 1969 on a 16-mile course, on the 2nd Saturday of October each year, in the Gulf of Trieste, Italy.

In 2019, my 7 companions and I also entered the 51st race, and for the occasion we chartered a 46-foot (~ 14 m), four-cabin, fully-optioned yacht in Zadar (Croatia), and then sailed it across to the Gulf of Trieste – in a continuous 2-day passage, no less.

Sailing close to shore we admired the beautiful landscape, on open water we revelled in the beauty of the sea, and at night a darkness fell on us such as we had never met even in a dense forest. The boat’s position lights, such as the masthead light, gave no illumination on deck, so we could barely even see one another. Needless to say, at night we had to rely entirely on the A4-sized navigation display, which is a more serious instrument than the ones we use in cars, since on it not only the coastline but also the rocks that pose a danger, and furthermore the vessels present in the area, are visible – and from 2-3 km away at that, when there is still ample opportunity to avoid them.

That night such a strong wind then got up that, as a result of one stronger gust (a so-called “puff”), the wheel shoved aside the slightly built crewmate who happened to be on station so hard that they had to hand the post over at once to one of our burlier companions, who was able to hold the wheel and the course even in this storm-force wind.

Sailing across from Croatia to Slovenia, and from there to Italy, we naturally had to put in at every border crossing for document checks. That is how we finally arrived in Trieste, where we managed to rest for one night in calmer circumstances, because the official race started the next day.

03Race day

On this occasion some 2500 sailing boats entered the race. The start line itself had to be astonishingly wide for such a vast number of boats to be lined up. (https://youtu.be/fs_agsjX_Xo) Since the very day of the race dawned to a complete calm, the race officials were obliged to move the finish to the first buoy, so the competitors had to get their boats at least that far somehow – but sailing without wind!? What else can I say about it than that we managed to complete the … metre course in approximately 6 hours?

When we were sailing towards Trieste we still had such strong wind – especially at night – that it would not even have occurred to us to go off and rest; at the race, on the other hand, it would not have been a problem if most of the crew had turned in.

Colliding in a race like this would be fatal, so we generally have to watch out for one another very carefully. And the chance of capsizing is low even in strong wind, because every boat has the option of “reefing”, that is, of reducing the size of the mainsail. And if a storm-force wind gets up, then there is no arguing: every sail has to be taken in. (From the German, the mainsail is called “grósz” and the jib “fock”.)

Sailing straight into the wind is likewise impossible; in such cases you have to make a zigzag movement according to a set technique, which water folk call “galks”.

A year earlier, at the 50th jubilee race, about 3 thousand boats started, but generally 2-2.5 thousand sailing boats gather at such an event. There is no results ceremony on site, but the results are uploaded to the internet afterwards, where they can be viewed. The race officials do not have an easy job, since it happens that 100-150 boats turn almost simultaneously. The 51st championship was won by the young Slovenian competitor Gašper Vinčec, with his sailing boat named “Way of Life”.

After the race we stayed on for a few more days, to enjoy the atmosphere that is customary at such times.

04The marine fittings have to prove themselves too

At races the marine fittings have to prove themselves too, because if one of them happens to “fly off” amid the toughest trials, then even the mast can snap. Fortunately nothing like that happened to us, and Menet-Trend’s NONOX stainless and acid-resistant marine fittings and accessories are in any case excellent-quality, reliable products, which we can only recommend to others as well.

*Barcolana Regatta: a sailing race series named after the organising institution, which set a Guiness World Record in 2019. The organiser: Società Velica Barcola Grignano