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The XXXV edition of the Barcolana is ready to set sails: 30-meter long boats will be at the starting line, famous sailing enthusiasts and popular figures from the show world will be among the main actors, and then there will be the Seafront celebrations that will keep spirits high in town for a whole week, from 4-12 October, when the regatta itself will commence at 10 a.m.


Barcolana 35 guarantees emotions and offers the latest novelties in the innovative and futurist boats that come to Trieste to gain satisfaction from crossing the finish line ahead of the other two thousand sailboats. The Barcolana regatta record numbers hang on: it is the most crowded sailing race in the world, with 2 thousand boats setting sails at the same time to cover a quadrilateral course in the Gulf of Trieste, and with around 20 thousand sailing enthusiasts at sea, coming from Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and this year also from New Zealand.


There's great excitement, every year, in view of the duel between the lead pack, for it attracts attention, while at the same time it enhances the presence of all the smaller boats who are there simply for the pleasure of being there, year after year. Two favourites for the 2003 Barcolana are: Alfa Romeo, owned by New Zealander Neville CRICHTON, and MagicJena, owned by Slovenian Mitia KOSMINA and Padua-born Mimmo CLIENTI, an 80-foot sailboat built in Slovenia.


Alfa Romeo is a "super maxi" 90-foot boat (30 meters), the winner of some of the most important regattas held in the past two years at international level, such as the challenging Sydney-Hobart; owned by the New Zealander Neville Crichton, Alfa Romeo has participated in 60 regattas, winning 59. Now it has landed in Trieste and its aim is to also win the Barcolana.

As exciting as ever, though never the same despite its long tradition, the Barcolana will draw many other boats to Trieste, each one hoping to win in its own category and, why not, maybe even outright.

Organization-wise, Barcolana 35 hasn't changed: the rules, the course (a 16-mile long quadrilateral in the Gulf of Trieste, with two thousand boats starting off at the same time - surely a unique spectacle), classes and registration criteria, in fact, have not been changed compared to last year's event, thus demonstrating that the organization gear set up by the volunteer Svbg partners is once again running smoothly to materialize this spectacular and unique calendar event.

Full details are on the event website at the address below.