Trieste's Barcolana, Alfa Romea Triumphs In The Barcolana

Beaten two thousand boats, and the dead calm sea was defeated too.

Trieste, Italy. october 12th - Almost two thousand boats at the start, no wind and Alfa Romeo’s victory in Barcolana 35. The great sailing festival, which brought to Trieste the record figures of 1982 sailing boats, 24 thousand sailors and 250 thousand people on-shore, has seen the slow triumph of Alfa Romeo, with New Zealand’s Neville Crichton at the helm, tactics by Brad Butterworth (Alinghi’s tactician) and Trieste’s Lorenzo Bressani (winner of 2002 edition), as local expert. Mitja Kosmina came in second, at the helm of Magic Jena who reluctantly confirms last year’s standing, after a wonderful start, and after holding the lead in the first two miles of the race. But Slovenia’s sailor ran into a wind gap and fell behind giving the way to Alfa Romeo, which took the lead and held it until the end of the race thanks to a perfect strategy and to the advantage gained when the wind died down (more than one thousand metres). A slow race characterized by a very light south-east breeze, pitilessly varying from zero to three knots and reaching six knots only a few times, straining the teams’ concentration. Nevertheless it has been the great festival of Trieste which will end only late tonight.

NEVILLE CRICHTON’S DECLARATION ON HIS VICTORY
”The arrival on the finish line of Barcolana 35 has been the most disarming and warm victory I have ever gained in Europe. Such a warm and welcoming atmosphere reminded me of the victory in the Sidney-Hobart race in my home country: I didn’t think I would find here such a great support for Alfa Romeo. This is my 60th win gained over less than 10 months and it couldn’t have been better. It was a technical and tactic race and it proved again that Alfa Romeo is able to win on the Oceans and on seas where there is almost no wind. The experience of participating in a race with two thousand boats has been wonderful and it exceeded my expectations: I wish I could experience such a great emotion again. Thank you Barcolana”.