The birth, the illustrious register and the two tests: here is the Centomiglia del Garda

There is only one regatta in Europe, running in internal waters, which has a technical and historical value equal if not exceeding the most important competitions on the sea. And it is the Centomiglia del Garda, which came to edition number 75 that is held on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 September, with the single ranking on the two tests. A regatta that was born on the western bank of the wider Italian lake, inspired by the Mille Automobilistici format that has always had nearby Brescia as a cradle. The founding act is part of the history of our sail: «We will organize a cruise regatta that will affect all the countries of Lake Garda, will be free in participation, will have departure and arrival in Gargnano. His name: Cento Miglia Regatta ». So the newborn Sailo Gargnano club, created by a group of young Brescians, announced the new regatta for the following year in December 1950. At the start, Saturday 8 September 1951, 17 boats presented themselves on the line, very different from each other, just as it happened to the Mille Miglia, capable of making the Ferraris and Mickey Mouse run together. He won, for the record, Airone: a beautiful 6 meters built in 1925 who had been put back in the structure by Umberto Peretti Colò, coincidentally the first president of the Italian historical automotoclub. In the best years, the 90s, there were up to 300 members to compete on a lake-all-all course, so much so that between the winner and the latest arrival they passed even 15-16 hours.

history

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Airone and Peretti Colò are the first names of one of the most illustrious wing of the international sailing because Centomiglia, as well as being frequented by all the champions of the European lakes (Swiss, Austrian, Germans and Hungarians have won multiple editions), has always attracted sailors from all over the world for the only characteristics: a complicated regatta field (typical alpine lake in the North and almost sea), the possibility of creating boats. At the forefront with a few rules, the real -time race without complicated formulas or handicaps, an environment of rare beauty with a significant passion for sailing. For designers it has always been an interesting laboratory to design strange and sometimes absurd, brilliant and wrong, winning and loser boats. Who have often marked the story: the 6 meters suits Pino Canessa (author of a poker of successes), the 5.5 Si Manuela by Beppe Croce (the greatest Italian sailing manager ever), the first guy of the Oceanic Giorgio Falck, the wonderful Cassiopeia still in the heart of any Gardesano who saw her navigate in the strong wind, the brilliant griffin (first authentic free with the terraces), Record of the disappeared Giorgio Zuccoli, the incredible ace 99 and the Foiler of the latest editions. Boats never throw there, ‘think to navigate the fastest possible: better to sink (or rather to retire without getting hurt) than arriving seconds has been the mantra of the free classes for decades. Those so light that to balance them they have been equipped with ‘terraces’ to allow the numerous manufacturers to act as a human counterweight in the opposite gait.

rehearsals

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Two, as mentioned, the tests. For the Gargnano Trophy on Saturday 6 we start from Bogliaco and after a hallway in Gargnano, the fleet will go down to Desenzano to return to Bogliaco. The path of the Gorla Trophy, scheduled for Sunday 7, includes departure and arrival in Bogliaco and Boe in front of the Eala Hotel in Limone del Garda, then in Trentino waters and finally in Brenzone on the Veronese coast. The sum of the points obtained in the two tests will assign the prestigious Bettoni Trophy, which has always rewarded the best of the Centomiglia. Over 100 members, with a large variety of boats: some multipurs and many monotypes, free small and ORC cabinets, hulls of the last generation with local foils and glories. Among these, there is the star – Olympic class for 16 editions – with Skipper Roberto Benamati, already world champion and recordman of absolute successes at the Centomiglia (13). A myth of Garda who succeeded where great sailing masters failed. There are two of them, to the antithesis for vision and their life stories: the Danish Paul Elvstrom (four Olympic gold in eight editions, with the unbeaten record of participations) and the Romagna Cino Ricci (the skipper of the first blue and eclectic par excellence) who loved it to the point of advising the Garda friends to make a regatta with the bets, Skiff in Australia. They didn’t listen to him, maybe better this way.