The absolute winners are Mr Hyde in the X2 category and Neomind in the XTutti category
The 49th edition of the Cinquecento Trofeo Pellegrini, an offshore regatta organized by the Circolo Nautico Santa Margherita in collaboration with the Municipality of Caorle and the Darsena dell'Orologio, on the Caorle-Sansego-Isole Tremiti-Sansego route and back, officially ended today.
The regatta, sixth stage of the Italian Offshore Championship of the Italian Sailing Federation and of the Masserotti Uvai Trophy is the oldest double competition in the Mediterranean - conceived in Caorle almost half a century ago - also open to full crews and still today retains its charm.
The fleet of 33 boats in the X2 and XTutti categories, coming from Italy, Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Croatia, left on Sunday 28 May at 16.00 from the stretch of sea in front of the Church of the Madonna dell'Angelo.
Fairly fast edition, in which the high pressure north of Europe brought a northerly flow in the first days of the race which subsequently, along the coasts, turned into a breeze in the hottest hours. The unstable air, characteristic of the period, formed accumulations in the afternoon along the coasts, especially Croatian, with thunderstorms, a situation which favored the fastest and most performing hulls while the rest of the fleet suffered some stops which slowed down its race.
Once again the Cinquecento Trofeo Pellegrini proves to be a technical regatta, to be interpreted for the entire five hundred miles of the route, in which you leave as a sailor and return as a sailor, with a load of unique experiences and emotions.
When calculating ORC compensated times, the Overall winners in the X2 category are Marco Rusticali and Riccardo Rossi from Forlì with their Mr Hyde, a hull built in part by them of only 27 feet, light and fast in the winds, which has put behind several hulls titled.
Satisfaction on board reading the charts, as commented by the shipowners-skippers, true sailors and fans of offshore sailing “2023 is our third participation with Mr Hyde, perhaps the most exciting and not just for the final victory. The start was clean and fast, but the strategic choices downhill didn't prove to be valid, so much so that after the second day of racing we found ourselves in a queue near the Tremiti. Going up we chose to stay closer to the Italian coast because there seemed to be more pressure and it was the decisive choice for the final victory. Let's not hide even a little bit of luck that we caught as soon as it showed up in the form of a breeze, which gave us wings 15 miles from the finish. When we saw the wind coming we concentrated, fine-tuning the sails, in silence until the stop sign, where we were welcomed and celebrated: these are moments we will hardly forget.”.
Mr Hyde also wins the D ORC X2 class and wins the Vivila X2 Trophy, a sculpture in nautical aluminum handmade by the artist Giuseppe Celeprin.
The C ORC X2 class sees Hauraki of the father-son couple Mauro and Giovanni Trevisan in first place, first X2 at the finish line in Caorle on Thursday 1 June at 00.46 and already winners of the Pellegrini Line Honor X2 Trophy, of the Challenge of Victories Trophy of the Bronca Challenge Trophy , intended for the best result of the younger couple.
In class C ORC X2 the podium sees Colombre of the Venetians Massimo Juris-Matteo Conchetto in second place and the Rimar 36 Velenosa of the Faentini Marco Valentini-Pietro Guglielminetti in third place.
In the ORC XTutti Overall category and in class A, Neomind prevails, the brand new Neo 430 of the German Sascha Schroder who also won the Super Atax Challenge Trophy reserved for the best result on plywood for the crews.
“We are very satisfied with this result, it was our first offshore regatta in the Adriatic and the first La Cinquecento.” Said Sascha Schroder “My son Alex and I come from the world of sailing dinghies, we have also recently been doing offshore regattas and this was perfect in many respects, from the favorable weather, to the wind that accompanied us more intense than expected we waited. On board there was excellent harmony with the crew and everything worked properly, I have to be honest there was an incredible feeling, we had fun and I'm thinking of continuing to race with the crew, even though I had initially bought this boat for double-handed racing: we will try both options.”.
Neomind's crew consisted of the German Sascha Schroder, owner and helmsman, Alex Schroder as drizzista, the Spaniard Pedro Thompson as sail trimmer and the Italians Manuel Polo as navigator and Alessandro Alberti as tactician.
The ORC XTutti Overall and class A podium is completed by the Farr 53 QQ7 of Ravenna-born Salvatore Costanzo and Marjan Kocila's CleanSport One, the first overall boat to cross the finish line on Wednesday 31 May at 12.51 and already winner of the Pellegrini Line Honor XTutti Trophy.
In class B ORC XTutti, the ranking sees Farraway, Farr 40 of Alessandro Fiori, in first place, followed by Millenium 40 Luna per Te of Sporting Club Duevele and Harahel, GS40 of Vivila Sailing Team helmed by Gianluca Celeprin.
In the Multi X2 class victory for Hikari of the German Berk Plathner paired with the Swede Mats Westholm.
In the ORC Grand Cruise class, victory went to Princesse di Marino Schiavato, followed by Actinias di Andrea Gravili and Non Solo Ciurma di Fabio Foschi.
The Cinquecento Pellegrini Trophy 2023 officially ended with the arrival of Tatana of the German Valentin Bettrich at 05:26:12 who won the Soligo Never Give Up Trophy, intended for the last boat to finish to underline the tenacity and seamanship .
The awards ceremony will be held this evening on Saturday 3 June at 19.00 pm in Piazza Matteotti together with those of La Ottanta and La Duecento, conducted by Berti Bruss.
The 2023 edition of the CNSM offshore regatta was also an opportunity to organize, in collaboration with the Municipality of Caorle, some interesting land events to bring the public closer to sailing.
The open-air exhibition #roadtofifty was set up in Porto Peschereccio, an installation of photographic panels that trace the history of the regatta, with some of the protagonists from the 70s to today.
Piazza Papa Giovanni XXIII instead hosted the second edition of Gusta La Cinquecento, a cooking competition conducted by Leonardo Feltrin which involved chefs and sailors in the preparation of an appetizer, a first or second course with Caorle fish as the protagonist.
Read the Cinquecento, an event dedicated to the promotion of the culture of the sea, this year saw two interesting events hosted in the fishing port area. The first was a reading by the Readers Group of the Caorle Civic Library, accompanied by the notes of the pianist Daniel Ponticelli with the evocative title "In the sea there is the mystery".
The second appointment was instead intended for the students of the primary school of Caorle with the journalist Andrea Falcon, author of his book "Barche a vela" which recounted the genesis of the seafaring and the sport of sailing.
From Monday 29 to Thursday 1 June, Radio La Cinquecento was broadcast on the Caorle International web radio, a daily strip of updates with guests and phone calls.
The Main Sponsor 2023 of La Cinquecento is Pellegrini Impresa di Costruzioni, a company specializing in the industrial and civil construction sector, which has developed new construction technologies from solid traditions and has decided to support the Caorle offshore regatta by sharing its innovative spirit.
The 2023 Official Sponsor of the La Duecento and La Cinquecento regattas is Murphy&Nye, a historic clothing brand linked from its origins to the world of sailing, which has always been active in all the most important international sporting events in the sector.
Official Time Keeper 2023 is Venezianico, which produces high quality automatic watches, with a distinctive design, which embody the essence of Venice, combined with an iconic and contemporary design that carries a message of refinement and cosmopolitanism.
Technical Partners 2023 are Trim for weather forecasts, Cantina Colli del Soligo, producer of fine wines, Upwind by Aurora, Wind Design sail loft, Om Ravenna, Dial Bevande, Birra Castello, Biscotti Palmisano and I Pescaori.
Photo and video rankings on the social networks of the Santa Margherita Nautical Club and on the cnsm.org website.
PHOTO departures and arrivals: A. Carloni/CNSM