Vele d'Epoca di Imperia on Kipawa
Yesterday morning I arrived in Impera where I sail Vele d'Epoca di Imperia, the biggest event for classic boats in Europe. Earlier this year I dayworked on "Kipawa" and I wanted to take the chance to race on one of these classics.
A beautifull scenery in the morning on arrival. Wood, varnish, copper and canvas. I know a few people who are into classics and they all have a very good time. Everything seems much more relaxed, whith the absense of high tech and performance. I think there is also less competition amongs crew and positions, but I could be wrong. I lot more girls anyway. That doesn't mean there is no winning spirit though! I saw guys from the America's Cup and a few guru's like Dennis Conner on the docks. Crew tuning masts, optimazing there boats etc.
In the afternoon after prepared the bow to sail her kite, we went out with quit a bit of wind. It was the first time I sailed on a classic and let me tell you, doing the bow on one of those is quite different. There are no railguards, no antislip on the decks. A wave will get you wet guarantied, maybe even wash you overboard. I don't know what I have to thing about all the wood and classic running rigging either. I am so used to sail on boats where trust in the material is something very basic. Anyway, all went well, we made a couple of gybes with the kite and a lot of us just needed to learn how she moves a boat like this.
At this moment I am in Hotel Corallo and it is raining cats and dogs! I think we can forget about our training day. It's a shame because we could realy use it. The boat has been build for 4 years, sailed from Rome to here and this is her first race with a whole new crew.
Maybe in the afternoon.
A beautifull scenery in the morning on arrival. Wood, varnish, copper and canvas. I know a few people who are into classics and they all have a very good time. Everything seems much more relaxed, whith the absense of high tech and performance. I think there is also less competition amongs crew and positions, but I could be wrong. I lot more girls anyway. That doesn't mean there is no winning spirit though! I saw guys from the America's Cup and a few guru's like Dennis Conner on the docks. Crew tuning masts, optimazing there boats etc.
In the afternoon after prepared the bow to sail her kite, we went out with quit a bit of wind. It was the first time I sailed on a classic and let me tell you, doing the bow on one of those is quite different. There are no railguards, no antislip on the decks. A wave will get you wet guarantied, maybe even wash you overboard. I don't know what I have to thing about all the wood and classic running rigging either. I am so used to sail on boats where trust in the material is something very basic. Anyway, all went well, we made a couple of gybes with the kite and a lot of us just needed to learn how she moves a boat like this.
At this moment I am in Hotel Corallo and it is raining cats and dogs! I think we can forget about our training day. It's a shame because we could realy use it. The boat has been build for 4 years, sailed from Rome to here and this is her first race with a whole new crew.
Maybe in the afternoon.
