Ocean Race Genoa
Grand final of the sailing regatta in Genoa, Ocean Race
Between June 24th and July 2nd 2023 Genoa became the world capital of sailing because the port of Genoa was the final destination of the sailing boat race “Ocean Race”.
After intensive 6 months, the demanding regatta ended with the "Grand Final" for the first time in Italy.
The event was a big success, and the city of seafarers was able to profile internationally.
The competition for the world's best sailors, previously known as „Volvo Ocean Race“, has been renamed to „The Ocean Race“.
At the 14th Ocean Race, several international teams competed in two boat classes: the high-performance foil class IMOCA 60 (which sails around the world) and the one-design VO65 class (which competes in stages).
The grand finale was celebrated at the exhibition center by the sea, where the international boat show “Salone Nautico” also takes place every year.
In "The Ocean Race Live Park" have been a lot of attractions for the visitors: Aerobatics by the Italian Air Force "Frecce Tricolori", departure of the sailing ship "Amerigo Vespucci" for the second world tour, several live-concerts in the city, ...
Austrian Ocean Racing – Powered by Team Genova
There is a sailing boat partnership between Austria and Italy. The brothers Konstantin and Oliver Kobale, the founders of the Austrian project, bought a VO65 (Volvo Ocean 65) with the Dutch skipper Gerwin Jansen to take part in the Ocean Race. With the sailing boat they have already covered 50,000 nautical miles in 3 years.
In search of a home port, they found what they were looking for in Genoa in 2021, since then they have a strong connection to the city and the inhabitants. This was the basis for an Austrian-Italian partnership.
The flags of the two countries can be seen on the back of the sailing boat, which is kept in grey. On the side is written in large letters “Genova” and “Marina Militare”, next to it you will find the logo of the Italian energy provider “Iren”.
In 2023 the Austrian Ocean Racing Team achieved a proud 3rd place in the VO65 class.
Team Genova Crew:
- Gerwin Jansen and Jolbert Van Dijk from Holland
- Oliver Kobale, Stefan Leitner and Raphael Hussl from Austria
- Andrea Pendibene and Cecilia Zorzi from Italy
- Michael Seifarth from Germany
- Deborah Blair and Claudia Rossi from UK
- Michiel Goegebeur from Belgium
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Ocean Race 2023 winner
The "double victory" of overall ranking and harbor race ranking went to the "11th Hour Racing Team" under the US flag.
On board of the 11th Hour Racing Team was also Francesca Clapcich, a former Olympian, in her second participation in the Ocean Race, becoming the first Italian woman to win a round-the-world sailing voyage with this prestigious achievement.
At the start of the 7th and final stage, there was a crash in Den Haag: the 11th Hour Racing sailing boat was rammed by the "GUYOT Team Europe" boat, which disregarded the right of way rule - they obviously have not seen the ship. No one was injured in the collision, but the two IMOCAS sustained significant damage.
Richard Brisius, President of The Ocean Race, was very proud of the successful event, which was held in Genoa for the first time.
5 IMOCAS were exhibited in the port, further races with up to 15 boats in the IMOCA 60 class will follow in the future and hopefully come again to Genoa.
IMOCA Final Results:
- 1. 11th Hour Racing Team (Skipper Charlie Enright US)
- 2. Team Holcim-PRB
- 3. Team Malizia
- 4. Biotherm
- 5. GUYOT – Team Europe (after crash on last place)
VO65 Final Results:
- 1. WindWhisper Racing Team (Skipper Daryl Wislang UK)
- 2. Team JAJO
- 3. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova
- 4. Viva México
- 5. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team )
- 6. Ambersail 2
Portofino Dry Gin
In the VIP lounge on the 1st floor of the blue building "Padiglione blue" was offered a gin tasting which was perfect for the event.
The beautiful port of Portofino is located just 35 km east of Genoa and is popular for famous visitors with their yachts.
The Portofino Dry Gin has been produced for four generations by the "Antica Distilleria Quaglia" in the Asti region and is bottled in very pretty bottles that depict the charming colorful houses of the fishing village and the turquoise sea of the Ligurian Riviera.
In order to capture the flavour of the Mediterranean coast, a blend of botanicals is used, made up of twenty-one ingredients carefully selected for their intense aromatic properties: juniper, lemon, lavender, rosemary, marjoram, sage, iris, rose and others for delicacies typical of the Riviera -picked from gardens on the hills of Portofino.
If you place three of the blue glass bottles next to each other, the individual labels complement each other to form an overall panorama.
I had the pleasure of tasting the gin tonic "Made in Italy" and was immediately impressed by the taste.
There are cute little 50cl bottles that come in a series of 3. The standard size is 100cl, but there are also very large 5 liter bottles if you are planning a larger party.
By the way, the inventor is the beverage manufacturer "Pudel SRL" in Milan with 4 young partners who started producing 3,000 bottles in 2018. After two years, production was increased to 20,000 bottles and sales were internationalized.
Portofino Gin
www.portofinogin.com
Aerial acrobatics "Frecce Tricolori"
A special spectacle was the aerial acrobatics of the Italian Air Force "Frecce Tricolori" (Italian for three-coloured arrows).
Today the squadron consists of ten aircraft, making it the largest aerobatic squadron in the world. They flew several times over the city, beyond the exhibition center and out to sea, leaving streaks of smoke in the sky in the Italian national colours.
The constellation of the aerobatic pilots is interesting: usually 9 pilots fly next to each other, followed by a single pilot, the so-called “soloist”, who completes his own show.
For decades there have been 3 standardized flight programs that are selected depending on the weather conditions. We were lucky - with the nice weather, all parts of the program could be flown without restrictions. The military pilots performed a great show!
Sailing ship Amerigo Vespucci
The famous sail training ship could be visited at the Porto Antico for a few days during the event.
On July 1st 2023 it set off on its second trip around the world. The farewell was extensively celebrated in the course of the Ocean Race: aerial acrobatics, parachutists with flags from helicopters in 1.200 m height, the navy logistics support ship Vulcano (A 5335) and several sailing ships accompanied the Amerigo Vespucci as it left the port of Genoa. It will come back in February 2025.
The ship is named after the Italian seafarer who explored large parts of the east coast of South America.
Home port of the Amerigo Vespucci is La Spezia. The design of the ship is inspired by the 74-cannons, 3-masted ships of the 18th century. The regular crew consists of 264 soldiers.
In 1930 the ship was built in Naples and is mainly used by the Marine Militare to train officer candidates at the ship academy "Accademia navale".
Further information
Here you can find many other information about the Boat Show: