The Race Start that didn’t happen

The fleet in the Garibaldi Tall Ships Regatta left Genoa today for a Parade of Sail along the coast and out towards the race start for Trapani. However, things did not go according to plan. 

Led by the Italian Navy’ Palinuro and Orsa Maggiore, the parade headed south along the coast of Liguria and past the point where Guiseppe Garibaldi left Genoa 150 years ago, Scoglio dei Mille (Rock of the Thousand).

While a brisk wind was blowing for the parade of sail, unfortunately it was a southerly which meant it was blowing towards the fleet and so almost impossible for them to put up any sails. This must have been disappointing for the people of Genoa who had been looking forward to the parade. 

The fleet then headed out to the start area but then the wind died completely and what wind there was came from a south-westerly direction making it impossible to start the race. 

Therefore plan B came into effect which meant the fleet were required to motor 60 miles along the race route towards Trapani to a point where they would cross an imaginary start line between 1000 and 12000 hrs GMT tomorrow morning, 12 April. The fleet will then provide race control with their start time in order for their elapsed times to be calculated and positions to be mapped from the evening report. 

This means the first report on the fleet tracking will appear only tomorrow evening, 12 April, at approximately 1800 hrs GMT. It is hoped there will be sufficient wind from tomorrow morning to get the race started and continuing down towards Trapani.