If weren't because the clouds, would have been champagne sailing.

written by Matias Collins  on  May 25  of  2025 and read by 277

ITA 199 The abscence at Bellano
@ Mateo Garrone

Circolo Vela Bellano is hosting the 7th edition of their traditional Trofeo Bellano , in the fantastic spot of Lake Como. Probably due to be so close to the European Championship next week organized by the LNI Mandello del Lario, a truly international fleet took the advantage of sailing just a few kilometers away from Mandello. Luxemburg, Slovenia, Hungary, Canada, USA, Germany and the Italians had a fantastic first day.

Yes!, it was not hot enough, there were not enough sun, the wind was not the best at the first races, but at some points when hiking over the flat water was possible suddenly with the strike of the sun put a smile on all crew faces.

At Bellano, the wind pattern is close to what you find in Lake Garda, during noon, in most cases the air get sucked up to the mountains in the Northern part of the lake, the walls on the lake sides do their job and the air is channeled in a nice breeze, sometimes quite strong.

Today the three races were held and they had similar directions but the wind increased with the passing of the time, therefore the third race was the best in wind conditions.
The first race team HUN 1 ( Varjas, Vezer & Meretei) had their bullet, they do not come for the scenario for sure, they are well prepared and come to Como with a quest, the European title to be challenged in a few days, they found the left channel winning the race just ahead recent German Champions GER 339 (Tim Giesecke, Sven Rikwald & Andreas Finck) , in third came SLO 1 (Antoncic, Strakh & Strahovnik) who returned to sail the Soling after 6 years of absence, the surprise was a fast ITA 252 (Amicis, Negri, Amicis) finishing fourth with a great performance. This first race had an interesting first rounding mark with too many boats too close, all in duel tacks to reach the mark, but one team USA 853 we give no names…suddenly without previously notice sent the middleman for a trip in the deepness of the marine world, - Atlantida was not found, hulls are immaculate clean statement of a wet crew that blamed all on an old spray top of 10 years, this is his first competitive sailing in a Soling.

A the second race, the wind had by times a bit more wind, but also more holes, and at this time GER 311 (Geisler, Beherendt & Stiel) took their bullet to Edersee, they were closely followed by team HUN 1 and in third a hot GER 339.

The third race, the one that look alike a drag race, saw how the left channel paid off, SLO 1 rounded first to not lose the lead and win the race, second rounding was USA 853 (Collins, Sante & Muller) they managed to screw the hoist, the jibe, the protection of the inside and the spinnaker drop to fall behind a few boats (many but we won't say how many..), then it was a drag race, HUN 1 again was the follower and in third came CAN 225 (Hall, Farbowski & Schmidsberger ) recovering from a really bad start, 4th was USA 853 recovering their slip on the first downwind, making them happy enough to go home with the feeling of improvements race after race during the day.

Tonight, part of the fleet will meet at the Trattoria Porton, where specialities from Como will served like special raviolis made with cheese and pear, risotto and fish, and some sort of gulag, it is going to be a full Soling week as the whole fleet will continue to meet from Bellano to Mandello del Lario (only 20km away), starting on Monday for the Europeans.

On Sunday three more races are scheduled, Champagne sailing ? Alberto comes quick and says… Proseco, prosecco…with Beers in his hands.

Complete Results

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