Latin Sail Owners: there is a VELA Cup in Sardinia in June just for you!

How could the SAIL Cup of Porto Rafael-Palau held at the end of June (June 27/29) not honor Latin sailing, the iconic boat of North Sardinia, which has one of its most prestigious homelands right here? Prompted by Sara Pincioni, daughter of Ottavio Pincioni, founder of the Marina of Porto Rafael, and Alessandro Bifulco, secretary of the class (two institutions in Sardinia when it comes to Latin sails) we were pleased to follow up on the proposal to welcome Latin sails to the VELA Cup in Porto Rafael – with a course, ranking and special prizes.

• SIGN UP NOW FOR THE PORTO RAFAEL SAILING CUP – PALAU IN SARDINIA

The Latin Sail class has a history that is lost in the mists of time, but it is still as active and fierce today as ever. For the VELA Cup will be a striking first time, an event within an event to which all owners of a Latin sail are invited: they will have free mooring and registration at the Porto Rafael Marina.

Berlinguer’s beloved boat

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Last week to register for the Procida VELA Cup! See you on September 27

The spectacle of modern Latin sailing is unique. We appreciated it by attending the regattas of this class held in Sardinia every year. A class, that of Latin sails, also loved by the former secretary of the Italian Communist Party Enrico Berlinguer (1922-1984), who like many nobles used to sail on boats of this type. Bianca Berlinguer, Enrico’s daughter, recounts in an interview the love her father had for this pure sail.

“He always held the helm in the Stintino sea. And he would go out all the more willingly if the mistral was strong, the sails swollen with wind, when all the other goiters stayed on shore. Because in the sea he sought freedom and in the wind he sought challenge.”

• SIGN UP NOW FOR THE PORTO RAFAEL SAILING CUP – PALAU IN SARDINIA

It was in Stintino, in fact, Berlinguer’s home town, that Latin-sailed gozzo boats were at home, and northern Sardinia is the area where the passion for this type of sailboat has remained intact to this day. The Berlinguer family had a gozzo, theOloturia, the name of the “sea cucumber,” an essential animal for cleaning the seabed. The full interview can be found here.

What is the VELA Cup

The VELA Cup circuit encompasses 7 regattas that everyone can participate in, without bureaucracy and complications. We take care of everything, whatever boat participates. What if you don’t have a crew? We’ll take care of it with our new “search/off boarding” service. All you need to do is decide on a leg among these seven:

• VELA Cup Liguria (May 2-4): Chiavari, Marina Calata Ovest
• VELA Cup Toscana & Triton Cup (May 23-25): Rosignano/Castiglioncello, Marina -Cala de’ Medici
• VELA Cup Puglia (May 30-June 1): Brindisi, Marina di Brindisi
• VELA Cup Sardinia 1 (June 27-29): Marina di Porto Rafael-Palau
• VELA Cup Sardinia 2 (Aug. 20-22): Gulf of Cugnana/Porto Rotondo, Marina Cala dei Sardi
• VELA Cup Procida (Sept. 26-28): Procida Island, Marina di Procida
• VELA Cup Sicily (Oct. 3-5): Capo d’Orlando/Eolie, Capo d’Orlando Marina

Consistent rankings and prizes for all

At Porto Rafael – Palau there will be more than just Latin sails: the VELA Cup races are open to any type of sailboat over three meters in overall length: monohulls and multihulls, cabin cruisers or open, cruising and racing, with no age limitation and especially no need for sail numbers and tonnage certificates.

Boats entered in the VELA Cup are divided into groupings by length (from “up to 7.5 meters” to “over 19 meters”) within the two categories“Cruising Boat” (white sails, excluding Code 0) and “Sport Boat” (Code 0, spi, gennaker, etc.). The rankings are drawn up with a new compensation system (VELA Cup secret handicap system) to balance the performance of each boat as much as possible: thus the top finishers in each category (Sport Boat and Cruising Boat) and the top 3 finishers in each grouping by length are awarded.

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Two weeks to the last VELA Cup of the year: see you in Sicily on October 4!

• SIGN UP NOW FOR THE PORTO RAFAEL SAILING CUP – PALAU IN SARDINIA

Plus: special ranking for “vintage” boats at least 25 years old: the Classic Boats, Elegant Boat award for the most beautiful and elegant boat of the leg, Leg Winner award to the overall winner on handicap time. But most importantly, at the Porto Rafael – Palau leg: special ranking for Latin sails.

In addition to the rich gift bag gadgets – offered by our partners – during the prize-giving ceremony that takes place ashore at the end of the regatta (in the afternoon) lots of raffle prizes are awarded to all registered crews.

What a Latin sailboat looks like

Various accounts from the past indicate that the history of sailing begins with a sail with a natural square shape, natural because it was determined by the pieces of cloth provided by the looms. The lateen sail, however, is the first major refinement, an improvement that also allows winds from the forward sectors, and not only from the stern, to be taken advantage of. With the lateen sail, at last, the sailors of the time could “grip the wind” and sail upwind as well.

The history of Latin sailing is carried forward in a series of events (such as the VELA Cup in Porto Rafael – Palau) that are essential to the maintenance of this important tradition. In fact, even today, the construction of Latin sailboats, learned from the old shipwrights, aims to preserve the characteristic original forms.

Latin sail owners (and not only): we expect you all in Sardinia, in Porto Rafael – Palau for the VELA Cup from June 27 to 29!