Two weeks to go until the start of the 68th edition of Tre Golfi Sailing Week, the historic regatta that starts in Naples and ends in Sorrento after rounding the island of Ponza and the Li Galli rocks. Organized by the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia of Naples and supported by Rolex and Loro Piana, it is open to Maxi and ORC boats and will start on May 12.
For 66 editions, the regatta has followed tradition by starting suggestively at midnight, but for the past couple of years it has been brought forward to 7 p.m., and this year it will be further brought forward to 5 p.m., to favor wind and light conditions for the 100 hulls currently registered, which will then proceed 150 miles past Procida, then Zannone and Ponza, before returning to "Li Galli" in the Gulf of Salerno and the finish in Sorrento.
After the long regatta it will be the turn of the coastal races, with the Maxis engaged from May 15 to 18 in the European Championship. 28 boats registered between 60 and 100 feet in length. The longest is still Furio Benussi's Arca SGR, the real time winner of the 2022 edition, which crossed the finish line after 22 hours, 25 minutes and 30 seconds.
After winter work Arca will still be the boat to beat, but the games will be wide open, just think that last year the first Maxi 72 arrived only half an hour after Benussi's 100-footer. This year the competition is enhanced not only by the presence of Pier Luigi Loro Piana's Swan 80 My Song, but also Dario Ferrari's Cannonball, with a new keel and three feet longer than last year. In addition to Ferrari's 75-footer, the challenge will be hot with the four other hulls that were part of the already Maxi 72 class, such as Vesper (USA), Proteus (USA), Jethou (GBR) and North Star (GBR), owned by CRV Italy member Peter Dubens winner of the 2022 Regatta of the Three Gulfs on handicap time.
Both Maxi and ORCs, like last year, will have, in the hospitality villages of their respective home ports, special treatment with breakfast offered by Caffè Borbone every morning and pasta at the dock after the races.
The European Maxi will end on May 18, and from the 19th to the 21st it will be the turn of the ORC boats to battle it out among the buoys to win the Middle and Lower Tyrrhenian National Championship as well as the title of Mediterranean Champion banned by the ORC. The boats this year will be moored in the Piano di Sorrento Marina, and will have the same special treatment provided for the Maxis with breakfast every morning, offered by Caffè Borbone and pasta on the dock after the races. There will also be daily shuttles to and from Sorrento. Also up for grabs for the overall winner of the Championship is a fantastic Citroën Ami, an innovative ultra-compact electric vehicle that is perfect for urban transportation. Currently 31 hulls from 7 countries are entered.