{"id":285,"date":"2022-01-21T14:27:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T13:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sea-change.it\/my-yachting-sailing-clubs-what-is-yours\/"},"modified":"2022-05-02T11:24:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T09:24:15","slug":"my-yachting-sailing-clubs-what-is-yours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sea-change.it\/en\/my-yachting-sailing-clubs-what-is-yours\/","title":{"rendered":"My yachting\/sailing clubS."},"content":{"rendered":"

I am not a \u2018club\u2019 person, in the sense that I don\u2019t belong to a limited group or to a one single place, however if you sail, everywhere in the world, it is recommended to join a yacht (or a sailing) club: it is a safe place to dock your boat and a great starting and arrival point for all boating adventures. I have been in countless unforgettable sailing and yachting clubs, but I have four clubs in particular that I feel more attached to:<\/p>\n

The first I want to mention is Circolo Vela Gargnano<\/strong> at the Garda Lake<\/strong>: It was founded by my uncle, Franco Ragusini along with his brother Mario and a couple of friends in 1953.<\/p>\n

Few years prior, my uncle with a group of friends decided to navigate no stop around the Garda Lake, starting from the dock in front of his house at Gargnano\u2019s harbor, sailing with the Pel\u00e8r (the north morning wind), all the way south to Desenzano, then navigating north all the way to Riva and Torbole with the south wind, the Ora, and back to the start to Gargnano\u2019s harbor. A hundred miles! The news of this fun initiative got spread to other sailing teams from neighboring towns, and the following years, more boats joined them in what later became one of the most famous race in Europe: the Centomiglia.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how Centomiglia started, (this is the story my uncle used to tell).<\/p>\n

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The race needed an organized structure in order to properly host sailors, boats, and the race itself with boas, juries and much more, so my uncle and his friends founded the sailing club, with a \u2018club house\u2019 at the first floor of my uncle\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

Since then, every second Sunday of September, for 72 years Centomiglia is taking place becoming the oldest and one of the most famous active regatta in Europe.<\/p>\n

Centomiglia was very popular in the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s, with more than 300 hundreds boats coming each year from all over Europe.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For many years, the start of the race at 7 am, was a family tradition that I would never miss, watching it from the window of my uncle\u2019s living room. When I was on my teens, as many other girls and boys of my town, I would race the Centomiglia on big boats that needed extra weight.<\/p>\n