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COVID-19 general strike, 25/03/2020
In support to the healthcare workers who are working their asses off, often with little protection and with great risks of spreading the disease. They won’t be able to rest until we stop this pandemic In support to the workers who would love to stay home to help reducing the spread of the virus, but can’t as they provide essential services for the community. You deserve the right to a health and safe working environment, your health should not be at risk In support to all the workers who could stay home, but can’t because of narrow minded superiors who want to make profits out of this crisis. It is…
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Old discrimination, future shame?
Sometimes, while reading old books, you can find awkward sentences like this one: There they lit the fire and Nab and Pencroff, obviously on cooking duties (one being a Nigro the other being a sailor), quickly prepared a rabbit BBQ that delighted everyone. L’Île mystérieuse – Jules Verne – End of chapter 4 – My own translation from Italian What was Verne’s intention when writing this sentence? The book is set during the American Civil War, and the protagonists (the other three are a kid, an engineer and a journalist) are all northeners with progressive anti-slavery views. So is the sentence just a joke? I find the sentence a bit…
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Second training weekend – getting there
One more weekend on the water with Orza Racing Team on Aquaranta: over 20 gennaker sets and as many drops, over 30 tacks and 20 gybes, 10 practice starts and 2 one-on-one duels with other boats… I must say that I was quite dead on Sunday evening after such an intensive training! We are far from perfect, but we are as ready as we could get with only four days of practice in our wake. We are conscious of our weaknesses, which are tacking speed and close quarters maneuvering: with the latter, we tried to improve by involving other boats in our sessions, but the real test will be next…
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Sometimes I go to school, and I love it!
On Thursday I’ve been at school, and with one of the best coaches around! My friend Paolo, from Scuola Vela Toscana, recently bought a Mini650, ITA520, and invited me to his first training session in Genova where the Italian sailing federation is basing most of the Mini650 activity at the moment. Could I pass on the opportunity to sail on a completely new boat for me, and to be coached by the latest winner of the Mini Transat? I don’t really think so, and in fact I immediately accepted the invitation. We left a bit late from Pisa, so when we arrived, the other 5 crews were ready to go…
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First training weekend of the season
Last weekend was the first of a 5 weekends course on yacht racing that I’m teaching for Orza Scuola Vela on their Archambault 40. The idea is to bring sailors which are almost entirely new to regattas, up to speed with each other and ready to race in the winter series in La Spezia. The course had its first edition last year, and it had been both good and bad for a variety of reasons. As a starter, we were the slowest boat in the ORC-A category, giving us basically no chance to have real duels with other boats. While the boat is light and fast, it did not have…
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Not only sailing…
A singer once said “when there’s no job is always a Saturday”; and what to do on a sunny fake-saturday of late January? Nicco and I opted for an exploration of the Muzzerone cliffs, just 1h walk from Portovenere (and 1-2h of bus ride) Being the first time climbing together we tackled the easiest multi pitch available, a mix of “Pipistrelli” and “Spigolo delle Meraviglie” (Trentarossi, Viviani, Castagna) 125m mix of cracks, aretes, and blocks and a final sketchy crest. Overall the maximum difficulty was a 5c, but being my first attempt at a multipitch after a long time I found it quite strenuous, and it took us 4 hours…
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Migrations
What’s the meaning of the words ‘victory’ and ‘defeat’ referred to lively masses that settle, thrive and still today can be recognized? Any struggling civilization can live only thanks to a continuous addition of individuals. These biological rules are valid for Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome, and give a profound meaning to the mess of the ‘invasions’. Fernand Braudel – Les Mémoires de la Mediterranėe – my own translation from Italian to English And also in modern times, I would say! Human populations cannot live statically; and if this is sometimes a reason for great struggle and turmoil, more often than not it brings biological, social or economic evolution. I myself cannot…
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Sailing Down Under, check
Flying all the way to Australia just for 8 days of sailing is not exactly relaxing, and not even very good for the environment. Nevertheless while this summer I was in the mid of my job’s boredom, I decided to accept my parents invitation to be their Skipper at the Witsunday Islands, as I was in desperate need for some recreational sailing. My father’s colleague Giulio and his daughter Sophia completed the crew of the little SeawindXL ‘Shearwater’, as we made our way through the tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The sailing has generally been great, thanks to the gentle trade winds and the kick of the swift…
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