It was one of the best Transadriatica’s from Venice to Novigrad and back that anyone could remember. Winds in the northern Adriatic are notoriously fickle and changeable, and sometimes disappear for hours to leave a glassy calm. This time, apart from a brief lull or two on the way out, we had steady winds all the way.
Martin and I were sailing two-handed in his Spiuma, starting on Thursday evening in Venice and arriving in Novigrad early on Friday afternoon.
On the way home, over Saturday night, we managed to finish at the lagoon entrance at 0930 on Sunday. We were back in time for an early lunch, whereas usually we’d be lucky to make it for tea or an early glass of prosecco. The race sponsor was in fact Drusian, a wine producer from Valdobbiadene, one of the best prosecco areas, and each boat was given a bottle.
Spiuma at 26 feet was yet again the smallest boat in the race, and probably the oldest at 50 years plus, though extensively refitted and improved by Martin, including a lagoon-friendly electric motor.
We were third in class and were clapped and cheered when we won the prize for smallest boat to finish, a 3 litre jeroboam of Moreno Ivancic, a delicious Istrian wine from Novigrad. We were also the oldest crew, by quite a margin, but there are no prizes for that (for which I was rather glad!)
The course is just under 60 nautical miles each way, with an evening start and one turning point, a buoy called Mambo 2 near the entrance to the Gulf of Trieste. Navigation is easy, spart from needing a little care when passing close to the start of the shipping lane to Trieste.
The big issue is getting wind shifts right, and we were lucky with that near the start. The wind veered 60 degrees to just east of north much earlier than forecast. Having tacked earlier than most, and being near the back of the fleet anyway, we suddenly found ourselves half a mile upwind of the larger, faster boats. So in race terms we were ahead of many of them for a glorious hour or two, till they caught up.
This was the 38th Transadriatica organised by Diporto Velico Veneziano (DVV), a sailing club with its own marina tucked away behind the stadium of the Venice soccer club in Sant’Elena. Martin has done the race 7 times, and I’ve joined him 5 times, last year with Will.
On my first two, we went with other crews on a vineyard tour from Novigrad, until we realised that maybe that wasn’t the best way to prepare for the second all-night leg of a yacht race. This time, we booked comfortable rooms in Hotel Makin, near the marina, to get a really good night’s sleep in preparation. It paid off.
tide by tide 