Marsamxett harbour will once again serve as a backdrop for the start of yet another important sailing race. It is hard to beat the Rolex Middle Sea Race in terms of importance, but the Gewiss Marzamemi Regatta is becoming one of the biggest Maltese sailing races.
Marzamemi is on the South Eastern coast of Sicily, and a record 54 entries, in the majority local yachts, will start their journey towards this destination from Malta next Thursday (1st May) at 8.30 a.m.
I’ve been told that the Royal Malta Yacht Club is currently bursting with activity to get this ever increasingly popular race underway and it’s expected that there will be around 400 people flooding the Marzamemi marinas, streets, shops, restaurants and bars for the long weekend.
All skippers firmly believe in their chances of getting to the destination first. This confidence comes from the results of recent regattas. However, confidence is only one ingredient in such a sport where there are so many other variables involved on the way to the podium.
One hopes that the winds will be kind for the hard working enthusiasts of this increasingly popular sport.
Off to Carnago
After a hectic week, I will soon be checking out from the hotel in the centre of Lombard capital to go to a much more relaxing area in northern Italy. Carnago lies in the North West of the Italian peninsula and forms part of the province of Varese. It’s a rather tranquil place which hosts Milanello, a complex of six training pitches, purpose-built running and cycling paths, swimming pool gym and living quarters for AC Milan. Against the wishes of some of the commentators on the blog, I won’t convert and start support Inter. I am proud to be ‘un Milanista’. This year wasn’t necessary the best season ever (even if we lifted the European Super Cup and the World Club Cup). Having said that, I believe in Berlusconi’s statement that has accompanied his tenure as president of the club: "Tomorrow, we will be dreaming of other achievements, we will invent other good challenges which will help us to realise what is good, strong and true in us, in all those of us whose lives have become entwined with a dream called AC Milan". And yes I am one of those whose life has become entwined with this dream.
The Youngsters
Better late than never. Heartfelt congratulations to Nadur Youngsters on their 10th league title, 3rd successive one, in their history.
Every Race
I love slogans, brands and taglines. I just liked this one
too much. This week we’ll see the launch of the EveryRace campaign. This is an
initiative taken by Formula One's governing body to fight racism. The
International Automobile Federation stated that with the support of the Formula
One community, the launch of the EveryRace campaign sends a message that
discrimination and prejudice can have no place in sport or society.
One can’t not note the timing of such a launch. FIA
president Max Mosley, said that one of the things that attracted him to motor
sport was "that nobody cared about your background, race, gender or
religion. All that mattered was how quick you were." From the sex-scandal
video of Mosley we could see, that in his bedroom (or wherever it was) background,
race, gender and religion did seem to matter a lot… The only thing that didn’t
matter was time.
A piu tardi…