2012 Vintage Yachting Games
The 2012 Vintage Yachting Games was the second post-Olympic multi-class sailing event for discontinued Olympic classes. The event was held on 7–14 July 2012 on Lake Como in Italy. The organization of this event was in the hands of the Multilario, a joint venture of local yacht clubs at Lake Como. The Vintage Yachting Games Organization was the governing organization.
A total of 225 sailors in 113 boats from 17 countries competed in seven Vintage Yachting Classes
Prologue
Bid process
Multilario as organizer was chosen after a bidding process in the summer of 2008. The two other contestants were Yacht Club Cannes for the Mediterranean and Hungarian Yachting Federation for Lake Balaton.Multilario responded enthusiastic on the request of Alberto Barenghi, President of the International Flying Dutchman Class Organization and chairman of the Vintage Yachting Games Organization's Supervisory board, for candidate Lake Como as host for the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games and submitted an extensive proposal based on the bidding template to the Vintage Yachting Games Organization. It was this proposal the voting classes based their vote on.
Only one voting round was needed to determine the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games location. In the voting process the Vintage Olympic Classes of 2008 each class could cast one vote and each vote counted as one.
The potential 2012 classes could also each cast one vote but the outcome of the potential classes counted as one in the total.
The outcome of the voting was:
- : 4
- : 0
- : 2
Kick-off and preparation
The Kick-off for the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games project was given on Sunday 17 May 2009 in Gravedona, Italy, during a dinner at the Associazione Velica Alto Lario. Present were the management of the Vintage Yachting Games Organization and Multilario.A yearly meeting was held between the Vintage Yachting Games Organization and Multilario to evaluate the progress of the preparation.
Vintage
Organization
Venues
For the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games several venues were used to cater for the several Vintage Yachting Classes.- Bellano
- Dervio
- Santa Cecilia Harbour in Dervio
Wind conditions
The Northern part of Lake Como was reportedly a thermic wind venue. In this time of year the normal situation is that at about 13:00 the Swiss mountains are heated up and a Southern wind hits the racing areas with about 10 to 14 knots. As result of this no races were scheduled in the morning.Unfortunately during the event the temperature was low in Switzerland during the Vintage. As result the actual wind did not came above the 8 knots during the races.
Calendar
The program of the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games was as follows:| Date | Main activity | Social events |
| 7 July | Registration Measurement | |
| 8 July | Registration Measurement | Opening ceremony |
| 9 July | Race 1 and 2 | Daily prize giving |
| 10 July | Race 3 and 4 | Daily prize giving |
| 11 July | Race 5 and 6 | Daily prize giving |
| 12 July | Spare day | * Lake tour * Italian food plaza |
| 13 July | Race 7 and 8 | Daily prize giving |
| 14 July | Race 9 | Closing ceremony * VIP race * Prize giving * Passing of the flag |
Competition
- Rolf Bähr: Multiple World Champion Tempest, President German National Sailing Authority
- Stuart H. Walker: Olympic participant 1968, rear president of the International Soling Class, successful lifetime regatta sailor and author of many books on sailing and winning. Oldest participant during the 2012 Vintage
- Johannes Alvarez: Youngest participant during the 2012 Vintage
Continents
- Africa
- Europe
- North America
- South America
Countries
Vintage Yachting Classes
Measurement
Measurement during the Vintage Yachting Games was limited to new sails and safety equipment of the competing boats. Sails, rigging and boats used in the previous year at Continental and World championships was only "stamped".No major measurement issues were found.
Opening ceremony
Due to the fact of three locations: Bellano, Dervio and Santa Cecilia harbor, it was not possible to have the original planned fleet review. As alternative a fanfare followed by a long parade of sailors and organizers walked from the Dervio city hall to the Vintage meeting point near the waterfront. There the opening ceremony of the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games took place. Besides the Italian National Anthem two choirs of Italian Opera singers sung Va, pensiero from Verdi during the flag hoisting procedure. Furthermore there were short speeches from The Vintage Yachting Games Organization, the representatives of Bellano and Dervio, the organizing clubs and the Italian Sailing Federation. Finally Alberto Barenghi, president of the International Flying Dutchman Organization and chairman of the Vintage Yachting Games supervisory board declared the games opened.Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony started with the Vintage InterPares race in the 12' Dinghies. This was followed by the prize giving with the team of father and daughter Maccari as presentation duo.During the closing of the event Rudy den Outer handed over stainless remembrance plates with the Vintage logo to the cities of Bellano and Dervio. He also announced that "Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy", host of this year's Olympic sailing regatta, will be the host of the 2016 Vintage Yachting Games. After that the Vintage flag was received from Pietro Adamoli and Carlo Bossi, representing the Multilario organization. The flag was subsequently handed over to John Best representing Great Britain as the next host country.
Media coverage
The official photographer of the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games was Silvio Sandonini.The following footage is available on YouTube:
- From spectator Soling I-12:
- From spectator Soling I-12:
- From Dragon NED 402:
Sailing