On 22 June, with no wind, we left our marina in Cesenatico at 10am, as our place was already reserved for the next boat. So we anchored in the outer harbour for lunch and then, benefiting from a nascent sea breeze, we set sail for Rimini, our final Italian stopover in these three weeks of Italian sailing. On the way, we're sailing with a traditional Trabaccolo under standing lug sail (the sail is always on the same side of the mast when tacking or gybing), which is making good speed under sail.
Trabaccolo, the traditional trade ship of the Adriatic under standing lug sail
We were going 4 knots under mains sail and genoa with 4 m/s side winds, and he was not giving-up to us!
The Rimini coast is Italy's largest stretch of beaches, with 15 kilometres of hotels lined with rows of deckchairs and parasols, punctuated by bars and discos. It's forbidden to anchor within 500m of the coast here, subject to a fine, and if you do beyond 500m, you can still expect to enjoy disco all night long!
Google maps screen capture with hotels and beaches stretching for 15 kilometres along the Rimini coast...
Between Cesenatico and Rimini, we cross the mouth of the Rubicon river. "Alea jacta est", we find ourselves instantly back in our history books, but no longer quite sure why Julius Caesar in 49 BC crossed this river with these words that resonate in our heads as schoolchildren confronted with the Roman Empire in history lessons. I'll refer you to the detailed links, but in short, the Rubicon was the border between Gaulle, ruled by General Caesar, and Rome. And no General was supposed to enter Rome with his army as it would be perceived as a coup. And Caesar did, and it was a coup... Basically, there's nothing new under the sun or on the seas, just another general dreaming of establishing an empire hoping to do better than democracy. Whether it was Caesar or Napoleon, we know how it always ended...
Caesar crossing the Rubicon. Refer to Wikipedia for the whole story...
Rimini is a city of around 150,000 inhabitants located on the Adriatic coast in the Emilia-Romagna region. It was founded by the Romans in 268 BC. It is famous for its Roman bridge completed under Emperor Tiberius in 21 AD more than 2000 years ago. It survived all wars, earthquakes and other floods unaffected and is still used today for car traffic!
The Rimini Tiberius bridge
Besides its ancient Roman monuments, Rimini is the city of Federico Fellini, and the Borgo San Giuliano, a neighbourhood known for its narrow streets, colourful houses, and murals depicting scenes from Fellini’s films, is a most enjoyable area to wander around.
"Freedom is not a gift, but a conquest!"
"Casanova's wisdom: Stumble rather than remain silent and ask rather than wait"
Gradisca (Magali Noël), the provincial pin-up of Fellini Amarcord movie, 1973
On the way back to the marina, we were stunned to see a boat moored at the first pontoon, with its arching mast, the workings of which we couldn't understand. After a detailed search on the Internet, we found a few rare sites referring to this project, which is already several years old, where a sail resembling a kite wing would be lashed to one mast before passing onto the other mast via the arch when tacking. Below are a few interviews and articles presenting the project, but nothing recent, which would suggest that the project has not developed satisfactorily...
Strampa, the prototype of an arched mast sailing boat
Here are a few links about the project:
Here we are after 181 nm (337 km) sailing along the North-Eastern Italian coast for three weeks. Somewhere around 40 hours at sea, not much! I still have to do solo the crossing back from Rimini to Pula this Tuesday night, an additional 72 nm...
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