We are pleased to invite you on 7 July to Circolo Vela Gargnano for an extraordinary show.

Sergio Muniz and Fabrizio Ofria will enchant you in a journey that oscillates between music and words. Sergio will tell you about his inner sea, which at bottom is the inner life of us all. Creating more questions than answers, with the waves of the sea as the only common thread.

In the event of rain, the performance will be held in SALA CASTELLANI, Via Roma, 43, 25084 Gargnano BS.

At this link you can find the pdf with the text of the show: TRA LE MIE ONDE

The European Dream Cup, the event organised by Circolo Vela Gargnano to promote connection between young people through the sport of sailing, begins with the first conference held on 9 March 2023, which was attended by almost ninety schools from as many as ten European nations.

The project, strongly desired and sponsored by the European Commission and Erasmus+ Sport, aims to focus on sport and education and how these two important values can, and should, exist and evolve together. The aim, in fact, is to raise students’ awareness of sustainability, inclusion and digitalisation, through specially dedicated seminars; while the sporting part will be all about learning to sail, with boats using the latest technological and design developments in foiling sailing, the 69F.

Presenting the conference was freestyle skier Yuri Nicolussi, who since 2017 has been a member of FairPlay, a non-profit association committed to promoting the values of sport in the business world, encouraging FairPlay between brands and sporting events.

Four illustrious guests spoke live with the young people connected, trying to motivate them in the practice of sport. Among them was the 49er FX world champion, the Dutch Odile Van Aanholt, who emphasised how sailing is one of the sports with the highest degree of inclusiveness: ‘sailing is like playing chess on water. The physical part is present, but at the same time it is a mental sport and in the end what counts is that in this, regardless of gender, we all play on an equal footing’.

Hungarian Zsombor Berecz, silver medallist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, European and world champion in the Finn class, the boat of some of the most iconic sailing champions of all time, then spoke, saying how it was sailing that chose him and not the other way around. “This sport gives you there freedom to sail according to the force of nature and leads you to go beyond your limits, a fundamental lesson, an attitude to have in every situation in your life.” He continued: “Once you start, you don’t want to stop. For me, sailing has meant constantly challenging myself and winning the silver medal in Tokyo was the crowning achievement of sixteen years of hard work. I have made many mistakes along the way, but everyone makes mistakes, even champions, and it is the mistakes that teach you a lesson and allow you to grow day by day.”

One of the focal points of the project is sustainability and how it is necessary for the new generations and in this field, the American Seth Godin, author of Carbon Almanac, a real guide to climate change, and New Zealander Conrad Colman, the ocean sailor who for the first time in history completed the Vendée Globe without using fossil fuels, spoke. Both speeches made people reflect on the need to ‘veer’ towards a new way of living and in this sense the new generations are a key node, being at the helm of change: ‘choose your challenge, choose a goal and dedicate your life to it. Use this event as an opportunity to push yourself and others towards radical change. I found my life’s challenge in the craziest regatta there is, the Vendeé Globe, you find your Vendeé Globe too and pursue it for the rest of your life,’ Colman urged. Seth Goldin, on the other hand, said that we need a different system, we need young people: “You don’t have to be an expert, it’s easy, when you sail, to blame the wind and leave things as they are, but it’s not the wind that is to blame, it’s our choices and human potential.”

The European Dream Cup starts today, the challenge for the future has its minutes counted.

In Gargnano, Lake Garda, from July 1 to 15, 2023, the European Dream Cup will be organized, a project strongly supported by the European Community, involving ten yacht clubs from ten nations and ten high schools per nation, for a total of one hundred schools. The Italian club involved and in charge of the organization is Circolo Vela Gargnano, a historical reality of the sailing scene, which for more than 70 years has been the club of the Centomilglia, the longest-running and one of the best-known regattas in Italy.
Participating in the project are yacht clubs from Austria, Spain, Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as Italy, of course.

Open to students from all over Europe, the aim will be to encourage a deep connection among young people through the sport of sailing, with an emphasis on the major issues of these years. While the main focus will, in fact, be on sports and on a progressive immersion in the world of foiling, thanks to the use of crewed monotype boats that fly on the water thanks to foils, the 69F, the sports activity will be complemented and supported by seminars and activities for a shrewd and gradual deepening in terms of sustainability, inclusivity and digitalization.

Not only that, cooperation and integration with local volunteers and associations, with other teams will in fact be encouraged, a key role will be played by the use of social media, all to push this network of connections as far as possible and to encourage more young people to participate in these initiatives.

The key points of the project are: the use of a revolutionary hull such as the 69F, capable of providing a unique flying experience, being fast, but at the same time stable like few other boats and already used to train the young people chosen for the Youth America’s Cup, and a “mixed” and young participation. Each team will consist of six young people between the ages of 13 and 19, plus two coaches or chaperones. In rotation, members will board the boats in groups of three or four, and there must always be at least one girl among them.

In parallel with the event, the Dream Cup village will be open to the public, during which seminars will be held by experts on the issues touched upon by the project and which will host volunteers from the provinces of Brescia and Bergamo, the hardest hit by the 2020 pandemic.
The project will officially start on March 9, during an introductory online conference with all one hundred participating schools, during which the event will be explained in detail, and will be welcomed by some foiling and Olympic world champions, such as Conrad Colman, Odile Van Aanolt, and Zsombor Berecz, with the opportunity for students to interact with experts, including those on sustainability and digitalization. Among them is one of the gurus on the subject, Seth Godin, an American entrepreneur and author of numerous bestsellers and one of the world’s leading experts on marketing, who has used his knowledge in the field to promote a more sustainable lifestyle, including through his latest book The Carbon Almanac, It’s not too late.

The European Dream Cup is an open challenge to young students, a challenge that comes through sailing and foiling.

Circolo Vela Gargnano is raedy to host the 72nd edition of the Centomiglia, the regatta of records, the longest-running regatta in Italy and the longest in Europe on inland waters.

The Centomiglia will be staged this year with a completely new formula. It will start with the youngsters and the first Cento Junior. It will then move on to the two-stage race for the 72nd Centomiglia. On Saturday it will go to the North with the Gorla Trophy, the Cento in the upper lake: the boats will sail from Bogliaco to the upper Benàco, and back; on Sunday instead South with the Bettoni Trophy, in the lower part of the lake: they will go South starting from Gargnano, both races will start at 8.30 am. The Centomiglia will award the victory with the sum of the times. The two regattas involve flying boats and multihulls.

The Centomiglia is much more than a race, it is a real celebration for sportsmen, locals and tourists, the prelude to what will happen in 2023 with the European Dream Cup.