After the longest leg in the history of The Ocean Race and a long stopover in Itajaí for the work of the “shore teams”, The Ocean Race resumed. Destination Newport. An intense 5,500 miles will be travelled, crossing the equator and a very open competition for the big points at stake.
An incredible crowd greeted the regatta queens at the Ocean Live Park in Itajaí. It was also an extraordinary stop for Genoa which hosted many events in its Pavilion and received important visits with numerous live connections on Brazilian TV. Also admiring the immersive chamber in Genoa was the Mayor of Itajaí, Volnei Morastoni. Andrey Taffner, representative of Trentino associations in the State of Santa Catarina, Alessandra Carioni, Chamber of Commerce of Santa Catarina representative, Annadir Gianesini, Santa Catarina Lions Club Governor, and Marcio Fumagalli, representative of the Comites Paranà and Santa Catarina, also passed through the Pavilion. Hugely successful were the demonstrations of how to prepare pesto and cheese focaccia. And of course long queues to taste it. The “chefs” Roberto Panizza and Umberto Squarzati were the stars of the Ocean Live Park, interviewed by several Brazilian media outlets.
Also admired at the Genoa Pavilion was Brazilian sailing “legend” Torben Grael. “It’s a great idea to have the finish in Genoa”, confirms the multiple Olympic champion. “Italy has a special bond with The Ocean Race with numerous participations in the past and we hope in the future there will be an all-Italian boat again. For Brazil”, he continued, “this event was a valuable promotional tool. Here in Itajaí there has been a lot of development. An excellent partnership for both parties. Genoa? A beautiful city with a lot of maritime tradition. With the arrival of The Ocean Race, I am sure there will be further growth of the whole movement and for Genoa it is a truly valuable global promotion”.
The same thought, indeed hope, for Francesca Clapcich, the Italian sailor who returns aboard the 11th Hour Racing Team in the hunt for precious points.“We will be at sea for 17 to 19 days. We’ll pass the equator, then we’ll see who puts the pressure on first. We will push hard, we have to get a good result to get closer to the top of the league table. The USA”, Francesca continued, “is my second home, so I am happy to be back on board for this leg. And of course I will be there for the European stages that finish in Genoa. It is really important for Italian sailing to have the Grand Finale in Liguria. A great celebration for the city of Genoa and for the whole of Italian sailing. The last stage is always exciting. I can’t wait!”.
Itajaí is on its way to an all-time record attendance in the Ocean Live Park for this fourth landing of The Ocean Race in the State of Santa Catarina. As per tradition, the World Pesto Championship stage was well attended. The winner among the 10 selected participants was Kelly Alessandra da Silva Rocha, who will thus be able to participate in the Grand Finale in Genoa. The judges included some prominent members of the Brazilian community: Thiago Morastoni (Tourism Association), Marco Canessa (Entrepreneurs’ Association), Ronaldo Jansson Junior (restaurateur), Ligia Najdzion (professor at the University). For Genoa and its companies, it was an extraordinary moment of contact and sharing of projects and possible collaborations with the local business community. On the occasion of the meetings with the Association of Itajaí Entrepreneurs, Antonio Novellino, a representative of ETT, explained one of the international projects promoted by the digital and creative industry of the SCAI Group, which has its headquarters in Genoa. At each stage of The Ocean Race, ETT presents projects in which it collaborates with leading Italian and European research centres on complex data management for the Blue Economy. “We create”, explains Novellino, “tools for organisation, standardisation and access to data, but not only that. From these complex and structured databases, ETT develops decision support information systems (DSS) for the environment, complex urban realities, infrastructure, land and more. Some of the projects are of particular relevance to operators in coastal areas (ports, port authorities) and are used to manage the decision-making chain from the acquisition of monitoring data to the simulation of scenarios and solutions to operate”. For the GEREMIA project (Unige, Interreg Maritime IT-FR), for instance, ETT has developed a set of governance tools designed to prevent and contain pollution, improve water quality in the port. Furthermore, it provides a decision support system to simulate the dispersion of accidental substances and spills, as well as better plan mitigation and recovery actions. The system works with the sea weather forecasts developed by DICCA UNIGE and through an artificial intelligence algorithm identifies which reference scenario corresponds to the sea conditions in order to carry out the dispersion simulation. Accessible via the web, it is an extremely important and functional tool for the port authority and the ecological services of the port of Genoa.