The boat that sailed for the colors of the Lega Navale di Trani is called “Un po’ per gioco” (A little for fun) but the crew put together by the owner Niki Vescia did very seriously, winning the Edison Next Italian Offshore Sailing Championship in Brindisi, the category of large cabin sailing boats.
A crew that, together with two people from Trani, Vescia himself and Nicola Ventura, includes two people from Barletta (Ettore Corvasce and Ruggero Bollino), a very young man from Bisceglie aged just 17, Valerio Caldarola, and a man from Bari, Raffaele De Michele. “This is the category of sailing boat of the glorious “Manua” of Ferdinando Capece Minutolo on which I learned to sail when I was a boy”, Niki tells us; “there were four days of regatta for eight races in total: the scores of the individual regattas were added up and in the end we came out first, ahead of a crew from Trieste and a Sicilian crew“.
There were around fifty boats from all over Italy in Brindisi, where a constant north wind of around 12 knots with a few slightly stronger gusts and a constantly forming wave made the last day truly spectacular, also thanks to impeccable organisation.
Niki Vescia is no stranger to these results in a passion, that of sailing, which he has never abandoned since he was very young: several times Italian champion of the Meteor class but also overall Italian champion of Match Race, the specialty of the America’s Cup, he has contributed – and with today’s result – to keep up the name of the glorious and historic Naval League of Trani. The winning crews, including “Un po’ per gioco”, were rewarded by the mayor of Brindisi Giuseppe Marchionna, who made an appointment for the 2025 edition in Capo d’Orlando, Sicily.
