Lake Garda Regatta: Winner Nadia Galletti’s Creative Ramshackle Boats
They won the least… crazy ones. The fifth edition of the most ramshackle regatta on Lake Garda marked the success of Nadia and Marcello Galletti from Cassone.
Aboard the Foxi, a craft built with a wooden pallet kept afloat by a layer of polystyrene and at its center a rudimentary nylon sail, the couple originally from Assenza had an easy time surpassing the “fleet” of eleven boats competing in the waters in front of the Acquafresca sailing center.
Colorful, ramshackle boats, built with non-nautical parts but still reliable—at least for short stretches like the three hundred meters of the race course that drew a large crowd of onlookers, friends, and relatives ashore.
Original ideas and moments of the race
Capturing attention was the original idea of the “Four friends at the bar”. Inspired by the famous song by Gino Paoli, they launched the Banda-Barca, the last to cross the finish line but the first in ingenuity and cleverness.
Four chairs assembled around a round table with a colored tablecloth, yellow glasses, and a bottle of water (a detail perhaps not dear to the Genoese singer-songwriter). Blissfully sitting, Matteo Seppi, Andrea Mattei, Davide Bommartini, and Gianluigi Favalli, all members of the Malcesine band, were busy playing poker.
Dressed to impress, with vests and ties, the boys let themselves be rocked by the lake’s waves using an umbrella of a well-known ice cream brand as a means of propulsion. A zero-cost advertisement and perhaps, according to mischievous rumors, the reason for the poor racing effort of the four musicians.
For the record, the poker game was interrupted by the players’ inability to cheat, as they were more concerned with staying afloat than with the color of the cards. The jury’s prize, of course, based on unreliable criteria, went to the Girasole.
Huddled inside a flowerpot, dressed in yellow, blonde Michela Vedovelli from Garniga reached the finish line with a decent gap from the Foxi, named after the white and gray dog leading the vessel.
Second place went to Mamo, aka Giacomo Visconti from Modena, aged ten. The podium was completed by the “Hawaiians a bit Befane,” six teenagers from Verona who launched a makeshift pirogue constructed from plastic tanks and pipes—said to be stolen—from Enel.
The race also featured the boat ‘Cactus,’ whose name speaks for itself, guided by Romina from Malcesine, and the Va’porella by Giulia and Franco: a black doughnut-shaped float with an ironing board stuck in the middle, complete with a professional iron.
Other boats and debuts
The simple yet reliable Zattera Speedy, propelled by the legs of a gang of kids: Davide, Michele, Gianluca, Marta, Nicolas, and Michele. A crazy race that also saw the debut of Giovanni, an eighteen-month-old boy aboard the Bazina-boot.
A white basin, typically used for laundry, inserted into a large life buoy and towed by the little boy from Rovereto’s father, who was more than happy to live in a world of… madmen.
Practically unemployed, thankfully, given how they managed the start, was the support boat Bei-Bocch by Giacomo and Sergio from Pescantina. Meanwhile, the Nautilus Mai-Bai, a mountain bike mounted on a surfboard, designed by Giordano Zecchetto and Bernardino Girardi from Isola della Scala, was left on land.
An disqualification was issued by the jury for the use of two nautical component inventors.