C_B_2015_05_

Giacomo de

Stefano: “the

ruling is ignorant,

violent and

absurd”

22 CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2015

TELL TALES

Venice, one of the world’s spiritual homes of rowing, has banned navigation by seemingly all

human-powered craft – including rowing boats. A new law passed on 1 March excludes “joles,

dragon boats, rowing boats, pedal boats, canoes, kayaks and windsurfs” from many of the city’s

canals including the Grand. Andrea Bedin of the the Italian Canoe and Kayak Federation said: “It

is no longer possible to go from one area of the city to another... Nobody considered contacting

us for our take on it, although we represent 14 associations with 1,000 members in Venice.”

Venice resident Giacomo de Stefano (CB’s 2013 Person of the Year), is involved with a legal

challenge against the ruling, which he describes as “ignorant, violent and absurd... the excuse is that

last year a German tourist was killed on a gondola by a vaporetto.” Gondolas are exempt from the ban.

René Seindal, a Dane who operates kayak tours of Venice, has some good maps on his website,

rene.seindal.dk, detailing the restrictions and the legal challenge headed by kayak club Arcobaleno.

The biennial Australian Wooden Boat Festival this February was as big, if not bigger, than the record set in 2013, reports

Kathy Mansfield. The crowds were stupendous, the weather perfect after a rather unsettled summer in Tasmania, and the

boats were mind-boggling in number and variety. Boats had set off months before – one couple sailed 1,800 miles to be

there. Fortunately they arrived well before the show: the Tall Ships Endeavour and James Craig were caught by bad

storms, one of them breaking a spar, and sadly had to turn back.

VENICE

No rowing please, we’re Venetian

HOBART, TASMANIA

Record Aussie wooden boat fest

WORD OF^

THE MONTH

Dead-men

“The reef or gasket-ends

carelessly left dangling

under the yard when the

sail is furled, instead of

being tucked in.”

Sailor’s Word Book 1867

Britain’s

oldest yacht

on the move

The 1791-built Peggy (TTs

passim), thought to be

Britain’s, if not the

world’s, oldest sailing

yacht (she’s 26ft

6in/8.1m, clinker-built

and schooner-rigged) has

been moved from the

Nautical Museum in

Castletown to a

storage unit in Douglas

by her guardian,

Manx National Heritage,

to be “stabilised,

examined and

conserved”.

Sail-trading

ship to visit

Falmouth

The engineless, wooden

trading schooner Tres

Hombres will put into

Falmouth, Cornwall this

summer to offload cargo. For

a week starting 1 May, there

will be opportunities to visit

the ship, taste her cargo of

rum and chocolate and learn

more about trading under sail

in the 21st century. See

newdawntraders.com.

KATHY MANSFIIELD

C/0 ROSE PARRY MANX NATIONAL HERITAGE

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