A Heated Contest on the Grand Canal

On May 1st, Nena Almansi of Row Venice joined forces with Giorgio Sabbadin - one of her fellow members of the Remiera Canottieri Cannaregio rowing club.  
Their purpose: 
to compete in a tandem pupparin race down the Grand Canal in Venice.

This was the ninth edition of a "mixed" men-women regata organized by the charity Biri Biri, dedicated to the memory of Ettore Pagan.

They rowed their brown/"marron" boat from the starting line at the Giardini di Castello, up the Grand Canal, arriving at the fish market.  

It was not an easy win though.
There were ten boats fighting towards the finish.

According to Nena's account:
the "flying start" has always been complicated.  
In this case the orange boat (which was closest to shore) 
had the disadvantage.
The offshore vessels immediately gained ground, 
thanks also to a more favorable current, 
which lead to a chase between four boats:
the canarin (yellow), 
marron (brown), 
reserve (red and green), 
and viola (a light violet purple).

As they transitioned from the rough waters of the basin to the entrance of the Grand Canal, it seemed that the order would be canarin, reserve, marron, viola.

Some close calls were observed.
Canarin and reserve got tangled up for a moment.
Lots of jockeying and strategic rowing.
In the end, the first pupparin to cross the line was the marron, 
second - viola, 
Canarin in third.

 Top four finishers
1. Elena Almansi and Giorgio Sabbadin
2. Nausicaa Cimarosto and Riccardo Salviato
3. Luisella Schiavon and Nicolò Schiavon
4. Romina Catanzaro and Marino Almansi

 Almansi and Sabbadin with trophies.

Some interesting details:
- Elena Almansi usually competes in tandem with Romina Catanzaro, but because this was a "mixed" event, they ended up on different boats.

- Elena and Giorgio are both members of the
Remiera Canottieri Cannaregio rowing club (colors are black and green).

- Third place finishers were both members of the famous Schiavon family.  Luisella has been part of a winning team from many regatas, including Regata Storica.


- While the fourth boat was rowed by Romina Catanzaro (Elena Almansi's partner), the other rower on that boat was Almansi's father.

- Another Row Venice rower, Cristina Montin and her tandem partner Marino Pompeo finished in sixth place.

Judges included the Famous Vittorio Orio and Luisella Marzi - the first female official in this regata.

Congrats to all the finishers in this unique and exciting contest.

To read more, see:
Memorial Ettore Pagan - Regata mista su Pupparini - Com'e andata

and "A remi in Canal Grande". Vincono Giorgio Sabadin ed Elena Almansi

Just the Photo - Cruising in Texas

photo by Chris Wilson

Another Perfect Moment

photo by Isabella Mohr

 Robert Moe rows his passengers out on shimmering waters in Newport.

Lunch with Eddie

Earlier in the week, Eddie rowed a lucky couple out for a lunch cruise 
on an absolutely perfect day in Newport.

Here's a pair of photos from that excursion.

Two Fresh Launches at the GSVVM

video by Nereo Zane

The folks at the Gruppo Sportivo Voga Veneta in Mestre have a fleet of beautiful boats - Venetian vessels of all types.  
They love them all, and take great care of each one.  
Recently they had the occasion to launch not one, 
but two boats for the first time:
a mascareta and a caorlina.

Here's a nice video by Nereo Zane of the two boats being hoisted into the water and then rowed around along with a few other boats.  
Looks like it was a bit chilly that day, but nobody seemed to notice.  
They must have been having a great time.

Always Try to Row Towards a Great View

There are many disciplines we try to maintain while rowing gondolas.
Things like: 
Don't fall in the water
Don't let your passengers fall in the water
Avoid crashing into things.

But beyond the safety aspects of our unusual business,
We do our best to make sure that the people in the boat have the most enjoyable ride possible.

With this in mind, we try to maximize their view throughout the cruise.
Tonight I was on the water and followed my standard route - one that gives my passengers the best view of the post-sunset sky.

As usual, it did not disappoint.

My friend Kyle came rowing in our direction and I thought 
"Wow, too bad his passengers are missing this great view".

And then he passed me and I looked the other way...  

At that point I realized that Kyle had a different idea - a way better idea - as the big bright moon rose from the horizon.

Next time I'm heading out, I'm gonna take a good look at what the moon is predicted to do, and I might just change my plans.

Two Rings

Here's a new one.
I was rowing a cruise last week and the gentleman proposed.
(not new)

She said "yes".
(also not new)

He pulled out a ring and put it on her finger.
(Pretty much happens every time)

But then he pulled out another one.
She got all excited, saying "You remembered!"

He said that it was a fake and went on to explain that this ring could be worn at times when they might be worried about losing the real one.
Turned out they had actually talked about it long ago and she was so happy that he remembered.
Smart guy.

After 26 years on the back of a gondola, I thought I'd seen it all 
(but then again, I know better than to say such a thing).

 Proposal in action.

 TWO rings.

There were subtle differences so they could keep track of 

which one was the decoy, but it's hard to tell at first glance.

My hat's off to a guy who goes the extra mile on things.
In this case the gentleman had the two rings made by the same jeweler side-by-side. Very clever.

Big congrats to Jerry and Amanda.
I wish you all the best, 
and I hope you take that fake ring to some amazing places.

The Photo

We are often asked to snap a photo or two of our passengers once they're on the gondola. I've been at this since '93 and the only thing that's changed is the thing I've been handed to take that photo.

First it was a film camera, then it was a small digital camera, 
and then it was one of a series of smartphones.
Whatever the case, to be a good gondolier - you've got to be able to take a good photo, no matter what they hand you to take that photo with.

Tonight I snapped this one of Mike O. snapping that ubiquitous shot with a phone, as Kyle rowed his passengers off towards that slowly setting sun.
It might seem like an unimportant photo 
(because we do this every day) 
but to that couple on the boat...it's a memory of a lifetime.
We take that very seriously.
(and we never take this amazing job for granted).

Smash!

At the traditional varo for Alessandro Santini's new gondola, 
his wife Roberta Billi did the honors of christening the new boat 
with champagne - delivered, of course via a bottle-smash.

Fortunately the ferro of the new boat is a solid piece of steel, 
so she was able to proceed without concern of damaging the new boat.

Here's a great photo that was taken just as the smash took place.
To see more photos from the varo, view my previous post:
"Santini's Varo"