2012 Vintage Yachting Games

Multilario as organizer was chosen after a bidding process in the summer of 2008. The two other contestants were Yacht Club Cannes for the Mediterranean and Hungarian Yachting Federation for Lake Balaton. Multilario responded enthusiastic on the request of Alberto Barenghi, President of the International Flying Dutchman Class Organization and chairman of the Vintage Yachting Games Organization's Supervisory board, for candidate Lake Como as host for the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games and submitted an extensive proposal based on the bidding template to the Vintage Yachting Games Organization. It was this proposal the voting classes based their vote on.

Only one voting round was needed to determine the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games location. In the voting process the Vintage Olympic Classes of 2008 each class could cast one vote and each vote counted as one. The potential 2012 classes could also each cast one vote but the outcome of the potential classes counted as one in the total.

The outcome of the voting was:

•  Italy: 4
•  Hungary: 0
•  France: 2

Following loosely the Olympic tradition, Como's project manager Pietro Adamoli (right) received the Vintage Yachting Games Flag during the closing ceremony of the 2008 Vintage in Medemblik, The Netherlands from the mayor of Medemblik: Theo van Eijk.

The Kick-off for the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games project was given on Sunday 17 May 2009 in Gravedona, Italy, during a dinner at the Associazione Velica Alto Lario.[1] Present were the management of the Vintage Yachting Games Organization and Multilario.

A yearly meeting was held between the Vintage Yachting Games Organization and Multilario to evaluate the progress of the preparation.

Bellano
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 46°2′35″N 9°17′55″E
Country	Italy
Region	Lombardy
Province	Lecco
Website	http://www.comune.bellano.lc.it/

Dervio
Coordinates: 46°4′13″N 9°18′3″E
Country	Italy
Region	Lombardy
Province	Lecco
Website	http://www.dervio.org/

For the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games several venues were used to cater for the several Vintage Yachting Classes.

• Bellano
• Dervio
• Santa Cecilia Harbour in Dervio

All of them located on the east coats of the Northern part of Lake Como, Italy.[2]

The Northern part of Lake Como was reportedly a thermic wind venue. In this time of year the normal situation is that at about 13:00 the Swiss mountains are heated up and a Southern wind hits the racing areas with about 10 to 14 knots. As result of this no races were scheduled in the morning. Unfortunately during the event the temperature was low in Switzerland during the Vintage. As result the actual wind did not came above the 8 knots during the races.

The program of the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games was as follows:

• Rolf Bähr: Multiple World Champion Tempest, President German National Sailing Authority
• Stuart H. Walker: Olympic participant 1968, rear president of the International Soling Class, successful lifetime regatta sailor and author of many books on sailing and winning. Oldest participant during the 2012 Vintage (89)
• Johannes Alvarez: Youngest participant during the 2012 Vintage (13)

• Africa
• Europe
• North America
• South America

Measurement during the Vintage Yachting Games was limited to new sails and safety equipment of the competing boats. Sails, rigging and boats used in the previous year at Continental and World championships was only "stamped". No major measurement issues were found.

Stuart H. Walker (center) during Sail Measurement

Due to the fact of three locations: Bellano, Dervio and Santa Cecilia harbor, it was not possible to have the original planned fleet review. As alternative a fanfare followed by a long parade of sailors and organizers walked from the Dervio city hall to the Vintage meeting point near the waterfront. There the opening ceremony of the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games took place. Besides the Italian National Anthem two choirs of Italian Opera singers sung Va, pensiero from Verdi during the flag hoisting procedure. Furthermore there were short speeches from The Vintage Yachting Games Organization, the representatives of Bellano and Dervio, the organizing clubs and the Italian Sailing Federation. Finally Alberto Barenghi, president of the International Flying Dutchman Organization and chairman of the Vintage Yachting Games supervisory board declared the games opened.

The closing ceremony started with the Vintage InterPares race in the 12' Dinghies. This was followed by the prize giving with the team of father and daughter Maccari as presentation duo.

During the closing of the event Rudy den Outer handed over stainless remembrance plates with the Vintage logo to the cities of Bellano and Dervio. He also announced that "Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy", host of this year's Olympic sailing regatta, will be the host of the 2016 Vintage Yachting Games. After that the Vintage flag was received from Pietro Adamoli and Carlo Bossi, representing the Multilario organization. The flag was subsequently handed over to John Best representing Great Britain as the next host country.

The Vintage Flag was transferred from Carlo Bossi and Pietro Adamoli (Multilario), via Rudy den Outer (Vintage Yachting Games Organization) to John Best representing the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, the 2016 host.)

The official photographer of the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games was Silvio Sandonini.

The following footage is available on YouTube:

• From spectator Soling I-12: Soling Leeward mark rounding 5th race
• From spectator Soling I-12: Mark Round 5th race Soling
• From Dragon NED 402: Race 3 aboard Team Bakker³

Per class separate pages reporting the facts are available (see the details section per class in the medals table).

Victor of the Vinatge InterPares Race: Yevhen Braslavets, representing The International Dragon Class

By crossing an Italian colored ribbon Yevhen Braslavets, the responsible person of the victorious Ukrainian Dragon Bunker Prince, won the Vintage InterPares race 2012. In this race all winners of the Vintage Yachting Games meet each other in a battle between the classes. This race is held in the 12' Dinghy, an Olympic class in 1920 and 1928. This class is still very active in 10 countries including The Netherlands, Italy and Japan. For privacy reasons the rest of the finishing order will remain a secret. The International Dragon Class will be "THE" Vintage Yachting Class for the next four years.