The committee is closing three and a half hours after start, so when you are late, you get nothing. During the Regatta there are people who are registering your number, so that you can't cheat. After the regatta I try to find Tirza and we have a Prosecco together. You have to hurry up getting the boat safely home, because the Bacino opens for all sorts of Ferries and Vaporetti. And after such a Regatta, the most horrible thing for me was too much waves in the bacino, cause by that time you want to go to bed and don't move for the next few days. Even the Team Americano went to bed strictly after the Regatta!
So what is special about the Vogalonga. I think it is comparable with a marathon, so it is the respect to all, who participated. And what's so wonderful for me is that there are so many Nations with their different boat types. Last Regatta we had a fantasy polish Venetian rowing boats, a guy from Holland who sculled his little dinghy all the way alone, we had these wonderful British rowing boats with their correct hats, we had French Polynisian two hull constructions, rigger boats from the Atlantic coast and every time a boat made out of nearly 800 plastic bottles- paddled and build by environmental sounded Italian students. Last year I even saw a gigantic Caorlina with 18 rowers all with their cowl on, the guys from the Monastery St. Giorgo called by the Venetians "Capuccini". I saw the "Brenta" which is an old barge, rowed by nearly 25 rowers and steered with a gigantic fat woman at the helm. What you can't see, because they are too fast, are the boats just made for the Regatta!
The Disdotona(18) and Diesona (12) and even the Gondolone, rowed in eight. When you are not a rower or do not want to participate, just take the ferry to Murano and place yourself on the wide bridge and you see it all. The days before and after the regatta, Venice is packed with rowers and paddlers and their boats. So you see them all, because they get a very nice T-Shirt for free, and most of them wear it. They come from everywhere, some with their boats and they stay in hotels, in camp sites, on an Island or in friends’ houses. It is a very special picture, even the courtyard from Santa Maria della Salute is covered with kayaks and paddlers. So the whole regatta is special for me and I always get a huge applause when I bring home my rowers and the boat safe. That's special.