The rowing section of the Nice Nautical Club has once again sent its ambassadors to Venice to take on the Vogalonga challenge.
Twenty rowers in traditional Nice fishermen’s attire—red beanie, red lace-up shirt, and sash—adapted for rowing, covered the approximately thirty kilometers of this forty-second edition of an event initiated on November 11, 1974, Saint Martin’s Day, to draw municipal authorities’ attention to the urgency of combating the damages caused to building foundations by the waves.
Waves caused by cruise ships, these floating cities taller than the rooftops of Venice, which glide along the southern docks of the Serenissima before docking at the Santa Croce terminal via the Giudecca Canal.
For the rowers participating for the first time in the adventure, as well as for those for whom it was their fifth edition—already!—the magic of this famous journey fully worked with its 7,280 participants from all countries—we saw Australians, Qataris, and even Japanese—sailing on 1,800 crafts of all types, as long as they weren’t motorized.
Imagine this colorful human tide sweeping into the Grand Canal from the eerily silent Punta della Dogana, just moments before the clock strikes 9 a.m., and the cannon shot from the island of San Giorgio Maggiore marks the start of the journey, followed by a tremendous cheer, accompanied by the Italian anthem played by a mini orchestra on a boat, and a raising of oars and paddles transforming the Grand Canal into a forest. The first boats set off under the ringing bells of the Serenissima, starting with the one from San Marco: guaranteed chills.
Beyond Sant’Elena and the island of Certosa, along the islands of Le Vignole, Sant’Erasmo, and San Francesco del Deserto to Murano via Burano before entering Venice through the Cannaregio and back into the Grand Canal to the Punta della Dogana, the mythical race stretches and covers the lagoon with its boats of voga alla veneta, English-style rowing, fixed-seat rowing, canoes, kayaks, and other dragon boats, with their various chants, rhythmic rowing to the sound of the drum, their cheers not to mention the piano gracing the boat of Canottieri Treporti.
There is no ranking: the important thing, as Baron de Coubertin would have said, is to take part. It isn’t a competition but nonetheless, it is a major sporting event, and each participant aims only to reach the finish one way or another, some even punctuating the bravos from the crowd gathered on the Cannaregio docks with a daring handstand on their yolette, sometimes ending in an unintentional dip.
The record of the fortieth edition with its 2,100 boats and around 8,000 participants has certainly not been matched, but the celebration was present as it is every year to the greatest joy of participants and the public, and that is truly what matters.
On the four coxed quad yolettes sent by the Nice Nautical Club, the first two arrived among the first after a little over 2h30 of effort, proudly displaying the traditional Nice beanie and sash, a guaranteed success with the public who were generous with their bravos. The first crew even had the honor of page 11 of the daily La Nuova. The other two crews, after a few setbacks, still performed admirably, arriving less than an hour later.
Breaking away from the sirens of the lagoon is another challenge, even when telling oneself that our Côte d’Azur is the most beautiful place in the world. Leaving Venice feels like leaving your fiancée’s arms… You tell yourself, halfway between joy and sadness, that the moments lived are so exceptional that they should only be experienced once.
But, upon crossing the Ponte della Libertà and returning to the mainland, there’s only one thought: when is the next one?
by Didier Fay
