Vogalonga 2009
The Vogalonga is a nautical event taking place the first Sunday of may every year in Venice. It is open to any non motorised embarkations and it consists in a race starting from piazza san marco and going around the islands of
Sant’erasmo
Torcello
Burano
Murano.
There is over 1000 embarkations of all sizes from all over the world.
Some members of my kayak club in France (CK83) had already participated in the Vogalonga in Venice and decided to do it again. They invited us over and we met on the Thursday evening preceding the race in the camp ground of Fusina, across the lagoon from Venice. The next day we paddled to Venice to discover it by sea and cruised among the canals and saw the city from water level. Only problem was that without a map I misjudged distances and orientation and Betsy and I ended up doing a lot more distance than was comfortable. It was great to see all the groups of tourists and go below them on a bridge. Fun ! I understand this is only allowed before the Vogalonga. The grand canal is a very busy with "vaporetti" and commercial barges going fast and popping up from all directions; the waves they produce are not to be underestimated.
Most of us decided to use double kayak for the Sunday race. Weather was not the best with clouds, strong winds and choppy water when we arrived in front of piazza san marco for the start. The area was full of boats ranging from kayak size to massive dragon boats with 20-30 rowers and a cadence man beating on a drum. Quite colorful in spite of the lack of sun. At the gun shot the flottilla starts. It is quite fun to see all those crafts and their crew, some in funny costumes.
Kayaks have an advantage in that they can go virtually anywhere even if there is only a few centimeters of water underneath. The lagoon is quite shallow except for the canals marked by wooden posts. After passing Toricello, the further out island the wind was astern which made for faster and more confortable kayking.
On entering the grand canal, at the end of the race, the wind caused some nasty chop which made thurning an dentering the canal "interesting", some boats did not fare too well and sunk at this spot, not life threatening since there is only about 1-1,5 m of water but impressive nevertheless!
Paddling along the grand canal on the last few kilometers is done among crowds of onlookers, horns blaring, flags, decorated windows, a cheerful sight after the 30 or so kms of the race. The finish line is by piazza san marco and you get a medal for finishing.
A great event
