NEWS
Twenty-six years ago the main sailing clubs of Lazio got together to organise an international regatta open to all Olympic Classes.
After the first developing years, the event grew more famous, especially in foreign countries. The International Sail Week became one of the most important in Europe and was transformed into Roma Sail Week and took its place as the Eurolymp Circuit’s Italian regatta.
During this quarter of a century, Roma Sail Week has seen the participation of the most prestigious names in international sailing. Furthermore, with the Olympic Games approaching, Anzio has been chosen as the most valid place for regatta training and team selection by many sailing federations, especially those from Northern Europe. This technical choice has also been influenced by the helpfulness of the club organisers.
As with all important sporting events, Roma Sail Week captures the attention of the media. Journalists write detailed reports on the regatta and send the most magnificent photographs all over the world, enabling foreign champions to appear in their own national magazines with the Anzio event logo on the hull of their crafts.
The regatta also has a good television coverage, in which some foreign television companies participate, sending cameramen to Anzio to record live images of the event. These are then broadcast daily on news programmes on Rai, Telemontecarlo and other national Italian and satellite TV networks.
The regatta results can be consulted using the instantly updated service on the internet. In 1999 the event’s web page was visited by 4500 enthusiasts during the course of the Week, and even today it is active and used. Amongst all the I.S.A.F. (International Sailing Federation) international sailing events that had their addresses on cyberspace, Roma Sail Week was the one that had the highest number of links from the International and National Class Associations and from other web-pages that deal with the sport of sailing.
This year approximately 30 nations will take part in the Anzio event, with the estimated number of athletes and their relative aids totalling over 1000 people.
Due to the coincidence of the Olympics with the Jubilee year 2000, the Organising Committee, the Italian Navy and the Town Council of Anzio intend to club together to create a single great event; not only in a technical sporting respect, but also, by introducing a program of cultural events, as well as providing better facilities for the athletes and their entourages, in the hope to attract a record number of participants and enthusiasts to Anzio.