Sports initiative “The Grand Tour” - Sailing through the icebergs
by Manuel Vlacich 1 Jul 2024 11:33 PDT
“The Grand Tour” - Sailing through the icebergs © The Grand Tour Sailing
From an idea of sportsmen: Franco Deganutti and Manuel Vlacich, the sports project "The Grand Tour Sailing" continues in 2024 and thus reaches its third edition.
After obtaining a Guinness World Record in 2022, having sailed, among others, the highest point in the world in 2023 (Bolivia, Lake Titicaca +3,812m above sea level) and the largest underground lake in Europe (Switzerland, St. Leonard) in 2024, the sailors were named "Sailor of the Year" in the Passion category: recognition announced by the specialized media Giornale delle Vela in May of the current year.
Thanks to these enterprises, Manuel Vlacich and Franco Deganutti were chosen as ambassadors of their Region, bringing the values of the "Io Sono Friuli Venezia Giulia" brand to every stage and place in the world where they sail. Thanks to the fact that the sailing enterprises of The Grand Tour Sailing are in the name of sustainability, One Ocean Foundation - a non-profit initiative that aims to find solutions to ocean problems by promoting a sustainable blue economy by inspiring international leaders, companies and individuals - was happy to give free patronage to the initiative.
The formula of the project created by the athletes is very simple: three stages, same year, same boat.
On June 10, 2024, the team set off for the second stage of this edition (the first was the navigation of Europe's largest underground lake of St-Leonard in Switzerland) towards the icy waters of Greenland.
The place established for the stop was the town of ILULISSAT: the city in Greenland where icebergs are born. The starting point for the greatest Arctic experiences is located on the west coast of Greenland in the spectacular Disko Bay, 350 km north of the Arctic Circle. It is Greenland's largest bay and is famous for its towering glaciers and huge icebergs. The TGT team left for Ilulissat on 10 June from Munich airport, obviously always bringing with them the Tiwal inflatable sailing boats, two of which were on this stage. After a stopover in Reykjavík, the team arrived in Disko Bay after 24 hours of travel.
After the first two days of acclimatization and several inspections along the coast even under heavy snow, on June 13 the team established the ideal spot where the boats could be launched. Having equipped the necessary equipment and assembled the boats in about 40 minutes, the crews took to the water. External temperature approximately 4 degrees/6 degrees, water temperature 2 degrees. The navigation format included a match race (one against one) where the buoys, in this case, were replaced by the icebergs present. The wind was light but the currents were significant.
The starting line was set between an iceberg near the coast and the town church a few tens of meters from the sea. Starting procedure established in 2 minutes and route followed on the route: upwind, reach, reach to be covered twice. The first round saw the victory of the well-known YouTuber (channel 25nodi) Elisabetta Maffei, against Manuel Vlacich. The format then included a direct clash between the loser of the first round and the other creator Franco Deganutti and, in this case, Manuel Vlacich came out on top. Lastly, in the Deganutti -Maffei challenge, the first won, thus ensuring that all the crews were on equal points. For the final battle, therefore to crown the winner of this third edition of The Grand Tour, we will have to wait for the next stage: the circumnavigation of Venice.
What do these two locations have in common? Very distant from each other but, at the same time, inextricably linked by climate change: the former with its ice cap is the largest reserve of solid water in the Northern Hemisphere. Greenland Ice Sheet is one of the main protagonists in the debates regarding global warming as scientists have unfortunately found that every year more ice melts than forms. This ice cap of 2,850,000 cubic kilometers, second only to Antarctica, represents 10% of the world's water reserves and its melting would lead to a rise in ocean levels.
On the other hand, Venice and its coasts are notoriously vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels, extreme waves and storm surges. Conditions according to which in 2050 the Venetian lagoon could disappear due to the rise in the average level of the Adriatic.
The Grand Tour team does not intend to replace science communicators or other environmental professionals. The TGT is a sporting initiative that has some issues related to sustainability at heart and, if it can, with its undertakings, leads to some autonomous reflections.
The vessel used for this edition of the "TGT" had to meet some rather extraordinary requirements for a vessel: it necessarily had to be easy to transport, particularly by air. After a consolidated collaboration during 2023 with the French team of Tiwal, the sporting initiative has decided to renew the use of these boats.
These are pneumatic boats with a high-performance aluminum structure that can be transported in two bags and can be easily assembled anywhere and without tools in less than 20 minutes. They are tested boats, produced in France according to industry standards (more than 2,200 boats produced) and which, thanks to the modular sail surface, will allow The Grand Tour Team to sail in any conditions.