An incredible crowd greeted the queens of the regatta in the Ocean Live Park of Itajaì. It was also an extraordinary stage for Genoa which hosted many events in its Pavilion and received important visits with numerous live broadcasts on Brazilian TV. The Immersive Camera of Genoa was also admired by the Mayor of Itaja’, Volnei Morastoni. Andrey Taffner, representative of the Trentino associations in the State of Santa Caterina, Alessandra Carioni, representative of the Chamber of Commerce of Santa Catarina, Annadir Gianesini, Governor of the Lions Club Santa Catarina and Marcio Fumagalli, representative of the Comites Paranà and Santa Catarina also passed through the Pavilion.
Great success for the demonstrations of how to prepare pesto and focaccia with cheese. And of course long lines to taste. The “chefs” Roberto Panizza and Umberto Squarzati are the stars of the Ocean Live Park, interviewed by numerous Brazilian media.
The Brazilian sailing legend Torben Grael was also admired from the Genoa Pavilion. “It’s a wonderful choice to bring the finish line to Genoa”, confirms the multiple Olympic champion. “Italy has a special bond with The Ocean Race with many participations in the past and we hope in the future there will be an all-Italian boat again. For Brazil – he continues – this event was a valuable promotional tool. There has been a lot of development here in Itajai. An excellent partnership for both parties. Genoa? A beautiful city with a lot of sailing tradition. With the arrival of The Ocean Race I am sure there will be further growth of the whole movement and for Genoa it is a truly precious global promotion”.
On the regatta Torben Grael warns everyone that the games are still wide open. “It’s an “endurance” regatta. You are always in the middle of the sea with stages lasting from 20 to 40 days. A regatta unlike any other. Holcim PRB commands but we are only halfway around the world and there are still heavy points up for grabs”.
The same thought, indeed hope, for Francesca Clapcich, the Italian sailor who returns aboard the 11th Hour Racing Team in search of precious points. “We will be at sea for 17 to 19 days. We’ll cross the equator, see who gets the pressure on first. We will push hard, we need to get a good result to get closer to the top of the standings. The USA – continues Francesca – is my second home and therefore I am happy to be back on board for this stage. And of course I will be there for the European stages with the arrival in Genoa. For Italian sailing it is really important to have the Grand Finale in Liguria. A great celebration for the city of Genoa and for all of Italy’s sailing. The last stage is always exciting. I can’t wait!”.
Itajaì travels towards the absolute record of attendance in the Ocean Live Park in this “fourth time” of landing of The Ocean Race in the State of Santa Catarina. As per tradition, the stage of the World Pesto Championship had great participation. The winner among the 10 selected participants was Kelly Alessandra da Silva Rocha who will thus be able to participate in the Grand Finale in Genoa. Among the judges are some important exponents of the Brazilian community: Thiago Morastoni (Tourism Association), Marco Canessa (Entrepreneurs’ Association), Ronaldo Jansson Junior (restaurateur), Ligia Najdzion (University professor).
For Genoa and its companies it was an extraordinary moment of contact and sharing of projects and possible collaborations with the local entrepreneurial fabric. During the meetings with the Association of Entrepreneurs of Itajaì, it was illustrated by Antonio Novellino, representative of ETT, one of the international projects promoted by the digital and creative industry of the SCAI Group with headquarters in Genoa. In each stage of The Ocean Race, ETT presents some projects in which it collaborates with the main Italian and European research centers on the management of complex data for the Blue Economy. “We create – explains Novellino – tools for organization, standardization and access to data, but not only. Starting from these complex and structured databases, ETT develops information systems for decision support (DSS) for the environment, complex urban realities, infrastructures, territories and more. Some of the projects are of particular importance for operators in coastal areas (ports, port authorities) and are used to manage the decision-making chain that goes from the acquisition of monitoring data to the simulation of scenarios and operating solutions”. For the GEREMIA project (Unige, Interreg Marittimo IT-FR), for example, ETT has created a series of governance tools designed to prevent and contain pollution, improve the quality of the port’s waters and provide a decision support system for simulate the dispersion of substances and accidental spills and plan mitigation and recovery interventions in the best possible way. The system works with the marine weather forecasts developed by DICCA UNIGE and through an artificial intelligence algorithm identifies which is the reference scenario that corresponds to the sea conditions in order to be able to simulate the dispersion. Accessible from the web, it represents an extremely important and functional tool for the port authority and the ecological services of the port of Genoa.