The Barcolana puts more than two thousand boats on a single start line in the Gulf of Trieste, from maxi yachts to small cruisers sailed by families, in one mass start — a sight that has no equivalent in sailing and that the Guinness records recognise as the most participated regatta in the world.
It began in 1969 as a local club race at the end of the season and kept growing because it never introduced a qualifying standard: anyone with a boat may enter.
The organising club publishes entry numbers per edition; we have not collected a dated figure here.
It is anchored to the second Sunday of October, and the preceding ten days are a city festival on the Trieste waterfront. The Rive and the Molo Audace are free viewing, and the hills above Barcola give the only angle from which the whole fleet is visible at once.
PlanningAnchored to the second Sunday of October, not September; the week before is a city festival.