Redentore Regatta

The Gondola. A typical image of Venice. The long slender craft painted black with the musical note motif at the front. An odd assortment of old fashioned chairs for tourists to pay over 80 Euro to sit on whilst being gently guided down the many canals by a man wearing a black and white stripped T-shirt. You can forget that image when it comes to the Redentore Regatta.


The Yellow Crew warming up.

The Regatta sees a number of races of different categories along the Giudecca canal in gondolas. There are two rowers per gondola. The Gondolas are painted all colours except the standard black. We arrived in time to see the final “Champions” race. The elite Gondoliers of Venice. A local gave me the low down on the form. The red-hot favourites were in the Brown boat. According to him, the race was for second place between the Blue boat and the Yellow Boat.


There off!

A good 20 minutes after the crews had set off towards some distant point towards Mestre, we could see the flotilla of boats coming back. It looked like there may be a shock in store. The yellow boat seemed to be a head of the Brown boat. Some excited Americans in the crowd confirmed it. “Yellow in front by a length. Go Yellow!”. The others were trailing at least 30 metres behind.


Brown boat takes the lead.

As the boats approached the finish line it was apparent that the advantage of the Yellow boat had gone. The Brown boat caught and then took the lead with every stroke. They took the finish line with almost a full lengths lead. The Blues took third place. If only there was a bookie close by I might have made a bit of money!


The Winners Platform.