30/06/2020
The "Birbona" was launched in Trieste on March 12, 1980 by Cantiere D'Apollonio & Pecarich C.M. d'Apollonio, and on March 12, 2020 she celebrated her 40th anniversary ! A great achievement for a wooden boat that just forty years later proudly entered the A.I.V.E. Fleet. ( Associazione Italiana Vele d’Epoca ).
I would have preferred to commemorate this important “Birbona” milestone more intensely. But the tragedy that has afflicted us does not let me do so with a glad heart. In fact, I have thought and re-thought whether it would not have been better to delay this anniversary until we all can enjoy a calmer time.
However, I have decided not to ignore this anniversary, simply and only because of my respect and admiration for the people who, with great skill and passion, allowed the "Birbona" to reach this goal. Architects, master- carpenters, carpenters and technicians, sail-makers and so on, in other words all those who have allowed, with love and craftsmanship, the different shipowners who have followed, one after the other, over time, to keep this little treasure of an Italian shipyard in splendid form until today.
And I have decided to remember her without emphasis and with a certain sadness, only in the hope that she will be an example that will make us, even in her small way, once again become conscious of the immense capabilities of this great country of ours, capabilities that we will certainly be able to use for the rebirth of our Italy.
