While rowing at the Battaglia Terme club in the Colli Euganei,
Chris Clarke came upon an interesting boat.
She was introduced as a "caorlina" by members of the club.
But as he spent more time on the water, and saw other caorline,
Chris noticed that this caorlina was a little bigger than the others he saw. Yes, I know this is starting to sound like the narrative from the movie "Elf" with Will Ferrell.
I found the boarding ladder on the bow intriguing.
My first thought was that she was something else,
turns out Chris thought the same:
The big boat had me mystified for a while - I thought she couldn't possibly be a Caorlina because of the size (11.5m x 2.5m). I leafed through lots of books and proudly concluded that she must be a 'Batelon' but was later assured by club members that she is just a huge Caorlina. Actually, if you Google 'Caorlina Giorgia' you will find several articles about her restoration in which the redoubtable Gilberto Penzo had a hand.
Some of you may feel the need to disagree with me, but it's true - I am the biggest fan of Gilberto Penzo.
Looking at the restoration page on his website, you can read about the revival of this big boat.
Racing caorline don't have tail rudders, but this one's got a rudder that could make a schooner captain jealous.
In the first image I saw of this boat, she was in the shadows of this photo, which Chris took of three mascarete at dock - begging to be rowed.
In our correspondences, Chris and I began calling this boat a "supercaorlina".
The term seems appropriate.
Whether or not the folks at the club there use the term "supercaorlilna", they certainly seem to have one.
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