This year he was not sure whether to try for a better finish or compete for a newly introduced last-place trophy or “give up if it’s going nowhere.”

For now, Mr. Faraguna and his crew just needed to get into position at the starting line. In the calm morning air, they loaded up their secondhand boat, the Confinandante , with supplies of wine and beer, and motored toward the race’s starting line.

As one of the crew put bottles of friulano, prosecco and sauvignon in the fridge, the decades-old boat puttered past mussel farms and the Duino Castle , a 14th-century fort overlooking the Gulf of Trieste.

Mr. Faraguna, an amiable father of two and constitutional law professor, reflected on his previous 12 Barcolanas. He talked about how the thermodynamic differences caused by the shape of the coast altered wind conditions and how the Bora — named for Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind — howled down from the Julian Alps to the sea.