On Monday, July 4, 25 sailboats will undertake a pilgrimage by sea from Baiona to Santiago de Compostela with stops in Combarro, Rianxo, A Pobra do Caramiñal, Muros and Portosín
· It is the second edition of a journey that seeks to spread the maritime culture, promote nautical tourism, promote the sport of sailing and publicize the potential of Galician ports
· The route is organized by the Monte Real Club de Yates, the Real Club Náutico de Portosín and the Camino de Santiago Ría Muros – Noia association and is sponsored by CENOR
Authorities attending the presentation of the II Rías Baixas Route – Photo Antía Martínez
25 sailboats will undertake a pilgrimage by sea from Baiona next Monday, July 4, towards Santiago de Compostela with different stages that will pass through Combarro, Rianxo, A Pobra do Caramiñal, Muros and Portosín.
This is the second edition of the Rías Baixas Route, a recreational tourism-sports initiative that seeks to spread seafaring culture, promote nautical tourism, promote the sport of sailing and publicize the potential of Galician ports.
Organized by the Monte Real Club de Yates, the Real Club Náutico de Portosín and the Camino de Santiago Ría Muros-Noia association, thanks to the sponsorship of CENOR, the crossing will unite “tourism, nature, sports, gastronomy, religion and traditions… some of the best attractions that Galicia can boast of” , in the words of the president of the MRCYB, José Luis Álvarez.
Speech by the president of the MRCYB José Luis Álvarez – Photo Antía Martínez
In the first edition of the route, held last year, 24 boats participated, and this year there will be 25, reaching the limit established by the organization to be able to offer participants a quality experience, both in navigation and in different scales.
The crews will depart from Baiona, from the pontoons of Monte Real, on the morning of Monday, July 4, heading for Combarro, with a distance of 30 miles ahead. On Tuesday the 5th they will complete the 32 miles that separate Combarro from Rianxo; and on Wednesday the 6th they will have as their final destination A Pobra do Caramiñal. They will always sail accompanied by two support vessels and a mother ship, and Muros and Portosín will be the last two ports on the program, to make the last stopover and complete the pilgrimage by sea. From Portosín they will only have to set out on the road to Compostela, this time by land, in order to win the jubilee, something they will do on Saturday, July 9.
With the almost 120 miles traveled by sea, the participants will have the possibility, if they so wish, of obtaining the Compostela, for which a minimum of 90 nautical miles is required, stamping their pilgrim credential at each step.
The II Rías Baixas Route was officially presented this Thursday at the Monte Real Yacht Club, in a ceremony attended by, in addition to the president of the MRCYB, José Luis Álvarez; and the commodore of the RCN Portosín, Fernando González; the vice-president of the Camino de Santiago Ría Muros-Noia Association, José Santiago Freire; CENOR’s marketing director, Leticia Fernández; the mayor of Baiona, Carlos Gómez; the territorial head of Tourism of Galicia, Felipe Ferreiro; Deputy Raquel Giraldez; and the Commodore of the MRCYB, Ignacio Sánchez Otaegui.
II RÍAS BAIXAS ROUTE ROUTE
Monday July 4 – Sailing Baiona – Combarro (30 miles) Tuesday, July 5 – Navigation Combarro – Rianxo (32 miles) Wednesday, July 6 – Rianxo Navigation – A Pobra do Caramiñal (15 miles) Thursday, July 7 – Navigation A Pobra do Caramiñal – Muros (32 miles) Friday, July 8 – Navigation Muros – Portosín (10 miles) Saturday July 9 – By land to Santiago de Compostela
In 1972, the Monte Real Yacht Club organized the most important ocean regatta of those held until then in terms of the number of participants. 48 ships from 35 clubs from 11 countries with some 500 people on board left Bermuda on June 29 for Baiona with the aim of replicating the navigation that 479 years earlier, in 1493, had been carried out by La Pinta de Pinzón on its return to Spain. to announce a new continent, which would be called America. Known as the Discovery Regatta, Discovery Race or BB (Bermuda-Baiona), some of the most prominent American businessmen of the time participated in it, people such as the press magnate Beaver Brook; and a single Spaniard, Alfredo Lagos from Vigo, who with his presence helped to silence the comments of the press that branded the Spanish sailors as not very adventurous for not being part of the crossing. Today, 50 years after that competition, the archives of the organizers (MRCYB, New York Yacht Club, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and The Cruising Club of America) barely keep a few documents and photographs of its celebration but everyone remembers very well what was: one of the most important regattas in the history of navigation, with the highest number of participants to date.
It is a report by Rosana Calvo, communication manager of the MRCYB
Pendants of the organizing clubs and route of the test (in red) and of the Pinta (blue)
“Battered the ship by the storms but not the hearts” . This is how the historical documents (and also the commemorative monolith erected in the fishing village of Baiona) describe the arrival, on March 1, 1493, of the Pinta caravel of Martín Alonso Pinzón to the Galician port with one of the most important news in history of mankind: the discovery of America.
479 years after that chapter, the Monte Real Club de Yates, one of the most outstanding clubs in Spain at that time, promoted the most important regatta of the time in his honor, a competition of more than 3,200 miles in which the participants would replicate the journey of the caravel across the Atlantic.
They called it, as it could not be otherwise, the Discovery Race, Discovery Race or BB (for Bermudas-Baiona), and in its organization they collaborated hand in hand with Monte Real, the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and The Cruising Club of America.
It is difficult to attribute a paternity to the initial idea of the regatta. Many speak of Fernando Solano, who advanced in the sponsorship negotiations with Fraga and the organization with the clubs involved. Other names that appear in the records as main promoters are those of Richard B. Nye (chairman of the regatta committee), Hugh CE Masters (commodore and chairman of the committee of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club), and José María de Gamboa (chairman of the committee Spanish of the regatta).
They also promoted the celebration of the competition and the former mayor of Vigo, José Ramón Fontán, was part of the Spanish committee; one of the historical figures of sailing in Galicia, recently deceased, Fernando Massó; the patriarch of the Gándara, José de la Gándara; Jose Maria Padro; the Vigo industrialist Alfredo Lagos; the president of Monte Real until 1971, Alfredo Romero (who would be succeeded by Carlos Zulueta between 71 and 73); and the commodore of the Baionese club until 1971, Manuel Varela.
A regatta simmering for a decade
It was a regatta that was simmering for nothing more and nothing less than 10 years, since 1962, when people began to talk about its celebration; until 1972 when it was finally played. In between, the project was formally presented to the then Spanish Minister of Information and Tourism, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, who would end up approving its patronage; it was exposed to the American clubs that would finally be involved in the event together with the Monte Real (the New York Yacht Club and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club); and in 1969 the first official meeting with the Spanish Sailing Federation was held.
In 1970, two years before its celebration, there was already a propaganda brochure for the regatta, for which, initially, the name “The Race of Discovery for La Pinta Trophy TransAtlantic” was proposed, which would eventually be simplified to ” The Discovery Race” . In it all the details of the competition were explained. It would be a test of about 3,000 miles of route that would be carried out with the only condition that a minimum of 15 boats register for it.
The most important and massive regatta of the time
Participation forecasts, not very high at the beginning, ended up exceeding all expectations and the Discovery Regatta finally had a total of 57 registered (of which 48 ended up starting), becoming the most important regatta held to date. date, with the highest number of participants of all time.
Manuscript with data from some of the test participants
Among the boats entered, the majority between 40 and 60 feet (between 12 and 18 meters), the smallest was the French Penélope III, owned by Alain Maupas Trinidad, with a length of 40 feet / 12 meters; and Patrick E. Haggerty’s Beayondan, at 81 feet long / 24.6 meters, the largest.
As a curiosity, it should be noted that there were sailboats, such as the 43-foot / 13-meter New World, by North American Phillip Davies, which was built specifically for the regatta; and that in the test, which was attended by important American businessmen, the second Baron Beaverbrook, son of the well-known British press magnate William Maxwell Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook), founder of newspapers such as the Daily Express or the Sunday Express, also participated.
Alfredo Lagos (left) with Jim Pugh at the 1972 Discovery Regatta (Courtesy of the Lagos family)
Alfredo Lagos, the only Spaniard on board
Among all those registered there was only one Spaniard: the renowned industrialist from Vigo and experienced sailor Alfredo Lagos, son of the founder and director for more than 50 years of Astilleros Lagos, one of the most prestigious companies worldwide for its work in the construction and restoration of classic wooden boats.
With his presence as a crew member aboard the Dora, Lagos helped to silence the comments of the press of the time, which branded the Spanish sailors as “not very adventurous” for not wanting to participate in the regatta (or for not daring, as they even came say some, for “risk and fear” ).
Illustration of the Discovery Regatta with sailboats and caravels
A regatta marked by the weather
The Discovery Regatta was set to start on June 28, 1972 from the historic Gulf of Las Flechas (named for the arrows launched by members of the Ciguayos tribe against the Spanish in what is considered the first incident against the European invasion in America), just as the Pinta had done on January 16, 1493, but for technical reasons they ended up setting sail a day later from the port of Hamilton.
Bermuda before departure (Photo courtesy of the Lagos family)
Ahead, the 500 participants aboard 48 boats from 35 clubs from 11 countries, had a journey of 3,200 nautical miles / 5,926 kilometers (according to the official route), although everyone expected it to be more (about 4,000 / 7,408 km) per the winds and currents that would influence their journey. And the truth is that the weather ended up affecting, and a lot, the test.
En route from New York to Bermuda for the start of the race, some boats were hit by a typhoon, forcing four of them to abandon the competition and delaying the start for a day so that the rest could make some repairs. Later, once the journey had begun, the poor state of the sea made navigation difficult. And a few days later, more problems. There were several days of calm that would cause a considerable delay in the completion of the test.
The Nieto Antúnez fishing nautical school produced a brochure on meteorological factors
The Discovery Regatta was the first international competition that forced the crews to give their situation every day, something that, in addition to generating security, facilitated the tasks of the regatta committee to control the fleet and the work of the press of the time to narrate the evolution of the test. But what initially worked smoothly soon went awry. The participants stopped complying with the requirement because they also provided information to their rivals and the test was carried out practically in its entirety, with few exceptions, without real and continuous monitoring of the sailboats.
It is known, from the data provided in the early days, that the sailboats took three different navigation routes. Some opted for the shortest and most direct route, others went north in search of more favorable winds and the rest sailed south. But when they really began to distance themselves from each other, the calm ones arrived and the crews were unable to establish important advantages, practically all remaining grouped in a platoon while the lack of wind lasted.
Four days into the test, the radiograms sent to New York announced Tom Clark’s Buccaneer (New Zealand) in the lead. On the island of Flores (Azores), the only record set on the regatta’s transatlantic route (850 miles / 1,574 km from the finish line), Charisma captained by Jessie Phillips (Dayton, Ohio) was first, followed by Carina of Richard S. Nye and the Jubilee III, of the United States Naval Academy, captained by Commander Howard Randall.
In mid-July, a Canadair CL-215 seaplane from the Search and Rescue Service arrived in Vigo to carry out its first exploration operation within a radius of action of some 200 miles / 370 km. Baiona, but the results were negative. On a second outing he managed to locate one of the participants, the Solution, 6 miles / 11 km from A Guarda, but the crew had lowered sails and headed for the port of Vigo, implying that they had withdrawn from the competition. Somewhat further away, a group of fishing boats sighted, off the Berlengas Islands (north of Lisbon), the bulk of the crews.
The Blackfin, first. The Carina, winner.
Although the Discovery Regatta boats were scheduled to arrive in Baiona on July 14, it was not until July 18, at 12:15 when the Blackfin (US-flagged, sail number 8910, 73 feet long / 22 , 25m and 16 adventurers on board), led by Kenneth W. DeMeuse, crossed the finish line, an imaginary line that left the Prince’s Tower (where some of the snipe boys and cruisers like the Fontán brothers stood guard , Quico Arbones, Humberto Cervera and others) at 180º magnetic. With the exception of the calm one that was found at the exit of Bermuda, the sailboat sailed practically the rest of the route without problems, taking advantage of a wind channel. He did it alone, investing a total of 453 hours, and upon arrival, the 15 crew members threw their captain overboard to celebrate the victory.
The Blackfin, designed by Bill Tripp for Ken DeMeuse of San Francisco
DeMeuse, exhausted and with his hair messed up from the dip, called his country to say that he had arrived, ordered a cubalibre with lots of ice and attended to the media. He commented that the regatta “was not as difficult as it was long”, he explained that it became complicated at times when crossing with very strong winds or with no wind, but that both the crew and the boat ( “which is good and fast” , he assured) they worked very well.
News published in La Voz De Galicia on July 19, 1972
Hours later, around eight in the afternoon, the second ship, the Jubilee III, of the United States Naval Academy, a 22.25-meter sailboat and the number 1800 on its sails, arrived on the old continent. It was manned by 17 people, skippered by Commander Howard Randall and, as had happened to the Blackfin, it also played against the basses of Carallones.
On July 21, three days after the first boats had crossed the finish line, there were still sailboats to finish the journey and among them were some of those that could be proclaimed absolute winners (due to the time compensation system that would be applied for level out the differences between large and small boats). The last yacht to arrive, the Tanatara, did so on the 22nd, and it was then that the final classification of the competition was revealed.
Alfredo Lagos after the arrival of the Discovery Regatta in 1972 (Photo courtesy of the Lagos Family)
The winner of the 1972 Bermuda-Bayonne Discovery Regatta was the Class B Carina, skippered by Richard “Dick” S. Nye, in 391 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds. They were followed in the table by Prim (Gibbons Neff Jr.), from class B, with 344 hours, 44 minutes, 19 seconds; and the Aura (Wallace Stenhouse), also in class B, with 395 hours, 27 minutes, 19 seconds. The Blackfin, the first to arrive in the waters of Baiona on the 18th, was finally in 42nd place in the general classification.
Richard S. Nye (1904-1988) found his love of the sea late and knew little of sailing when he bought the Carina in 1945, but he soon began sailing and ended up competing in long-distance regattas, which became in his passion. He participated in a large number of them and came to win 7 transatlantic races, including the Bermuda Baiona, in which he won with the first of his three Carinas.
The skipper attributed (he always did) the success in this regatta and many others he won to the good work of his crew, made up of his son Richard B. Nye, as first officer, and other members of his family and close friends.
Those who knew him say that he did not sail to win, but because he was truly passionate about the sea. To posterity he passed his phrase: “Okay, boys, you can let the ship sink!” , pronounced after finishing the Fasnet Race of 1957 in a Carina badly damaged by the hard competition.
Richard S. Nye – Patron of the Carina
His victory in the Discovery Regatta had a great worldwide echo and in the final broadcast of the event, everyone agreed on the great success that the event had brought.
The Discovery Regatta, much more than a regatta
In a meeting with journalists, the president of the Monte Real Yacht Club and vice president of the Spanish committee in charge of organizing the arrival, Carlos Zulueta, highlighted the four most significant aspects of the regatta: economic, tourist, historical and sporting.
The competition, sponsored by the Ministry of Information and Tourism (understanding that it would serve to promote tourism at the highest level and offer the Rías Gallegas a high-ranking international sporting competition), had become the one with the greatest participation up to that time and accommodation reservations made in Baiona had repercussions on hoteliers with a figure that exceeded one million pesetas. Restaurants, taxi drivers and other businesses also made cash during the Americans’ stay in the fishing village.
Alfredo Lagos, the only Spaniard in the competition, complained, once it was over, about the little attention the national press and television had devoted to it. blamed “a hidden force that tries to minimize everything in Galicia, which takes us back to times before the Catholic Monarchs. You already know -Lagos said in a special report for the magazine Pesca y Náutica- that when a drop of water falls in Estaca de Bares, although we have an ideal day in Baiona, the phrase is “It rains in Galicia”. For many Galicia is very far away, the roads are very bad, there are many cows and the women carry the load on their heads. Those who only think this, it is much better not to come”.
José Ramón Fontán handing out souvenirs to the Apollo on the pontoons of the Monte Real Yacht Club
The truth is that everyone welcomed the crews with open arms and the sailors were able to enjoy the culture, landscape and gastronomy of Galicia for several days. In Vigo, in the gardens of the Pazo Quiñones de León, a dinner was organized for them, enlivened by folk groups. In Baiona, another dinner and a big dance.
They also attended the famous Mougás gigs and ate grilled sardines, empanada and octopus in a mountain refuge. And at the end, many of them took part in a cruise along the Galician estuaries from Baiona to Fisterra, sailing through the most touristic points of coastal Galicia and taking a bus trip to Santiago de Compostela.
In the rally through the Rías Baixas after the Discovery Regatta
Postmarks, brochures, commemorative plates, flags… recall one of the most important regattas in the history of navigation. A regatta that served for several clubs on both sides of the Atlantic to strengthen ties and promote what ended up being the most massive nautical competition organized to date.
Postmarks, information brochures and commemorative plates of the Discovery Regatta
Half a century after its celebration, at the Monte Real Club de Yates de Baiona, the seed of the competition, they remember it as something historic, as one of those events worthy of having gone down in the history of world sailing along with other milestones of the club as the challenge to the America’s Sailing Cup.
And the same what “The noble town of Baiona, an ancient Celtic hedgehog, had the honor of being the first to announce, to the astonishment of the world, the miracle of the discovery of the Americas”, the Monte Real Club de Yates had the honor of being the first to organize a regatta in his honor, the most important of the time and one of those that will always remain in the memory.
It is a report by Rosana Calvo, communication manager of the MRCYB
Boats of the Discovery Regatta at Monte Real Yacht Club – Tony Román File PhotoJubilee III with seaplane arriving in Baiona – Discovery Regatta 1972 – Photo Archive Tony RománThe Dora IV back to America after the Discovery Regatta – Photo Archive Tony RománThe Buccaneer, the Etoile and other ships after their arrival in Baiona – Photo Archive Tony RománThe Dora IV in which Alfredo Lagos sailed in the Discovery Regatta in 1972 (Photo courtesy of the Lagos family)
· The couples formed by Rui Ramada and Óscar Peixoto and Nano Yáñez and Manuel Fernández, both from Monte Real, won the MRW Trophy this Saturday with the titles of Galician Champions of A Two men in the ORC and J80 classes
· The best male-female crew was formed by Brenda Maure and Jacobo Vecino from RCN Vigo and the champions in the female section were Marta Ramada and Ana Sardiña from MRCYB
· The prizes of the VIII Rafael Olmedo Memorial went to the best teams in each class: the Yess of Rui Ramada and Óscar Peixoto (ORC) and the Cansino of Nano Yáñez and Manuel Fernández
· After the celebration of the Galician A Dos Championship, the Monte Real is now focusing on the Conde de Gondomar Trophy and the Príncipe de Asturias Trophy, which will be held between July 22 and 25 and the first weekend of September
Baiona elevated the new Galician champions of A Dos this Saturday after the celebration of a new edition of the MRW Trophy, in which not only the absolute, mixed and women’s regional titles of navigation in reduced crews were put into play; but also the awards of the VIII Rafael Olmedo Memorial.
The male prizes of the two classes in dispute (ORC and J80) went to the couples formed by Rui Ramada and Óscar Peixoto (ORC) and Nano Yáñez and Manuel Fernández (J80), both from the Monte Real Club de Yates. They were the best in the competition and are, as of today, the new Galician A Dos champions, as stated on the plaques given to them by the Royal Galician Sailing Federation.
In this edition of the Galician Championship, in addition to the men’s prizes, distinctions were awarded again, as had been done in the previous edition for the first time in the history of the competition, to the best female and mixed crews.
The creation of these special categories depended on the number of entries in each of them and managed to form the female category in J80, with the winners being Marta Ramada and Ana Sardiña, from Monte Real; and mixed in ORC, where the couple formed by Brenda Maure and Jacobo Vecino, from the Real Club Náutico de Vigo, won.
The development of the test was a full-fledged nortada. The north wind blew sharply and with intensity from the start, which occurred promptly at eleven in the morning; to the turning point at the Camouco lighthouse, in Ons; and it remained the same, both in direction and intensity (13-15 knots with peaks of 19) until the finish line, which the regatta committee placed inside the bay of Baiona.
The largest sailboat in the fleet, the Yess (a Hanse 630 E), owned by Rui Ramada and Óscar Peixoto, completed “flying” a total of 35.3 miles. It took just two and a half hours to turn the Camouco and just over four and a half hours to finish the test.
Among the rest of the crews, those of the Deep Blue, the Salaño Dos, the Orión, the Fend la Bise and La María stood out. This group of five boats, from the Real Club Náutico de Vigo, the Monte Real Club de Yates and the Club Náutico de Cabanas, all with great sailors on board, always remained at the head of the fleet without losing sight of each other. the others.
The Yess (MRCYB) finished the winner of the MRW Trophy in the ORC class, leaving second and third position to Salaño Dos of Jacobo Vecino and Brenda Maure (RCN Vigo) and Orión of Javier Pérez and Esteban Gañete (MRCYB). In the ORC OPEN class, the Secolite of Javier Rey and Jorge Justo (MRCYB), the Bouvento of David Fontán and Alex Luca de Tena (MRCYB) and the Tutatis of Roy Alonso and Alechu Retolaza (MRCYB) stood on the podium.
These last two boats concentrated all the attention of the Figaros fleet due to the intense hand in hand they maintained throughout the test; and due to the fact that managers from Monte Real (the vice president and sports director at Tutatis) and club coaches competed. Finally, it was the trainers David Fontán and Alex Luca de Tena who won the prize, after gaining distance in the last few miles and completing a great regatta finish.
In the J80 real-time competition, the surprise of the day was given by Francisco Javier Martínez and Alfonso Otero’s SND Cormorán, tacking the first at Camouco; although he finally finished the test in second position behind Cansino de Nano Yáñez and Manuel Fernández, one of the most solvent in the entire test. After the gold and silver of the two Monte Real boats, the bronze of the monotypes went to ¡Ay Carmela! of the Liceo Marítimo de Bouzas, manned by Juan Martínez Pazó and José Ignacio Correa.
Within the framework of the MRW Trophy, in addition to the Trophy prizes and the plaques to the new Galician Champions of A Dos, the prizes of the VIII Rafael Olmedo Memorial were awarded to the general winners of the two classes in contention: the Yess (ORC) and the Tired (J80). They received them from Rodrigo Olmedo, son of the former president of Monte Real for more than 40 years and to whom this competition has been dedicated for 8 years.
Participating in the awards ceremony, which took place with a very good atmosphere in the gardens of Monte Real, were the president of the organizing club, José Luis Álvarez; the executive director of MRW and sponsor of the competition, Santos Almeida; the deputy mayor of Baiona, Óscar Martínez; the Deputy for Sports of the Pontevedra Provincial Council, Gorka Gómez; and the president of the Dinghy Sailing Committee and director of the Royal Galician Sailing Federation, Ignacio Campos.
MRW TROPHY ORC CLASS 1. YESS RUI RAMADA AND OSCAR PEIXOTO MRCYB 2. SALANO TWO · JACOBO VECINO AND BRENDA MAURE · RCN VIGO 3. ORION · JAVIER REY AND ESTEBAN GAÑETE · MRCYB
MRW TROPHY ORC OPEN CLASS 1. SECOLITE · JAVIER REY AND JORGE JUSTO · MRCYB 2. BOUVENTO · DAVID FONTÁN AND ALEX LUCA DE TENA · MRCYB 3. TUTATIS · ROY ALONSO AND ALECHU RETOLAZA · MRCYB
MRW TROPHY FIGARO CLASS 1. BOUVENTO · DAVID FONTÁN AND ALEX LUCA DE TENA · MRCYB 2. TUTATIS · ROY ALONSO AND ALECHU RETOLAZA · MRCYB 3. SERRALLEIRAS SANTI MEYGIDE AND FCO JAVIER CAMBA MRCYB
MRW TROPHY J80 CLASS 1. TIRED · NANO YÁÑEZ AND MANUEL FERNÁNDEZ · MRCYB 2. SND CORMORÁN · FRANCISCO JAVIER MARTÍNEZ AND ALFONSO OTERO · MRCYB 3. OH CARMELA! · JUAN MARTÍNEZ PAZÓ AND JOSÉ IGNACIO CORREA · LM BOUZAS
· The Monte Real Club de Yates and the Real Club Náutico de Vigo are the clubs with the highest number of applicants for the regional title, to which crews from Bouzas, Portosín, Canido, Punta Lagoa and Sada also compete.
· In addition to the general prizes for Galician Champions of A Two, awards will be given to the best female and mixed teams for which 8 teams of the total of 30 that will participate in the test are registered
· The Galician A Dos Championship is held within the framework of the MRW Trophy and will be the eighth edition of the Rafael Olmedo Memorial
The Galician A Dos Championship will be held this Saturday in the Rías Baixas – Photo Clara Giraldo
Some thirty boats will compete this Saturday in the Rías Baixas for the Galician A Dos Championship, which will crown the best crews in a reduced format in Galicia. The Monte Real Club de Yates and the Real Club Náutico de Vigo are the clubs with the highest number of applicants for the regional title, to which teams from Bouzas, Portosín, Canido, Punta Lagoa and Sada also compete.
All the candidates for victory, in boats manned by two sailors, will face a round trip of more than 35 miles between Baiona and the island of Ons, which will start at eleven in the morning and end well into the afternoon. , with a forecast of northerly component winds that will move between 7 and 14 knots.
The competition, sponsored by MRW, will be divided into two different classes: ORC, which will qualify after applying time compensation; and J80, which will compete in real time. And within each of them several categories will be established.
In ORC there will be, in addition to the general, there will be a mixed category, in which the teams formed by Carolina Martínez and Miguel Ángel Fernández (CN Sada), Elena Raga and Miguel Sterner (MRCYB), Jacobo Vecino and Brenda Maure (RCN Vigo), and José Luis Ríos and María Jesús Montes (RCN Vigo).
In the general classification of this class, almost 20 teams will enter the fray, including, among others, the crews formed by Jean Claude Sarrade and André Amorín, who won the title of Galician champions in 2017; or that of the vice president and sports director of Monte Real, Alejandro Retolaza and Roy Alonso, who already participated in previous years with good results.
In J80 there will be no mixed category but there will be a female category, with four crews competing for the title of Galician Champions of A Two. They are the teams of Marta Ramada and Ana Sardiña, Africa Alonso and Carolina Terrón, Hilda Martín and Dunia Reino, and Rebeca González and Helena Benito. Although made up of sailors from different clubs, they will all race through the Monte Real Club de Yates.
A large part of the Monte Real eight-meter fleet will come into play in the general classification of this class, which continues to prepare for the Spanish Championship of the class that the club will hold in September; and for the 2023 World Cup, which will also be held in Baiona. They will be, among others, Cansino by Fernando Yáñez and Manuel Fernández; the Namasté by Luis de Mira and Susana Baena; or the Spaco by Javier Martínez Valente and Alberto Diz.
The Galician Two-Handed Championship, organized by Monte Real by delegation of the Royal Galician Sailing Federation, is part of the MRW Trophy and will also be the eighth edition of the Rafael Olmedo Memorial, with which Monte Real honors the one who was its president for more than 40 years. The competition (which will start at eleven in the morning with the regatta and will end at eight in the afternoon with the awards ceremony) can be followed live on the Monte Real website (www.mrcyb.es) thanks to a virtual reality system.
· Next Saturday the Galician Two-handed Sailing Championship will be held in the Rías Baixas with a route between Baiona and las Ons in which crews made up of only two people will compete
· This is the eleventh consecutive year that the Royal Galician Sailing Federation delegates the organization of a test with which the club pays tribute to its historic president Rafael Olmedo to the Monte Real Club de Yates
In addition to a general category from which the name of the new autonomous champions of the class will come out, the titles of mixed champions and female champions will be put into contention
A hand in hand sailing through the Rías Baixas. That will be the Galician Two-handed Championship that will be held next Saturday under the organization of the Monte Real Club de Yates and with the sponsorship of MRW.
The Royal Galician Sailing Federation has delegated, for yet another year -and there are now eleven- in the Baionese club the organization of one of the most exciting sailing events in Galicia, not so much because of its route, but also because of the characteristics of the competition, in which only two people will go on board the sailboats.
A skipper and a single crew member who must take care of both the tactics and the maneuvers of the boat throughout the more than 35 nautical miles that it takes to complete the route between Baiona and the island of Ons, which the sailboats must reach before return back to Bayonne.
In their navigation they will pass by the Carallones and La Negra beacons and will continue to climb, leaving aside the archipelago of the Cíes Islands and the Onza Island before reaching the Camouco lighthouse, northeast of the Ons Island, in front of Cova do Wolf. Once there and after turning the lighthouse, they will start the descent to Baiona, where the finish line will be waiting for them.
With a few days to go before the registration deadline closes, there are already more than twenty boats registered to participate in the championship and the organization hopes to reach thirty. They will be grouped into two classes: cruiser and J80; and in both there will be -if a minimum of inscriptions is reached- three categories: general, mixed and feminine.
In the cruise class we will see people like Javier Pérez and Esteban Gañete aboard the Orión; Javier Rey and Jorge Justo at the Secolite; Jacobo Vecino and Brenda Maure crewing the Salaño Dos; Vicente Cid and Javier Fernández-Ahuja in Deep Blue 2.1; or Agustín Marquina and Fernando Rey in the Erizana, among others.
They will compete in compensated times making the difference with the J80, the other class in contention, which will do it in real time. On board the 8 meters there will be some of the usual sailors from the Monte Real one-design leagues, such as the couple formed by Luis de Mira and Susana Baena, from the club itself; Juan Martínez Pazó and José Ignacio Correa, from the Bouzas Maritime School; or Rafael Blanco and Alejandro Vázquez, from the Real Club Náutico de Portosín.
In addition to the prizes of the MRW Trophy and the Galician Two-Handed Championship, the competition will deliver two special trophies, those related to the Rafael Olmedo Memorial, with which the Monte Real Yacht Club honors its former president for more than 40 years. They will be taken by the best classified in cruiser and J80.
The competition, which can be followed live on the Monte Real website (www.mrcyb.es) thanks to a virtual reality system, will begin on Saturday at eleven in the morning. Previously, the day on Friday will be devoted to measurements, security controls and meeting of patterns. And the awards ceremony will take place at eight o’clock on Saturday afternoon in the gardens of the Baiones club.
Some of those who have already confirmed their attendance at the award ceremony are the president of the Monte Real Yacht Club, José Luis Álvarez; the executive director of MRW Vigo and sponsor of the competition, Santos Almeida; the mayor of Baiona, Carlos Gómez; and the deputy for Sports of the Pontevedra Provincial Council, Gorka Gómez. It is also expected that a representative of the Xunta de Galicia will attend, yet to be confirmed.
GALICIAN CHAMPIONSHIP OF TWO · MRW TROPHY VIII RAFAEL OLMEDO MEMORIAL
Friday, June 10 16:00 – 20:00> Security reviews, registrations and delivery of documentation 19:00> Pattern meeting
Saturday, June 11 11:00> Start of the regatta (bay of Baiona) 20:00> Awards
