· A day on safety at sea held this afternoon in Baiona with the participation of the Pesca 1 rescue helicopter started the countdown to the celebration of the Baiona Angra Atlantic Race
· The ocean competition organized by the Monte Real Yacht Club and the Angra Iate Clube departs this Sunday from the bay of Baiona heading to Terceira Island in the Portuguese archipelago of Azores
· Ten Spanish and Portuguese crews will compete for victory in a round trip of more than 1,600 miles that will end on July 23 in Baiona with the award ceremony for the winners
The countdown begins for the Baiona Angra Atlantic Race, the ocean regatta organized by the Monte Real Club de Yates and the Angra Iate Clube that was presented this morning in Baiona and that this weekend will depart from the Galician fishing village towards the Portuguese archipelago from Azores.
In just three days, on Sunday, July 3, at one in the afternoon, the first stage of the competition will start in the waters of the bay of Baiona, with its final destination in Angra do Heroismo, a town of some 35,000 inhabitants located in the Azorean Island Terceira. The ten participating boats must cover the 865 miles that separate both points, and do so in a maximum time of 9 days and 8 hours.
On Wednesday, July 13, once all the boats have arrived in the Azores, the Angra Iate Clube, co-organizer of the competition, will host the awards ceremony for the first stage, and just one day later, on Thursday, July 14, the exit to the second phase, back to Baiona. The participants will once again have more than 800 miles ahead of them to sail in a time limit of 224 hours.
The Baiona Angra Atlantic Race will end on Saturday, July 23, at the Monte Real Club de Yates facilities, with the award ceremony for the winners. The best boats of each stage and of the entire regatta will be distinguished in each of the categories, and prizes will also be awarded to the winners in real time.
Ten luxury crews from different parts of Spain and Portugal
Ten crews from different parts of Spain and Portugal will participate in the Baiona Angra Atlantic Race, a fleet that, according to the president of the Monte Real Yacht Club, José Luis Álvarez, “brings together many very good sailors from the current nautical scene”. At the presentation of the regatta, held this morning at the club’s facilities in Baiona, Álvarez assured that he was very satisfied with the great reception that this first edition of a competition has had that he hopes – he said – can be repeated every two years. “It is obvious , he stated, that it is a complicated test, which is not within the reach of any ship or crew. It requires good boats with great skippers and sailors on board, and in this sense I think the list of entries is very significant due to the quality of the participants”, assured José Luis Álvarez.
Among the crews that will fight for the victory of Baiona Angra is the one led by the national sailing prize and one of the most outstanding sailors in world ocean sailing, Unai Basurko, the only Spaniard to stand on the podium of a solo round-the-world trip with two scales. The Basque sailor will compete aboard the Pakea, a 50-foot Bavaria from Náutica Cadenote.
The 50-footer is also the Saint Maxime that will be skippered by Miguel Lago, one of the great names in nautical sailing in Galicia. The man from Vigo returns in 2016 to embark on a long-distance regatta across the Atlantic, an ocean that he has already crossed on several occasions with the Discovery Route. Winner of several world championships and the Fastnet Race, Lago will sail wearing a pendant from the Monte Real Club de Yates, as will Ignacio Sánchez Otaegui aboard the Txole.
Representing the Real Club Marítimo de Abra – Real Sporting Club will race the Free Spirit, with Pablo Toja at the helm; and Tucho Díaz will be in charge of leading the crew of the Moflete, from the Club Náutico de Beluso. The team of José Carlos Prista aboard the Xekmatt and José Rafael Ribeiro aboard the Cleopatra, are two of the Portuguese representatives of the fleet and will try to place the Portuguese flag on top of the Baiona Angra podium.
The Brumario of Alejandro Pazó, the Atlantis of the Liceo Marítimo de Bouzas skippered by Iván Prieto, and the Dulcamara with Ángel López at the controls are other boats that will fight for the victory of the Baiona Angra Atlantic Race.
A few days of safety at sea, a prelude to the competition
The Baiona Angra Atlántic Race was presented this morning in Baiona as part of a safety conference organized by the Monte Real Club de Yates with the collaboration of Gardacostas de Galicia, Salvamento Marítimo, Inaer and Viking, to train the crews that will participate in the regatta
Those in charge of opening the event, at the facilities of the Baiona yacht club, were the president of the Monte Real Yacht Club, José Luis Álvarez, and the Head of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center, José María Suárez Llanos. Next, the Fishing 1 Instructor Commander, Álvaro Espejo, and the SAR rescuer, José Luis Iglesias, gave talks on issues related to safety and rescue at sea.
In the afternoon the sessions moved to the sea. In the Bay of Baiona, several practical sessions were held with life rafts, smoke canisters, hand flares and parachute rockets. There were also three rescue drills with the Pesca 1 rescue helicopter, and an exhibition of safety and rescue material on the terrace of the Monte Real Yacht Club.
The day marked the beginning of the countdown to the celebration of what will undoubtedly be one of the great regatta events of the year, the Baiona Angra Atlantic Race, organized by the Monte Real Club de Yates and the Angra Iate Clube, with the collaboration of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra, the Council of Baiona, the Municipal Chamber of Angra do Heroismo, Portos dos Açores and the Spanish and Portuguese sailing federations.
