Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

The Spanish Sailing Tour, or 'Vuelta a España a Vela', as it's known in Spain, was officially launched this morning at Spain's sports council building in Madrid. The regatta will begin in Hondarribia, in the Spanish region of the Basque Country on June 12th and will finish in Barcelona at the end of the same month, stopping off in Santander, Gijón, Sanxenxo, Cádiz, Calpe and Palma de Mallorca. With seven scored legs and a course that adds up to 1,780 nautical miles (3,296 km) the regatta is organised by the RFEV (the Spanish royal sailing federation) and the FNOB (Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona). Eight teams will be competing, six of which have already signed up, on one-design racing yachts used for racing around the world: the IMOCA Open 60s.

Spain's state Secretary for Sport Jaime Lissavetzky; RFEV President Gerardo Pombo, and Director General of the FNOB, Andor Serra, presented the Spanish Sailing Tour at a press conference today. This event hopes to boost ocean sailing and to bring it closer to the general public. Representatives of the yacht clubs involved attended the event, as well as the local federations, the councils for each of the eight regions visited by the regatta, as well as many of the sailors who'll be taking part in this RFEV and FNOB organised event: Pepe Ribes, Alex Pella, Antonio Piris and Pachi Rivero.

“An important path is being carved out towards making sailing more popular,” commented Lissavetzky, “the sport is becoming more and more accessible, but we must continue to fight. That's the aim behind this 'Vuelta', stopping off in eight different Autonomous Communities with a new boat for the race, and IMOCA Open 60, which is an important novel aspect of the event”. The state Secretary for Sport also highlighted the 'many joys' sailing has brought Spain, both in terms of sporting results and of the country's success in organising large scale sailing events.

The RFEV president highlighted the fact that the project will bring together all of these different organisations in a 'Vuelta a España' which “will be the first to go from one extremity to another”, from Hondarribia, passing Cabo Higuer, to Barcelona, passing Cap de Creus first. “For the RFEV it's a great satisfaction to present this regatta, because we had been hoping to get it back for a while”, added Pombo.

The Director General of the FNOB shared these sentiments and explained the details of this regatta and it's stop-over locations, chosen as “cities or clubs that have given birth to Spanish sailors”, including those taking part in the 'Vuelta'. According to Serra's descriptions, the competition will enjoy a dynamic format, with stopping points that will be 'scoring gates' and crews of five on aboard the IMOCA Open 60s, “a format used only before, highly successfully in the European sailing tour”, the Istanbul Europa Race. “This event is very important for the FNOB because it is also a great training event for the teams preparing for the Barcelona World Race organised by the FNOB, due to set off from Barcelona on 31st December this year”.

Seven legs, eight ports

The Vuelta a España a Vela will sett of on the 12th of June from Hondarribia, where the boats will be on display for a few days before to the general public, for them to enjoy the event closely. Passing Cabo Higuer, the boats will sail some 90 miles to reach Santander, where on the 14th June the start of the second leg will be given, this time finishing in Gijón. The third leg, some 220 miles long will kick off on the 16th June and will take the six registered IMOCA Open 60s, as well as the other entries to register before May 3rd, to Sanxenxo, where the regatta will make a stop, as this is one of the Spanish fleet's training grounds.

The fourth leg will be the longest at 450 nautical miles. It will leave the Galician city of Sanxenxo on the 20th June and will finish in Cádiz, where the fifth leg will begin on 23rd June with a 430 mile journey to Calpe. The sixth leg, from the 26th June will be 140 miles and will take the entries to Palma de Mallorca, where on the 28th of June the final leg will begin, some 350 nautical miles, passing Port de la Selva and Cap de Creus finishing in Barcelona.

Six teams registered

Eight teams will be taking part in this first 'Vuelta a España a Vela' for the IMOCA Open 60 class. The are six registrations so far: four Spanish entries and two French projects. The two other teams competing in the regatta are yet to be announced.

With a Vendée Globe and a Transat Jacques Vabre under their belts, Frenchmen Vincent Riou and Marc Guillemot are heading up the teams PRB and Safran, respectively. Barcelona's Álex Pella and Alicante's Pepe Ribes head up Estrella Damm, an FNOB Sailing Team entry. Spaniards Pachi Rivero and Antonio Piris will be co-skippers on another FNOB Sailing Team project:W Hotels. Twice Olympic champions and three times 49er World Champions Iker Martínez and Xabi Fernández have their own ambitious project, with a view to the Barcelona World Race 2010. To round off the entries so far are the Asturian duo Juan Merediz and Francisco Palacio who will head up the fourth Spanish crew in the event so far.

The Vuelta a España a Vela will be raced on mono-hull one-design IMOCA Open 60 yachts, 28 metres long and up to 28 metres tall above sea level. Built in carbon fibre, these are very fast boats, designed for solo sailing or double-handed sailing. This means that the five crew members in the Vuelta crews will be squeezing the maximum from the features of these racing yachts, providing some thrilling competition in the Bay of Biscay, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The crew of five has only been tested so far, in the Istanbul Europa Race, with some great results.

The Vuelta a España a Vela is organised by the Spanish royal sailing federation (RFEV) and the Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona (FNOB), with collaboration from the following sailing Federations: the Federación Vasca de Vela, the Federación Cántabra de Vela, the Federación de Vela del Principado de Asturias, the Federación Gallega de Vela, the Federación Andaluza de Vela, the Federación de Vela de la Comunidad Valenciana, the Federación Balear de Vela and the Federación Catalana de Vela; with the collaboration of the following yacht clubs: the Real Club Náutico Hondarribia, the Real Club Marítimo de Santander, the Club Marítimo Astur de Regatas, the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo, Puerto América (Cádiz), the Real Club Náutico de Calpe, the Real Club Náutico de Palma and the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona.