- From tomorrow and until Saturday 18th July, 44 classic sailboats will offer a unique show at the Barcelona waters.
- This sporting event has become a benchmark competition of the international calendar of classic boats and brings together the best classic fleet from different countries: Argentina, UK, France, Italy and Spain.
- The boats are going to compete grouped into four categories: Classic 1 and Classic 2, Marconi Époque and Cangreja Époque. In this edition, Big Boats will join the fleet of Cangreja Époque..
Barcelona, July 15, 2015. A day before the start of the competition, the Real Club Náutico of Barcelona is ready to host the eighth edition of the Barcelona Puig Vela Clàssica regatta, which will turn the city into the Mediterranean capital of classic and vintage sailing.
Until the 18th July, more than 500 sailors from Spain and other parts of the world such as Argentina, France, UK and Italy, will compete in the waters of the Catalan capital to offer a unique show in the nautical heart of the city, just five minutes from Sagrada Família and ten from the Gothic Quarter. Something no other capital in the Mediterranean can offer its sailors.
Both the city and the tourists will have the luxury of being in a kind of floating museum to admire a procession of the most legendary sailboats in history, less than a mile from the shore and from different sites, either from Port Vell, Port Olímpic and the Barceloneta beach.
44 boats ready to compete
The eighth edition of the Barcelona Puig Vela Clàssica regatta treasures again a large inscription. 44 boats representing Argentina, France, Ireland, Italy, UK, Switzerland and Spain, which are going to compete, this time grouped into four categories: Classic 1 and Classic 2, Marconi Époque, and Cangreja Époque. In this edition, Big Boats will join the fleet of Cangreja Époque.
This 2015 edition has the presence of the Cangreja Époque Marigold Time and the Big Boat Moonbeam IV, two of last year’s winners. The absence of Samurai does not tarnish the inscription of Classics, since the previous six winners will compete together: Yanira (2010, 2011 and 2013), Alba (2008 and 2012) and Argos (2009). In Marconi Époque, Manitou (2012) and Amorita (2008) will again try to register their names in the list of winners of the regatta. In Cangreja Époque we count on the last winner, Marigold, as well as Gipsy, which won it in 2008 and which, to revalidate the title, will have the incentive to compete against Moonbeam III, four times Big Boats winner, and against Moonbeam IV.
The sports program provides for three races, disputed in routes between buoys and the coast, depending on the wind conditions in the Barcelona regatta area and the RORC ratings computed under the time on distance system. The time scheduled for the first exit (Classics) is at 13 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday. Cangreja Époque and Marconi Époque will start right after.
The aroma of the original spirit
All these mythical pieces have one thing in common: despite their age, the different hands through which they have passed and the several reconstructions they have suffered, you can still breathe on their decks the scent of their original spirit. They are true gems of museum of navigation, equipped with nautical heritage and culture, which can nowadays keep navigating and can rarely be seen in big cities like Barcelona.
Also, a select group of these boats hides important and fabulous stories that make them different, either because they have participated in past wars or have some other owners, many of whom have been illustrious personalities. These include the Manitou –John F. Kennedy‘s Presidential boat–, the Moonbeam IV –where Rainier of Monaco and Grace Kelly spent their honeymoon– or Marigold, built in 1892 and a regular in the list of winners of the regatta last editions.
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