· The Monte Real Club de Yates hosted this Friday the official presentation of the ABANCA 52 SUPER SERIES · BAIONA SAILING WEEK that will be held in the Rías Baixas for a whole week starting this Saturday
· Three American teams, two English, one German, one Turkish, one South African and a ninth Thai will compete in the first round of the season of the most important monohull circuit in the world
· The nine sailboats valued at more than 22 million euros are waiting in the waters of the bay of Baiona for the crews to take them out this weekend to carry out the first training sessions prior to the regattas
· Some of the teams have recruited the most outstanding strategists of the Galician nautical scene to help them better understand the navigation area, the winds and conditions that can be found
· The economic impact that this sporting event sponsored by ABANCA and Turismo de Galicia through the Xacobeo will have in the Val Miñor region is valued at more than two million euros
Two years after the announcement that Galicia would be the new venue for the circuit and after having overcome the worst moments of the COVID pandemic, which forced its celebration to be postponed for a year, the most important monohull circuit in the world, the prestigious 52 SUPER SERIES , hoists its sails in Baiona.
Starting tomorrow, Saturday and for a whole week, the ABANCA 52 SUPER SERIES · Baiona Sailing Week, organized and officially presented this Friday by the Monte Real Club de Yates, will bring together nine international teams : three North Americans (Sled, Quantum Racing and Interlodge), two English (Alegre and Gladiator), one German (Platoon), one Turkish (Provezza) and one Thai (Team Vayu).
The nine sailboats that will enter the competition, each valued at more than two and a half million euros, will be led by their millionaire owners, businessmen from different sectors united by their love for sailing and top competition. They are Doug DeVos, Austin and Gwen Fragomen, Takashi Okura, Andy Soriano, Tom Langley, Ergin Imre, Hasso Platner, and Tom and Kevin Whitcraft.
In each of the SUPER SERIES campaigns in which they participate, these owners They invest close to two million euros , which they allocate to research and development of technologies for their boats and to hire the best sailors, including Olympic medalists, world champions and America’s Cup winners.
Among this select group of athletes there is a small but outstanding number of Spanish sailors . People like Xabi Fernández (Gladiator), Joan Vila and Pedro Mas (Interlodge), Juan Meseguer, Joan Fullana and Nacho Postigo (Provezza), and Jordi Calafat, Javier Plaza, Víctor Mariño and Pablo Torrado (Platoon). These last two, Mariño and Torrado, will act as ambassadors in their land, since they are both Galician.
Galicia will be present in the competition through them and also thanks to the signing, by certain teams, of some of the best regatta strategists in the Galician estuaries , such as Pablo Iglesias, Gonzalo Araujo or Antonio Otero, among others. They will be in charge of giving the teams that have hired them the keys to better understand the navigation area, the winds and the conditions that can be found in the Cíes Islands anchorage.
The Atlantic Islands National Park will be the main venue for the tests, which will last from next Tuesday the 24th to Saturday the 28th, after the free practice sessions on Saturday the 21st and Sunday the 22nd; and the official training on Monday 23.
The nine boats in competition will compete in windward-leeward tasks between buoys , with four sections (two upwind and two downwind), and a total distance that will move between one and a half miles and two nautical miles.
There is also the possibility that one day the windward-leeward will be changed for a coastal regatta through the Rías Baixas, with a route yet to be determined. Both in one type of test and in the other, the boat that completes them first wins, without any type of time compensation.
This real-time competition , without any type of final adjustment, is the one that most attracts the crews and the one that will make the regattas more attractive and exciting for the public. With practically identical boats, which follow fixed measurement rules (sail area, length, beam, displacement, draft, mast height and weight), the innovations that have been applied to the boats and the expertise of the crews will be the ones that mark the differences, although these will be practically minimal and the victories will be very disputed.
The ABANCA 52 SUPER SERIES · Baiona Sailing Week, presented this Friday at the Monte Real Club de Yates, will be theThe first of the five TP52 events in 2022 : Baiona in May, Cascais (Portugal) in June, Puerto Portals in July, Scarlino (Italy) in September and Barcelona in October. It will also be the first time that the competition has landed in Galician waters, and it will do so in a very special year, a decade after its creation, in 2012.
The sporting event, sponsored by ABANCA and Turismo de Galicia through Xacobeo , and supported by the Pontevedra Provincial Council and the Baiona City Council, will leave an economic impact on the Val Miñor region valued at 2 million euros. Accommodation, restaurants, facilities, transport, logistics, nautical or design companies are some of the sectors that have benefited from the arrival of the 52 SUPER SERIES in Galicia.
“When I was chosen to preside over Monte Real, I assumed with our partners the commitment to rewrite a new chapter in the history of Spanish sailing, and that is precisely what we are doing here today, bringing to Galicia one of the most important circuits of the world. Organizing the ABANCA 52 SUPER SERIES · BAIONA SAILING WEEK has been a challenge for the club. Our people have been doing their best for months so that everything turns out perfect, and we have no doubt that it will. The responsibility and commitment that characterize Monte Real, and the unique environment that Baiona, the Rías Baixas and Galicia will offer are, without a doubt, guarantees of success. We’ll see it in a few days and I’m sure we’ll remember it for years to come.”
José Luis Álvarez President of the Monte Real Yacht Club
“Baiona is a very attractive place for the owners of the SUPER SERIES because it is a new place in which they have not competed and because the area is spectacularly beautiful. Those were two of the main reasons why we chose the Monte Real proposal to celebrate one of the circuit’s phases here, the inaugural stage of our tenth anniversary. The logistics have not been easy, but we are sure that it will be a great show. Sailing conditions at this time of year are good and the crews are ready to give everything on the water”
“From ABANCA we have been collaborating with the Monte Real Yacht Club for years and this time, with this great event, it was not going to be less. The tenacity, professionalism and rigor with which they always do things in this club will allow us to transmit the best image of Galicia to the whole world. We understand the sport in a transversal way, from the grassroots to top-level competitions like this one, and we are proud of them. This occasion is even more special, if possible, because we will not only spread the sporting potential of our country, but also the rest of the wonders of our land”
Gabriel González Eiroa Executive Director ABANCA Commercial Network
“Sailors from all over the world, from the five continents, participate in this event and will be great ambassadors of the Xacobeo, of the Camino de Santiago and of our land in their countries of origin and in the ports where they sail. Many visit us for the first time and I have no doubt that they will soon return to Galicia accompanied by their family and friends”
Marta Fernández-Tapias Delegate in Vigo of the XUNTA DE GALICIA
“The Monte Real is now a benchmark not only at a national level but also worldwide and the Pontevedra Provincial Council could not fail to support it, as we have always done. Our commitment to sport is constant and with this type of event we not only position ourselves at the world epicenter of sailing, but we also project the best image of Galicia”
Gorka Gómez Deputy for Sports of the PONTEVEDRA COUNCIL
“Thanks to the 52 SUPER SERIES for having trusted the Monte Real Club de Yates and for having opted for Baiona, the most beautiful town in the world. This competition is a great challenge for the club and also for Baiona and we will be up to it. The future is up to us to write it ourselves, and we will do it together”
Carlos Gómez · Mayor of the CITY COUNCIL OF BAIONA
“Anyone who wants to can enjoy the competition because there will be a large screen installed in the area of La Palma to see the end of the SUPER SERIES in virtual reality and a shipping company that will offer the possibility of going out to sea to watch the regattas . What we want is everyone to have the opportunity to see this event that is unique in the world”
Ignacio Sánchez Otaegui Commodore of the MRCYB
((( Photos: Antía Martínez )))
