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 Bayonne.
Starting tomorrow, Saturday and for a whole week, the 52 Super Series Bayona Sailing Week, organized and officially presented this Friday by the Monte Real Club de Yates, will put nine international teams into contention: 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.
Son Doug DeVos, Austin y Gwen Fragomen, Takashi Okura, Andy Soriano, Tom Langley, Ergin Imre, Hasso Platner y Tom y Kevin Whitcraft.
In each of the Super Series campaigns in which they participate, these owners 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 medalists Olympians, world champions and Copa America 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. 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 astern), 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 competition in real time, 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.
“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 in the world. Organizing the 52nd Super Series Bayona Sailing Week has been a real challenge for the club. Our people have spent months making every effort to make sure everything turns out perfect, and we have no doubt that it will. The responsibility and commitment that characterize the Monte Real, and the unique environment that Baiona, the Rías Baixas and Galicia will offer are, without a doubt, guarantees of success. We will see it in a few days and I am sure we will remember it for years to come”, declared José Luis Álvarez · President of Monte Real Yate club
“Bayona is a very attractive place for the owners of the Super Series because it is a new place where 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”, explained Agustín Zulueta, CEO of the Circuit.
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