“This Conde de Godo Trophy is undoubtedly destined to reach high sporting heights in Spanish sailingâ€. This is how Juan Pardo concluded the last of the four chronicles that La Vanguardia dedicated to the first edition of this new competition held between April 28 and May 1, 1974. In this way, the dream of Carlos de Godó y Valls was fulfilled, Count of Godó, who after dedicating his best moments of leisure to the sea decided to establish the trophy that has carried his last name for 50 years when he assumed the presidency of the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona.
To this end, he bequeathed a majestic trophy made by the prestigious Domènech and Soler-Cabot jewelry workshops, as he had already done with the Conde de Godó Tennis Trophy, and signed a perpetual contract, which has as an unavoidable condition that the regatta, of a International and open to different kinds of boats, it is always held within the club, with Barcelona as the venue.
For that initial regatta, the organization chose the Dragon class, with which the then-Prince Juan Carlos had competed two years earlier in the Munich Olympic Games after previously winning two Spanish Championships aboard the legendary Fortuna. The first race course was marked out next to the old mouth of the port of Barcelona and brought together a large fleet. After four disputed days and strict arbitration that aroused international interest, the Presumido prevailed, skippered by Francisco Blasco, with Francisco Viudes and JoaquÃn Cuatrecasas as crew members.
That wink from the regatta with the heir to the head of state who was to bring democracy to Spain soon had a reward. Two years later, in one of his first major social events as King, Don Juan Carlos did not hesitate to join the crew of the Bribón II, armed and skippered by José CusÃ, winner of the second edition of the regatta with his first Rascal. In 1978 he accepted the honorary presidency of the club that his grandfather, Alfonso XIII, had already held. Thus began a long and fruitful history between Barcelona, ​​the Conde de Godó Trophy, the Head of State -who attracted his children Felipe and Cristina with him- and the different sagas of the Bribón, which turned this event into a benchmark both for the sail as for Catalan and Spanish social life.
“The King connected perfectly with the city and Catalan society and here he felt the freedom of being another sailor. After winning several editions and seeing how the winners of the other classes that were competing went to the press room to talk about the regatta, one day he told me that he also wanted to appear at a press conference to analyze his victory. I could not deny. The surprise was both from the journalists and from the protocol service of the Royal House, who could not believe what was happening. It is something that has only happened in Godóâ€, recalls Josep Margalef, one of the former press officers for the event.
From then on, the regatta was opened to different classes and summoned more and more sailors, both professional and amateur, to achieve that social character that it has managed to preserve up to the present, adopting the various national and international measurement standards that have existed since then (IOR, IMS, IRC and RN) so that boats of different length, displacement and rig can compete on equal terms in the compensatory time modality.
“If one thing defines the Godó it is that it is a club regatta, which has known how to adapt over the years to different fashions and classes without ever losing its strong social character. Here, the members have always competed with top-level international sailors and the most cutting-edge fleets, without complexes and in perfect harmonyâ€, explains Cisco Soldevila, one of the historical figures of the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona and of the regatta, who has the honor having won seven editions skippering six different boats over three decades. “Getting to win with boats that were not mine and then I have been trying to improve. What I have not changed is the crew, always amateur, but very goodâ€, he adds.
However, that social character that has made the Conde de Godo Trophy a true party at sea has always been accompanied by the ambitious sporting spirit that the different boards of directors of the club have been able to imprint on the regatta throughout its history. After demonstrating its level in its first editions, the regatta became the qualifying event for Spanish teams for the main European cruise regattas, such as the Sardinia Cup in Porto Cervo or the Admiral’s Cup in Plymouth. That is to say, a kind of Spanish Championship in pectore of the classes in contention.
Godó was also the model for the creation of the Copa del Rey that takes place in the bay of Palma – not surprisingly, the event has already reached Mallorca in its second edition, with a Barcelona-Andratx-Barcelona regatta and several coastal sleeves – and inspired two other legendary regattas organized by the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona: the Ermenegildo Zegna Trophy and the Freixenet Regatta, which together with Godó constituted the so-called Triple Crown of Spanish cruiser sailing for a decade. The Conde de Godó Trophy was also a pioneer in incorporating into the competition a flotilla of classic and vintage boats that were the seeds of the renowned Puig de Vela Clásica Regatta that has been held every summer in Barcelona since 2008.
In the field of high competition, the test has also cited in several of its editions the spectacular fleets of the Audi MedCup circuit, one of the most important in the world, which set its sights on Barcelona and Godó to make it one of the their stops with their spectacular TP52 and GP42, with crews made up of the world’s elite in sailing. Likewise, the regatta featured the bold Soto40 and the gigantic and technological Wally. More modest, but converted into the soul of the race for two decades, the Platú 25, the J80 and the J70 stand out, boats less than 10 meters in length that star, like their older sisters, in the exciting competitions in real time .
The Godó has also been the regatta for the most legendary Spanish cruiser sailing boats, such as the different versions of the Bribón, which have worn the Real Club Naútico de Barcelona pennant until they “retired†in their great regatta; the saga of Sirius de la Armada, great animator of the first editions; the Azur de Puig, winner in 2003 with the Infanta Cristina at the helm; the Aifos of King Felipe VI, another of the regulars of the competition; José Ferrer’s Freixenet, Fernando León and Quico Sánchez’s CAM or Rafa Carbonell’s Rats on Fire, the boat and skipper who, together with his crew, have marked the last years of the regatta, overtaking Juan Carlos de Borbón and his rascals in the palmares.
Known at the club as the Rafa Nadal of sailing, Carbonell aspires to win his 14th Godó this year, two more than his namesake has on the clay of Barcelona, ​​although the same ones he boasts in Paris. “This regatta is not only special for me, but for all Spanish amateur sailing. It is a prize in itself. The secret to winning? The illusion. Well, now take Noluco Doreste as a tacticianâ€, explains Rafa de este Godó.