Before the dispute of the America’s Cup, the great nautical event of the year that Barcelona will host, in the waters of the Catalan capital the Conde de Godó BMW Sailing Trophy will be held between May 29 and June 2, one of the “most consolidated and oldest regattas in the Mediterranean”, whose 51st edition was presented this Tuesday at the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona.
The competition will host “between 60 and 70 participants”, which means there will be more than 500 sailors representing 13 countries. “It is one of the most consolidated and oldest regattas in the Mediterranean. It is a demonstration of the capacity that this regatta and Barcelona have to attract vessels in the cruise category. We are turning Barcelona into the nautical capital that we all want it to be,” explained the president of the RCNB, Jordi Puig, together with the vice president of the club, Anna Godó, and surrounded by the hundreds of boats that float in Barcelona’s Port Vell.
The event, held in a festive atmosphere and surrounded by the many historical memories collected in the centenary yacht club, brought together representatives of Catalan sailing. “We will be lucky to be able to sail with them, they will be training around us,” Puig added about “the pleasure of seeing the contrast of the flying boats of the America’s Cup with the classic cruisers that participate in the Godó.”
Among the categories that encompass the new edition of the Godó, with the ORC 0-1 being the queen class, the RCNB commodore, Pablo Garriga, highlighted the inclusion this year of the youngest with a representation of Optimist, a “commitment to the future and a way to introduce them to the highest level regattas with the aim of creating a talent pool.”
“We need to create a base, people who sail, so that in the future they can do a regatta of such a high level as the one we have in Barcelona and Catalonia,” Xavier Torres, president of the Catalan Sailing Federation, expressed along the same lines. He also highlighted the Conde de Godó Trophy as “a benchmark” and “one of the most important regattas in the Mediterranean.”
For his part, David Escudé, Barcelona Sports Councilor, thanked those involved in the organization of the Conde de Godó Trophy for their commitment because without them “the Copa del América would have no meaning” and, in addition, he wanted to take advantage of the reception of the regatta par excellence to look to the future.
“We have to start talking about what we want to happen after the Copa del América. The 1992 Olympic Games were not only important for the organization of the event, but for what they caused afterwards. We want to organize another America’s Cup again and for nautical sports to be seen as a regular, normal and local sport,” concluded the representative of the Consistory.
