The 35th Palamós Optimist Trophy-18 Nations Cup is the great reference in the world of sailing, continues to increase the number of countries from 24 to 31, and maintains the maximum number of 550 boats, the limit set by the organization in charge of the Club Nàutic Costa Brava/Vela Palamós, which confirms it as the largest regatta in the world in the open sea.
This great spectacle of sailing is held from 12 to 16 February in the waters of the Bay of Palamos, with the participation of sailors from three continents America, Asia and Europe and countries as far away as the United States, Canada, Brazil, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and as diverse as Tajikistan.
This Wednesday February 12 at 17.30 will take place a parade with departure from the Arboleda, Cervantes Street, Main Street and arrival at the Village located in the Platja Gran, where the official presentation and welcome to the participants will be made.
The Palamós Optimist Trophy is the largest open sea regatta in the world, only surpassed by the Lake Garda Meeting Optimist Class that has a thousand, which is held in the waters of Lago di Garda, but with a different concept, since not all boats compete at the same time. In Palamós they do, with five consecutive starts for each race.
The following countries will participate in the Palamós Optimist Trophy: Germany (1), Andorra (1), Belgium (7), Brazil (2), Canada (1), Costa Rica (1), Croatia (18), Denmark (1), Great Britain (13), Slovenia (3), Spain (181), United States (42), Estonia (6), Finland (13), France (122), Hungary (18), Italia (41), Latvia (3), Lithuania (1), Malta (1), Norway (1), Netherlands (18), Poland (23), Puerto Rico (1), Czech Republic (1), Romania (1), Switzerland (59), Sweden (29), Tajikistan (1), Turkey (43) and Ukraine (3).
New for last year are Andorra, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Puerto Rico, Romania and Tajikistan.
It is worth mentioning the participation of two podiums at the European Optimist Championship 2024, the continental champion, the Croatian Vita Erceg and the bronze, the Italian Jesper Karlsen.
The 2024 edition was won by the Catalan Iker Múgica (CN Cambrils), who this year has made the jump in the ILCA class. Among the favorites are also Catalan Juan Lleonart (CN Lo Balís), reigning champion of the Optimist Spanish Cup and second in the recently held Euromarina Trophy in Torrevieja and the two winners of the City of Palma Trophy, the Mallorcans Jan Palou and Lluc Bestard (RCN Palma).
The CN Costa Brava/Vela Palamós team, coached by Alex Collins, will be formed by two sailors: Gabriela Lugo, Alexia Aquise.
Being the overall winner of a 550-boat regatta is within the reach of very few. In this case, being a children’s class, and with the changes of category the older than 13 years to youth classes, makes it difficult for a sailor to defend the title of the previous year, the only one to get it in the 31 editions held has been the Latvian Martin Atilla, in 2018 and 2019. Among the illustrious winners there are the Olympic medalist to Tokyo 2020, Joan Cardona, winner in 2012 and the 29er world champion, Carlos Robles, 29er world champion and 2010 and the Nacra 15 world champion Daniel Garcia de la Casa in 2022.
All the races will be held on a single race course, which is practically the same as a Christmas Race – in which there are two – but in this case, with such a large number of boats and the fact that the participants are smaller, security measures are taken to the utmost.
On the water, everything has to work like clockwork, and the Race Committee has to be attentive when it comes to giving starts, since the program includes three races per day in each of the five groups, which means a total of 15 daily starts of 110 boats each.
Sustainable Regatta
The Palamós Optimist Trophy, just like the Christmas Race, is a CLEAN REGATTA, recognized by the international association Sailors for the Sea.
The Vela Escolar has also been registered with Sailors for the Sea as an educational project focused on sustainability. The Palamós International Optimist Trophy is listed as a Clean Regatta on the Sailors for the Sea website and has proposed a series of measures to make the regatta more sustainable.
For several years now, the Palamós International Optimist Trophy has been an environmentally-conscious regatta, which is why various actions related to sustainability will be carried out, such as Paper Less, Be One With the Sea, No Plastics, Green Regatta, and Sailors for the Sea.
In recent editions, plastic has been completely eliminated, and there has been a focus on using refillable bottles through water fountains placed around the club.
En español | La campeona y el bronce europeos estarán en el 35º Palamós Optimist Trophy
