Tradition And Sport: Alcudia's Regatta

Puerto Alcudia has numerous associations with nautical sports and with boatmaking and restoration. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Alcudiamar marina - 25th in terms of when the marina's company was granted the concession to the moorings; 25 years of development that have brought several accolades and awards to one of Mallorca's leading "puertos deportivos".

Photos from the past show what was once just a pier that jutted out into the sea with nothing on it. The physical foundation of the marina required further human intervention in order to begin to make the marina what it has now become. And so, in 1968, the Club of Friends of Alcudia (nautical section) began the process that ultimately led to Alcudiamar.

The marina is one of the obviously visible signs of Alcudia's present-day nautical industry. This is an industry that has tumbled over into tourism in a very significant fashion. Alcudia, and the bay, have become one of the premier locations for sports tourism in Mallorca. A combination of initiative on behalf of Alcudia town hall and Alcudiamar (with some help from regional government) has realised ambitions to truly make the resort a centre for sports tourism, and sea-based sports tourism in particular.

In April this year, I spent some time chatting to Pep Hernàndez Forteza at the port's boat show. Pep, or "Bibi" to give him his nickname, is a boat restorer, a qualified shipwright, of whom there are very few nowadays in Mallorca, who operates out of a workshop tucked away in the Manresa area. I mention him because next week the associations I referred to above - nautical sports and restoration - come together. The Trofeo Almirante Conde de Barcelona regatta will once more take place in the bay of Alcudia.

The origins of the regatta lie with restoration and with the creation of the Hispania Foundation for Vintage Boats. Among the achievements of the foundation was the recovery of the yacht "Hispania". Ordered in 1909 by King Alfonso XIII, it was being used as a floating home at West Mersea in Essex. It was purchased by the foundation, refitted, was able to take to the sea again and to take part in regattas. A great deal of the work in restoring the yacht was undertaken by Astilleros de Mallorca in Palma.

The foundation was also responsible for creating the Trofeo Almirante Conde de Barcelona regatta. The regatta's name was taken from a great supporter of the foundation's efforts, Juan de Borbón, the father of Juan Carlos, the former king, who had been given the title of Count of Barcelona, a title which subsequently passed to Juan Carlos. Last year, Juan Carlos visited the "Hispania" and met its crew. The king may have abdicated but the spirit lives on. This year will be the 30th staging of the regatta.

In 2012, the regatta came to Alcudia for the first time. It had normally been held in Palma but also in Mahon in Menorca. Only once in its history, to coincide with the 1992 Olympics, has it been staged outside the Balearics - in Barcelona. Moving the regatta to Alcudia was a recognition of the status that the resort had acquired for nautical sports. Added to which was a further recognition - that of the advantageous sailing conditions in the bay.

In keeping with the philosophy of the foundation, the regatta is for vintage and classic boats. The vintage boats, either wooden or steel hulled, have to have been launched before the end of 1949. The classic boats date from between 1950 and 1974. In addition, there are boats built in the "spirit of tradition", i.e. ones which, despite the use of contemporary techniques, have similarities in appearance to vintage boats. The final class is that of the "vela latina", the triangular sail boat.

Originally, the regatta was solely for vintage boats. The first regatta was won by "Refanut" from Sweden. Since then, the winners of the vintage class have been dominated by boats from Spain and England. The last four winners have all been English, taking the English winning total to nine, three behind Spain. Other winners have come from Italy, Germany, France, the US and Peru. The classic boats trophy, in existence since 1999, has been the preserve of Spain, Italy and England.

The regatta starts on Thursday next week, the first race being at 1.30pm. Races on Friday and Saturday are at the same time, and there is a service by "golondrinas", i.e. the tourist boats, to enable the watching of the races. And what can be seen is unquestionably spectacular, as nautical sports, tradition and restoration come together in the bay of Alcudia.

Forty Years' Wait: Can Picafort

Of the northern resorts, Can Picafort can sometimes be overlooked because of the attention paid to its wealthier neighbour along the bay in Alcúdia or to that of the resort in the next bay of Pollensa. In one sense, this lesser attention has been justified. The Can Picafort marina does not match the grandeur of the Alcúdiamar or the splendour of Puerto Pollensa's yacht club. But things are changing in Can Picafort, and one of the more obvious changes is the presence of the new Club Náutico.

The story of the club is one that dates back many years. It was in fact founded in 1949 when a group of summer vacationers established the "Club Nàutic de Can Picafort". In the 1970s, the founding members of the club came up with a project for the development of the marina, one that was meant to have come to fruition the following decade. What the members hadn't bargained on was that funding problems led them to lose control over the project, of the marina and so of the possible development of the clubhouse.

The financial problems arose in 1972, leading to years of degradation of the marina. In 1985, work having been paralysed for all that time, the club's board sought the financial help of the tourism sector in the resort. A company, Puerto Deportivo de Can Picafort S.A. was formed, but there then followed more than two decades of legal dispute and further financial problems. These were such that the club was brought to the point of bankruptcy. It had a contract with the company, which comprised tourist businesses and hoteliers locally, to perform work on the marina's development. The lack of work that was done finally led the club, which held the concession for the marina all this time, to go to court, claiming breach of contract. Having been the concession holder, however, it was the club which was liable for costs and for fees for the marina's use, and not the contractor. It was these liabilities which nearly caused the bankruptcy.

In 2008, a court in Inca considered the case and a year later issued a ruling in favour of the club and against the contractor. The court ruled that the contractor should pay the mooring fees that the club had been paying. There were appeals - to the provincial court in Palma and then to the Balearics High Court. It ratified the decision of the Inca court. At the start of 2011, the contractor was instructed to vacate the port area completely. It was only then that serious work to improve the marina and to build the yacht club could begin.

Even then it wasn't all plain sailing, so to speak. Santa Margalida town hall opposed the building of the clubhouse, arguing that such a development was expressly forbidden under local planning regulations from way back in 1986. However, the Ports Authority gave permission, and its decisions countermand those of town halls.

Eventually, 41 years after the financial problems first arose, the Club Náutico building came into existence.

The tortuous and tangled story of the club acts as a prologue for what is taking place this weekend. Can Picafort now has its club and it wants to make itself better known as nautical sports destination, just in the same way as Puerto Alcúdia - especially Puerto Alcúdia - has over the past few years. Any disagreement that there was between the town hall and the club has been set to one side. They are both engaged in promoting this weekend's first Nautical Sports Fair and Gastronomy (calamari) Fair.

The fair is, therefore, a celebration of the hoped-for future of Can Picafort as a nautical sports resort and of that complicated past. Forty odd years is a long time to wait.

Programme in English: http://thehotguide.blogspot.com.es/2014/05/can-picafort-nautical-sports-and.html