30 sailboats will start from the Bay of Altea at 12 o’clock this Friday in the “200 mile a2” races, which is considered to be the harshest winter in the Mediterranean as it exposes sailors to harsh weather conditions. It has been organized by Club Náutico de Altea since 1987 with the same route: Altea-Ibiza-Formentera-Altea. The race counts towards the Spanish A2 Cruiser Championship and will mark the start of the A2 World Championship to be held in Barcelona in September.
Two-crew sailboats from the provinces of Valencia, Alicante, Toledo and Palma de Mallorca will join four mixed-crew boats for the first time in version 37. This Thursday from Club Náutico de Altea noted that “cruise sailing is starting to have more female participation in offshore regatta and this year’s ‘200 miles a2’ will feature Susanna Edelman, Nerea Goikoetxea and Elena Raga from Torrevieja. and with Mallorcan Neus Poncell”.
On the other hand, Club Náutico de Altea will offer a 100-seat catamaran free of charge to its members, officials, Altea residents and fans in order to see the boat races start from the sea. They stated from the club that “those wishing to have this experience will be at the club’s gas station next to Varadero at 11:00 am boarding time”.
The toughest winter race in the Mediterranean
The “200 miles a2” race is known for its harshness, given the winter conditions in the Mediterranean, and for the sailboats to be managed by two crews. “It was a time when advances in GPS location were yet to come, and many of the safety systems used in regatta today were not yet developed,” said Joaquim Such, director of the Altea Yacht Club, when regatta began in 1987. to exist. The adventure of traveling the distance that separates us from the sea in winter with two crews. pitius It was a pretty big risk that few were willing to take. Despite advances in navigation and nautical equipment for sailboats today, this regatta is still within reach of only a few people. And the challenge remains to finish the race, not to get on the podium.”
This showed that by 2022 “1,748 boats raced a total of 7,200 miles”. And in this edition, he emphasized that “sailor Juan Merediz will participate with his boat, Reale Seguros, and will use the boat race as preparatory training for the nonstop world tour project in the Global Solo Challenge regatta, a test this year celebrating its first edition”. Merediz will put several new parts of his boat to the test and “make the first real test at the 200-mile a2,” he said.
24 hour challenge
Once again this year, the organization is launching the “24 Hour Challenge”, which has encouraged participants to complete the race in under 24 hours since the start of the boat race.
The manager of Altea Yacht Club said, “In 36 years, this record has not yet been broken, but it is not impossible as there have been boats on the brink of achieving it several times. In addition, the ‘Competition’ allows the participation of boats that do not have an ORC measurement certificate due to their technical characteristics and can participate in the competition. Currently, the speed record has been invested in the ‘Plis-play’ boat, which was held for the 18th time in 2004, with a time investment of 25 hours 33 minutes 55 seconds.
He explained thus, the boats will “set out from Altea towards the foot of Ibiza on the starboard side, leave Formentera on the starboard side and return to Altea. It is expected that the first participants will start arriving from the afternoon-evening hours of Saturday, March 4th. “Boats with ORC Measurement Certificate of 9 meters and above and Mini Series and Prototype Class Boats participate in this race.”
On the other hand, the club manager stated that the “Cup for Clubs” is on the agenda again for the 37th time. This trophy “first debuted seven years ago, in the 30th edition of ‘200 miles a2’. The prize is awarded to the club whose team achieves the best results. To qualify for this trophy, the club must be represented by at least three boats, and the team with the lowest score after the three best-ranked boats have been added up will receive the prize. In this sense, Such stated that the clubs that will compete for this trophy this year will be “Real Club Náutico de Valencia, RCN Torrevieja, RCN Calpe and CN Altea”.
Similarly, Altea Yacht Club will award the three best times, as it has done since the start of the competition in 1987: two one-pound silver ingots for first place and two half-pound silver ingots for second place. and 2 quarter kilos of silver ingots for the third. However, since the start of this classic cruise, a total of 204 kilos of silver have been distributed to the winners of the 36 editions held.
Follow the race in real time
In order to add more excitement to the races and their competitors and to enjoy this sport, the participating boats will be able to be monitored via satellite by installing a GPS system. However, races can be followed in real time by visiting the website www.200millasa2.com on the internet or via the TracTrac app for IOS and Android mobile phones.