This typical Catalan boat will compete in the America’s Cup preliminary regatta
BARCELONA, 14 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The first preliminary regatta of the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona, which will take place in the Barcelona town of Vilanova i la Geltrú in September of this year, will include among the various regattas that will accompany the first major event of the AC37 one in which they will compete 210 ‘catalan skates’.
Registration for this ‘Patí Català de Vela’ exhibition regatta, which will be held between September 16 and 17, organized by the Club Pati Vela Barcelona, the Club de Mar Vilanova and the Club Maritim Cubelles, are already closed with those 210 boats.
Thanks to a record number of presence of these boats, the regatta that will be held on September 16 and 17, 2023 will have a total of 27 clubs from Catalonia, Andalusia or Valencia represented, but also from Germany, Austria and Belgium. The regatta will have a large female representation with 17 confirmed women, again a record number for Patí Català.
A phenomenon that does not go unnoticed by Grant Dalton, CEO of America’s Cup Events. “To be honest, I’m still trying to understand how they sail without a rudder and without a daggerboard. For me it’s a unique concept and I’m looking forward to meeting the sailors and seeing their technique in Vilanova i La Geltrú in September. I think it’s a record fleet of 210 boats, so it will be a very special regatta and will give a lot to talk about, not only among the fleet and the spectators, but also among the America’s Cup teams,” he acknowledged.
Five days a week, the Club Patí Vela Barcelona organizes midday outings aboard these traditional boats off the beaches of Barceloneta and Badalona, with the weekend regattas being very popular and disputed.
The origins of the skate go back to the 1870s and to Badalona beach, where fishermen stood on two hulls and rowed to check the nets. At the beginning of the 20th century, the paddles, similar to those of today’s canoeists, were replaced by oars and the boat was adapted for recreation and sometimes for regattas, with the crew sitting and rowing.
The ‘Patí Català’ is a beach catamaran 18 feet long and 5.24 feet wide, which is extremely popular. She has no rudder, no keel, no boom, and is controlled by painstaking adjustments to her swallowtail sail and exquisite use of body weight to steer her.