Puig Vela Clàssica Barcelona 2026 - Overall
by Covadonga Muñoz 12 Jul 02:55 PDT
9-11 July 2026
19th Puig Vela Clàssica Barcelona © Nico Martínez
A sailing boat that won regattas 100 years ago repeats its victory in the Big Boat category of the Puig Vela Clàssica Barcelona
The Puig Vela Clàssica Regatta furls its sails until 2026 after another successful edition that reaffirms its position as one of the great international events in classic sailing. Over four days, more than 45 vessels from a dozen countries and nearly 400 sailors have turned the waters of Barcelona into a unique showcase of maritime heritage, competition and nautical tradition.
With Hallowe'en, Yanira, Clarionet, Odysseus, Varuna VII, Ándale, Le Temps Perdu and Legolas as winners of their respective categories, the regatta bids farewell to a year marked by high sporting standards, the presence of centenarian vessels and the coexistence of great historic classics and new interpretations of traditional navigation.
Once again, Barcelona has demonstrated its capacity to bring together some of the most admired jewels of the international circuit and offer a spectacle that transcends competition to become a living celebration of sailing history.
A final day marked by wind and swell
The Levante wind (90º, East) allowed the final race of the Puig Vela Clàssica regatta programme to be contested and, thus, completed two of the three scheduled races, after the first day was cancelled due to lack of wind.
Today the Barcelonan race course presented very technical conditions due to a heavier swell than yesterday, with a short, choppy sea and some waves reaching one and a half metres in height, which affected the small and medium-sized boats more, and offered beautiful images of "foam moustaches on the bows" due to the pitching of the vessels. The wind blew at an intensity of 14 knots at the start of the starting sequence, and dropped during the course of the race to about 11-12 knots. The regatta covered 13.28 miles.
Designed with 4 legs, the race committee established an initial windward clearing leg of one mile in distance, followed by the fleet sailing a reach of about 2 miles, then a long windward leg of 3.3 miles, followed by a long run of 4.3 miles before a final beat to the finish line of 3.2 miles. Additionally, the race committee opted for a special course for the Gaffer class, limiting it to 2.5 miles in distance.
Classics: The final miles decide the titles
A very tight finish in Classics 1, a category in which Yanira (RCN Barcelona) and the French Eugenia V (SN Saint Tropez) swapped yesterday's results. Consequently, they tied at three points, but Yanira's victory in the final race contested broke the tie in its favour. Leonardo García's Nerissa (RC Marítim Barcelona) repeated third position in today's race and confirmed the final step of the podium. The French Beg Hir, skippered by Jean Jaques Vitoux, also confirmed its fourth place, as did the local Bakea, with Mònica Xufre and Ernest Casanova, taking fifth place.
In Classics 2, yesterday's results were repeated, with the British Clarionet, owned by Andrew Harvey, giving no options to its rivals, winning today with a 17:42 minute advantage over Enrique Curt's Sea Fever (CN Vilanova). Lucas Krauel's Asu (RCN Barcelona) was third, Baltar (CN León) fourth and Malamok (RC Marítim Barcelona) fifth, completing the roll of honour.
Another partial victory in Classic-IOR for Juan Meseguer's Odysseus (RCN Barcelona), beating the French Algol V (CN Estartit) by 6:17 minutes in corrected time after two hours of sailing. The partial triumph for Odysseus ensured its victory in the general classification, totaling two points against its direct rival's 4.
An interesting downwind leg for the Modern-Classics Melmac and Legolas, who were able to squeeze the maximum out of their performance and distance their rivals significantly in today's race. Once again, Jens Rickie's German Legolas (RCN Palma) got the better of the category's youngest member, Belén García Guillén's Melmac (RCN Barcelona), by 1:40 minutes after time compensation.
The order was identical to yesterday, meaning the German boat climbed to first place overall with two points to Melmac's four. In its wake, the American Victoria (YC San Diego) repeated third position and held the podium. Then Jordi Gallés's Roxanne and Jordi Puig's Phidias swapped yesterday's order, tying at 9 points, but Roxane made its better result today count to overtake Phidias.
Big Boats: Hallowe'en turns the scoreboard around with a great performance
An intense finish in the majestic Big Boats fleet, where Inigo Strez's Hallowe'en won today's race and the overall title, as the third place of the previous leader, Tim Hartnoll's Cariad, dropped it to second overall with four points, one more than the winner. Gael I slipped into second today, but its five total points kept it on the third step of the podium. Sumurun repeated its fourth place both in the race and the final classification.
Today two boats, Albert Comas's Raptus and Nelson Hausmann's Le Temps Perdu, completed and placed in this order in the Vintage Gaffer class. This order was reversed in the final table, where the two boats from the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona were the only ones capable of finishing at least one of the two races contested.
In Bermudian 1, the absence of the early leader Argyll allowed Jens Kellinghusen's Varuna VII to win the race of the day with a 4-minute margin over Germán Frers's Recluta, ranking in this same order in the final scoreboard, while Griff Rhys's Argyll settled for third position overall.
There were significant changes in Bermudian 2: Karl Criscolo's French Ándale, second yesterday, stormed the lead today by winning the race of the day, combined with the "slip-up" of the previous leader (Ricardo Albiñana's Islander), who finished fourth today and dropped to second place overall.
Ernesto Dominguez's Perla also improved one position thanks to today's second place to complete the podium, after breaking the tie at six points with Manel López Wright's Almaran New York.
Eighty years later, the dream came true
Few boats in the Puig Vela Clàssica fleet hide a story as singular as that of Recluta. Its origin dates back to 1942, when the original sailboat, a 1901 ketch built by Camper & Nicholsons in England, was wrecked on the Argentine coast during an ocean regata between Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata. After the accident, the prestigious naval designer Germán Frers Senior drew new plans inspired by that vessel, but the project was never built and remained stored for decades.
The story took an extraordinary turn when, almost eighty years later, Germán Frers Junior, considered one of the world's most influential naval designers, decided to rescue those historic plans and finally turn them into reality. The new Recluta was built in Argentina between 2017 and 2021 by local naval artisans, maintaining the lines devised by his father in the 1940s and becoming a deeply emotional project for the whole Frers family.
Zelmira Frers, the designer's daughter, documented the process in a book recounting the reconstruction of this authentic nautical legend. Thus, Recluta represents the meeting of three generations: the Germán Frers who drew the plans in the middle of World War II, the Germán Frers who materialised them eight decades later and a new generation tasked with preserving and spreading its legacy.
Its relationship with the Puig Vela Clàssica is also noteworthy. In the 2024 edition, it was proclaimed winner of the Classics 1 category, beating reference vessels such as Yanira and Kahurangi and confirming its competitiveness against some of the most established names in Mediterranean classic sailing.
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