the Nautilus crew celebrating the arrival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Photo: Quique Curbelo

The Nautilus of the Spanish Navy, patronized by the corbeta captain Oscar Rodríguez García de la Rosa, has been the real-time winner of the first edition of the Discovities Race and therefore the winner of the Fernando de Magallanes Trophy, who took the first ship to cross the line of arrival located in the waters of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Manuel Batallán's Protein 65 (CN Sada) entered second position, just over five hours from the first.

The ship, based in Ferrol, was the fastest to cover the 731 miles that separate Lisboa-Cascais from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The Navy ship arrived in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in less than 5 days, at the end the time spent was 4 days, 23 hours, 46 minutes and 22 seconds.

The Nautilus crew were very happy with this victory in real time, as the crew over the race explained that "everything has gone very well. The ship has responded beautifully and so have the crew. In the first few hours we caught a few crouches off the Portuguese coast, but when we took the toilets we went down very quickly."

As for the Nautilus to be the winner of the Magellan Trophy, the corbeta captain said that "it was a great deal of illusion, especially for the young people, who are beginners, and they had the illusion of coming first and have achieved it. The professionals have been controlling, but it was they who took the boat there." The fact that it is a race of tribute to the Spanish and Portuguese armed forces explains that "the Navy must be there, supporting the candle. We have a new ship that I think can do it very well long and ocean races" and added that "we are the two largest countries in terms of discoveries and it is an honor to be able to pay tribute to them by haggling."

Manuel Batallán's Proteina 65 (CN Sada) crossing the line of arrival with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the background. Photo: Q. Curbelo

Manuel Batallan's Protein 65 (CN Sada), with Unai Basurko in the crew, crossed the line in second position in real after 5 days, 4 hours, 13 minutes and 4 seconds, and was first placed in compensated time in the ORC class with a difference of 1 hour, 29 minutes and 7 seconds above the Nautilus. In this class the Sao Gabriel of the Portuguese Mario Alfredo Silva Jara de Carbalho is to be classified and expected tomorrow.

The owner of Protein 65, Manuel Batallán, was very happy about how the journey had gone: "We have arrived in a very reasonable time taking into account the crew we are. That is, we have come very calm as it came with us Unai Basurko, which is a guarantee to be able to do it with a first-class navigator and an impressive partner."

The next ship, the Künga, is expected to arrive on Friday night to Saturday and the Sao Gabriel first thing in the morning.

The I Discoveries Race is an ocean race promoted by the European Sailing Brotherhood, organized by the Lisbon Naval Association, the Cascais Naval Clube, the Royal Nautical Club of Gran Canaria, with the sponsorship of Canela Marina Island, Golf & Beach Resorts.