The Fleur de Passion is the largest Swiss sailboat, a former dragamine ship of the German army, built in 1941 and transformed into a sailboat in the 1970s (Photo Rosana Calvo)

The Mount Real Club de Yates welcomes these days in its pants to the Fleur de Passion, the 33-meter-long Swiss sailboat that has sailed around the planet for the last four and a half years replying the first round of the world of Magallanes and Elcano.

The Baionese club has been chosen by the Fondation Pacifique (the Geneva-based non-profit organization leading the Ocean Mapping Expedition), as a scale in the final stages of sailing, which will continue tomorrow to Lisbon, Faro and Cádiz. During his stay at Monte Real, the boat has remained open to the public who would like to visit it and the students of the Club's School of Sailing have been able to know more in detail its characteristics, getting on board and listening to the explanations of the crew.

The main objective of the Fleur de Passion on its journey around the world is to provide data on the impact of man on the oceans, while at the same time trying to raise awareness of the need to implement actions to avoid its deterioration. Microplastics, sound pollution, greenhouse gases or the health status of coral reefs are some of the problems that were addressed on the different sailboat scales.