At the end of the 15th century Cristóbal Colón opened a new maritime route that since the beginning of the sports nautical, has been and is present as a challenge for many sailors. The Canary Islands of the New Continent are separated by approximately 2,800 nautical miles. The completion of the adventure can take between 20 and 35 days, in normal conditions of wind and sea, if the time of the year in which the toilets are in shape is chosen.

Those who bet on the adventure are thousands (even more than 4,000 yachts are spoken of per season), and obviously after they have emphasized in the ports of the Andalusian provinces of Huelva or Cadiz they begin the perich to complete the prelude of their marine feat: to reach the Canary Islands, from which they will give days later the jump to the legendary Caribbean.

Theoretically the currents and the alisies make up a kind of highway of more than five thousand carometers, but not always everything is pleasure and fun, as the seasons can appear and will make the navigation not all as pleasant as it seems at first. In the 1980s, the Galician catamaran "La Santa María" took part in the Route of the Discovery, which had José María García Lastra as its patron, as well as Javier de la Gandara, Juan Zarauza and Miguel Lago. The last part of the route was especially hard, in the middle of a cyclone with hurricane winds and waves of more than eight meters.

For this reason there are not few sailors who bet to make the journey in "conserved," either in agreed expeditions or participating in ocean-like races, such as the Atlantic Rally for Cruiser, which begins in November in the port of Las Palmas and leads to the beautiful island of Saint Lucia. Another of the competitive concentrations is the Atlantic Grand Prix Regata, which since 1996 has organized the Skipper Magazine with Enrique and follows Curt in command.

Enrique Curt raising his right arm after crossing the line of arrival in Puerto del Rey. The Catalan veteran and businessman is essential to understand the nautical in recent decades (Photo Skipper)

In the ninth edition held this year in January and February, the Mallorcan ship "Carat" (Swan 44r) was proclaimed winner, armed by Amador Magraner of the Royal Nautical Club Port Pollença.

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