His passion Galicia, his life the sea (Photo of the WFE of Fisheries Industries)

I remember as if it was today when I personally met Alfonso Paz Andrade: elegant, exquisitely educated, cultured, with a lot of class... those who were fans of his father the unforgettable Valentine... and we lived those years when the students spoke in the Santiago of the 60- 70 Galeguist Party... of Seoane, of Castelao... we felt one way or another linked to the Paz Andrade family, to which we admitted.

The meeting was in the offices of Pescanova... the very simple reason: the company in which he worked within the fishing had run out of its flagship vessels... by being charted by that foggy Pescanova under the command of another of the essential entrepreneurs of the Galicia of the last century: José Fernández López... and seeking work.

Alfonso treated me as he treated his friends, so he considered me from the very first moment... and I will never be able to forget that what I am today, be it very much or little, I owe it essentially to his support and friendship.

He saw in my something special for me to work in sports nautical, and he offered me to be the manager of the Mount Real Club of Yates in Baiona, where I entered in early 1980 and I was in it until 2000. Under the baton of Rafael Olmedo, with his entire board of directors, and of course Paz Andrade in the front line, the Club became not the most beautiful (which already was) but one of the sign clubs of the international sailing, honouring his later missing name: Monte Real Club International de Yates.

But his love of the sea, he did not remain in his capacity as CEO of Pescanova, nor in that of Vice President of Mount Real. In one of his companies, Ibercisa, he was one of the brave ones who bet on nautical, marketing competition ships such as the Contention or the DB-1, representing in Spain one of the most prestigious sailing shops worldwide: Hood, or importing nautical clothes from countries as far away as New Zealand or Australia. And I know perfectly well, that I was doing it because the nautical started at Vigo, in Galicia... not for the pure and hard business... because it was far from that.

Not satisfied with the said, he dared to link Mount Real to the world's most important club: with the Royal Ocean Racing Club... the RORC. But it did not stay there, because it organized two Lymington- Baiona and a Cork- Baiona... and it also related them to its preferred race, to the Count of Gondomar Trophy... a legendary trophy that he won four times in a row! with his feared and fearful Ardora that he had in society with the also missing Julio González Babé, with whom he maintained great friendship.

The Ardora that began as a Puma 26 and ended up in a DB-1... had crew members out of the norm, such as Jaime Arbones (former president of the Royal Celtic Club and father of the exceptional bow the Libyan), Fernando Massó, Fernando Escalera, Miguel Lago, José Eraso, Gonzalo Romero... among others... who sailed in the two mentioned, as well as in the Contention-30 and Contention-33.

The greatest sporting challenge was the victory in its category at the Conde Godó Trophy in the waters of Barcelona 1979, which caused a sensation in those distant years.

His lovely wife, the British Elisabeth Taylor, helped him in not a few events with a taste cut on Galicia... I remember especially the several editions of the World Fisheries Fair, successful for Vigo and the entire fishing industry of Spain... and within them when he managed to get the Royal Band of Buckingham Palace, he made a historic viguese passageway making sound the "Puenteareas Passage..." amazing.

He could be talking many hours about Alfonso Paz Andrade, and his love for Galicia, his love for the professional sea, his love for the nautical, his love for the candle or even for the horse... today he has left us in such an unexpected way that we have been very surprised and sad.

I have to thank the tens and dozens of friends who have called me today, to inform me of the misfortune and to remind me that they knew that I was one of my best friends...

As campas da bella Erizana replicate so that my friend, our friend, may rest in peace... Alfonso Paz Andrade.

Manuel Pedro Seoane Cordal
ND Editor
Editor of Fisheries Industries 1982
Manager of the MRCY Baiona 1980-2000