The historic sailing regatta organised by the Club Marítimo de Mahón celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

The most popular event on the classic sailing circuit in Spain, the Copa del Rey Repsol de Barcos de Epoca, will once again fill Menorca with sails from the 27th to the 31st of August.

No one wants to miss this great historic sailing event and proof of this is that the big boats, the Big Boats, have been among the first to confirm their presence in this year's edition. Boats such as the Viveka, launched in 1929, or the Lady Anne, from 1912, have already made it clear that they will not miss the Copa del Rey de Clásicos 2024.

The event organised by the Club Marítimo de Mahón celebrates two decades of life this year and will see the city's port host more than fifty boats, making it the meeting point and reference point for classic sailing in Spain and one of the most important events on the Mediterranean circuit.

The regatta retains the four days of competition that were introduced for the first time last year at the express wish of the owners themselves, who asked the organisers for an additional day of racing as they wanted to enjoy an extra day of the event.

In any case, beyond the quantity, the Copa del Rey is characterised by the quality of its fleet. The regatta has legendary yachts in all classes. In 2023, the fleet flew the flags of 22 different countries and many of the participating yachts have already passed the century mark.

The Copa del Rey forms part, for the third year, of the most important classic sailing circuit in the Mediterranean, The Mediterranean Champions Cup, together with Les Régates Royales de Cannes, Vele d'Epoca di Imperia, Argentario Sailing Week, Les Voiles d'Antibes and the Illes Balears Clàssics del Club de Mar, which joins the circuit for the first time.

As in most of these classic sailing events, the fleet is divided into five categories, in accordance with the rules of the International Mediterranean Committee. Boats built before 1950 are considered Vintage and grouped according to whether their rig is Crab (trapezoidal) or Bermudian (Triangular). From that date until the end of the 1970s, the boats fall into the Classic division. The Spirit of Tradition and the Big Boats, large sailing boats, complete the fleet.

PROGRAMME

The 20th edition of the Copa del Rey Repsol, which enjoys the institutional collaboration of the Mahón Town Hall and the Consell de Menorca, will officially begin on the 27th of August, with the opening of the Race Office, the measurement of the boats and the registration of participants. On the same day, the press conference to present the event to the media and the skippers' meeting will take place.

The races will be held, with one per day and scheduled to start at 12.30 p.m., from the 28th to the 31st of August. On the last day, at 19.30 hours, the official trophy ceremony will take place in which the best boats of the competition will receive a well-deserved recognition in a party in which all the crews will participate.