20 APR: CBYA MEMBERS PARTICIPATE IN THE 37TH RUTA DE LA SAL REGATTA.
Published 22:00 on 20 Apr 2025
CBYA member Beatriz Real registered Hornija, her First 29 sailboat, for the Mini Sal variant of the Ruta de la Sal, a 55-miles offshore regatta from RCN Denia to CN Sant Antoni de Portmany in Ibiza. It was her first regatta as skipper and for the challenge she selected an all-lady crew of four, including the also CBYA members Isabel González and Saskia Dormaar.
The Ruta de la Sal is a traditional regatta with the peculiarity that it has two start lines, one in Denia and one in Barcelona, but only one finish line in Sant Antoni. The start of the regatta takes place at 14:00 every Easter Thursday.
During the skippers meeting, everyone was informed that all boats were to leave the port in a small time window between 12:15 and 12:45 so as to avoid hindering the Balearia ferries manouevers. This gave the Hornija crew the opportunity to practice plenty of tacking and jibing, which was very welcome since it was the first time they sailed together as a crew. Due to the strong gusts, they decided to start the regatta with one reef.
At 14:00, the small fleet of 18 Mini Sal participants, set course for Sant Antoni. The winds were very favorable: force 3 to 4, northerly for the first few miles, turning to southwesterly for the rest of the race. That allowed for a full-sail beam reach course all the way to the island of Ibiza, so no spinnaker stress or excitement. On the way, we encountered an enormous fleet of Velellas (tiny jellyfish that have little sails sticking out above the water line), and dolphins. Most of the maneuvering only took place in the final miles, when the Hornija entered the bay of Sant Antoni where the wind kept rolling. Finding the finish line at night became a feat in itself, but at 23:37 Hornija succesfully finished the regatta. Despite all the odds (first regatta for the skipper, first time the crew sailed together, being the only all-lady crew, finding bananas had been smuggled onboard) Hornija achieved an amazing 15 out of 18 in the Mini Sal Regatta.
Last updated 16:51 on 1 July 2025
