Most sports have their Copa del Rey, this title is in all cases a transfer from the Royal House to the different national federations, which are in charge of organizing the competition. The most publicized and the one that generates the most following is the soccer one, but the sailing one –Copa del Rey Mapfre– has the honor of being the only one that counts among its sailors the king who gives it its name. Felipe de Borbón has participated in more than half of the editions, first as a prince and, since 2015, as a King, but he has never won it.
Organized since 1982 by the Real Club Náutico de Palma, it is probably the most real of all, since both the previous and the current monarch have participated continuously in it. Juan Carlos I did it for years aboard the Bribón, owned by the shipowner Josep Cusí, and Felipe VI with the boats of the Naval Regatta Commission, first it was in the different Sirius and currently he does it with the Aifos, and occasionally he did it on board from CAM together with Olympic medalist Fernando León.
Yesterday, as he did last Friday and as he is scheduled to do today, the King embarked on Aifos for intensive training ahead of the competition that begins tomorrow, Monday.
The nautical tradition in the Spanish royal family comes from Alfonso XIII, the first king who, more than a century ago, participated in regattas first in San Sebastián and then in Santander, first with the Giralda and then with the Hispania. His son Juan de Borbón followed the tradition and had another Giralda and later a Giraldilla. This last sailboat, now in other hands, continues to participate in classic sailing regattas such as the Puig Vela Clàssica, organized by the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona, or the King's Cup for Classic Boats at the Club Marítimo de Mahón.
King Juan Carlos won the Copa del Rey sailing five times, in 1984, 1985, 1993, 1994 and the last one, in 2000 with various sailboats all called Bribón n. It was always hand in hand with his great friend José Cusí, owner of all the rascals who year after year were modernized with new technologies and advances in the world of sailing. The King Juan Carlos-Cusí tandem promoted the cruising sail in Spain to take it to the top.
Felipe VI, however, is resisting victory in the Copa del Rey, and that he has had it in the palm of his hand on several occasions and two of the boats he has skippered have won it, but both did without the current king on board. As a prince he made his debut in 1984 as a crew member on the Sirius II. Three years later, he participated for the first time with Aifos at the hands of Jaime Rodríguez Toubes, with whom he maintains a relationship by sharing the helm of the Aifos 500. When the King is not on board, it is Admiral Toubes who steers the Armada ship's wheel.
In 2005, CAM won the Copa del Rey but that year the then-Prince competed aboard Aifos and, in 2008, the edition that Aifos won, he went the other way with Felipe de Borbón aboard CAM. The King is looking to get rid of the thorn this year with this TP52 Aifos, which a month ago already gave good feelings in the Trofeo de la Reina, in Valencia, where he finished second with Jaime Rodríguez Toubes and Chimo González Devesa exchanging at the helm. In the 41st Copa del Rey Mapfre, Aifos will face difficult rivals such as two of the winning boats of previous editions: Estrella Damm Sailing Team, owned by Luis Martínez Doreste, and HM Hospitales Hydra, owned by Fernando León.
