Making sailing another school sport, like basketball or football, is the objective proposed by the Barcelona Capital Náutica Foundation (FBCN) and the Catalan Sailing Federation (FCV) with the creation of a Blue League that will begin with the start of the new school year. The new league of nautical schools will be one of the legacies of the celebration of the Copa América.
To take advantage of the promotion of the international competition that takes place in the waters of Barcelona until October, the FCV and the FBCN have proposed to increase the practice of sailing to make it more inclusive, train new generations and support and promote athletes and competitions. the support of the network of hundreds of clubs that exist in Catalonia. One of the brand new facilities put into service is the complete renovation of the Vela Municipal Center as part of the transformation of the Port Olímpic, which expands its services and plays a strategic role in promoting nautical activities among the inhabitants of Barcelona.
The commitment to popular pleasure is one of the vectors that guided the renovation of the Olympic Port opened for the 1992 Games. In addition to the commitment to the gastronomic balcony, whose restaurants are finalizing their preparations to open in mid-September, the managers of the facility, dependent on the company Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (BSM), emphasize that they have worked in a A berth pricing policy to favor sustainable vessels and shared ownershipamong other initiatives.
For his part, “Inclusive Sea’ is a sailing program that aims to help clubs, coaches and athletes with disabilities to ensure that the sport of sailing reaches everyone, without exception, and to guarantee that athletes can practice sailing with accessibility and autonomy. To achieve this, a series of actions will be carried out ranging from the promotion of adapted sailing; the acquisition of new users through a greater and better offer of sailing courses and activities for people of all levels of functional diversity; Technical staff will be trained in this area and greater support will be offered, in addition to the updating of good practice guides.
In the competitive field, the Mar Inclusivo program will organize practical training clinics and new competitions will be created to attract more users. In addition, support will be given to the promotion of athletes already established in this field and in organization of the Hansa Open Championship of Spain and the first Catalan Sailing Cup adapted to l’EscalaThis project will be carried out by the Fundació Alex, which will receive the necessary support for Catalan clubs so that they can have inclusive sailing among their range of activities.
Another agreement between the FBCN and the FCV provides for the continuation of ocean navigation of the sailors of the Mini class based on the Catalan coast, which has been very successful in recent times. The aim is to professionalize this class and attract more sailors. A greater connection with the programs carried out by the FCV in collaboration with the Catalan clubs will contribute to this, thanks to the fact that The Mini Base is now located at the Barcelona International Sailing Centre (BISC), located in the Port of Barcelona Forum.
The foil is one of the most important design innovations emerging in the sport of sailing. The use of these hydrofoils allows boats to fly over the water and sailors to enjoy new sensations. In fact, thanks to the growing interest in competitions such as the Copa América or the SailGP, more and more clubs and athletes are interested in foiling. In this context, the FoilCat project was born, with the aim of bringing this modality closer to sailors and creating a career. To achieve this, the project includes training for those who have basic knowledge of navigation to learn how to foil through training sessions in different clubs in Catalonia. In addition, you want Support professionals who can represent Catalonia in foil events so that Catalan sailing continues to be a reference in all its aspects..
The FBCN and the FCV, with the support of the clubs of Catalonia, have also created the first Catalan women’s foil team. After a selection process among all the clubs of Catalonia in which nearly 30 women chose to be part of it, finally 6 were selected and will be part of this pioneering teamcomposed of athletes from the Vilassar de Mar Nautical Club Montse Solé, Iset Segura and Marina GIralt and Laura Pedraza (Arenys de Mar Nautical Club), Emma Cabré (El Masnou Nautical Club) and Mònica Veenhoven (El Balís Nautical Club). With the support of the Vilassar Yacht Club, this team has already started the first training sessions.
