Copa del Rey

Our values

The 1993 declaration of Menorca as a biosphere reserve makes notable mention of the compatibility between the development of human activities and the conservation of a unique heritage and landscape.

The King's Cup of Vintage Boats of the Mahon Maritime Club is inspired by the principles of this declaration and has focused, since its foundation 15 years ago, on the dissemination of the culture of the sea and the beauty of the landscapes. Minorcans, on the conservation of naval heritage and on the defense of the environment. These are the values which, added to the wind and sea currents, fill the sails of our fleet of legends.

Our basis

Mahon Town has one of the largest natural harbors in the world, comparable in magnitude to those of Pear Harbour, New York, Portsmouth or Sydney. Its history is the history of the Western Mediterranean (meeting point of the different European cultures which have contested it over the centuries); its landscape, one of the most beautiful and best preserved in the Mediterranean.

At the eastern end of the port we find our base, the Mahón Maritime Club, one of the most representative entities of Menorca, the place where recreational and sporting nautical activity has developed since the sea, at the beginning of the 20th century, has proven to be a new leisure space.

The Mahon Maritime Club is the official headquarters of the King's Cup of Vintage Boats. In front of its building, the impressive classic sailboats dock, which every year transform the maritime promenade of the Menorcan capital into a floating museum. Very few Mediterranean ports offer the opportunity to admire so closely the beauty of these naval jewels, whose stories of splendor and survival date back in some cases to the last decade of the 19th century.

Much more than a regatta

Why compete with a classic boat by being able to do so with a modern fiber boat? The answer to this question will vary between those who see no sense because their only perspective is speed and those who have had the opportunity to sail on a vintage boat. The latter will answer, almost certainly, that boarding a wooden sailboat whose hull protrudes two meters at the stern is something “special and incomparable”; he will talk about the "art" of navigation and will refer to the intangible "sensation" of riding the waves aboard a In short, you will say that a classics regatta is much more than just a regatta.

The King's Cup for vintage boats contributes to the conservation of private sailboats whose maintenance is very high. Many of them would have disappeared if it were not for the fact that regattas like the one in Mahon push their owners to keep them and give them the function for which they were designed.

This heritage work, although indirect, is one of the values that best connects to commercial brands that place their history and tradition at the heart of their marketing and communication strategies. In these cases, the synergies between the sponsor and the event are very evident and therefore effective.

The best classics regatta in Spain

The King's Cup of Vintage Boats - Vela Clásica Menorca is the best classics regatta in Spain and one of the most prestigious in the Mediterranean, where most of the world fleet is concentrated.

This is not the previous gratuitous or exaggerated statement. The data of the participants, the number of countries represented and the media impact of the Mahon Vintage Boat King's Cup are, throughout its trajectory, not comparable to those of any other regatta in its category in Spain.

This has undoubtedly contributed to the fact of carrying the title of Copa del Rey, awarded in 2003 on the occasion of the first edition, and the loyalty shown by the owners of the participating ships, many of whom declare themselves "in love" with the port of Mahón.

More information :

www.velaclasicamenorca.com