Felipe Applauds 40th Kings Cup Sailing Regatta Finale

August 7, 2022August 7, 2022 Madrid Metropolitan king felipe, royal family, spain hm hospitals, spain news

King Felipe has been giving out the winning prizes this weekend at the conclusion of the 40^th Kings Cup Saling Regatta in Mallorca, in which he had also taken part in.

The King’s Cup is one of the most prestigious sailing regattas in the Mediterranean, hosted by the Real Club Nautico in Palma which this year saw 111 yachts from 18 countries compete, including for the first time an entry by HM Hospitales in the ORC 1 category.

The HM Hospitales boat, from the Club Náutico El Balis in Barcelona had a team of 14 including Olympic medalists and previous King’s Cup winners was captained by Carles Rodriguez.

The team made quite a splash winning many of their early heats and finishing 4^th overall ahead of King Felipe’s boat Afios which finished 5^th in the category.

Speaking before the start of the Regatta, the founder of HM Hospitales, Dr Juan Abarca Cidon, said that the participation of one of Spain’s leading private hospital groups in the regatta, was “because we share the same values of teamwork, effort and shared commitment, and we work with the same winning spirit” as well as that HM will “achieve international visibility for our health project.”

The Spanish Royal Family have a long association with the sport, indeed in the sailing world they are internationally renowned for their passion for boats and sailing. The late King Juan Carlos I had two of the world’s most spectacular sporting yachts in the Mediteranean : the Bribón XV and the Fortuna.

When he was just Prince Juan Carlos, competed in 1972 Summer Olympics while his wife, Queen Sofía, born Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark, was also an Olympian competing for her home country of Greece in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Their middle child, Infanta Cristina, competed in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics and Felipe himself competed in the Barcelona Olympics finishing a respectable 6^th place.

The Regatta is seen as one of the highlights of the Spanish Royal Family’s traditional summer stay on the island.