The adventure of Tomeu Albons, in a motorhome to the ILCA European

The Club Nàutic Portitxol (CNP) celebrated the past 5th of September a very special act to wish the best to the sailor Tomeu Albons, vinculated to the same club as always, in his adventure to participate in the European Championships of the International Laser Class Association (ILCA), which took place from the 9th to the 15th of September in the port of Douarnenez, in the French Brittany.

With 67 years old, Albons went in his motorhome next to Xisca Fiol and his trainer, Carla Paoli, to cross with ferry to the Peninsula and drive 1.380km that separate Barcelona from Douarnenez, a fishing village well known for its high production of sardines, that traditionally distributed around the whole european continent.

After passing through cities like Perpignan, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes, the sailor and his companions arrived at their destination carrying the ship on their motorhome their boat baptized by the name ‘El Emérito’ because of Xisca's lifelong love of the Monarchy. The boat was recently acquired by Albons, who had never sailed in Laser until four months before the competition, which featured some of the best sailors in the class, including some Olympians. "I was tired of cruising and felt like a change. My dinghy sailing experience was limited to the fact that, as a youngster, I had competed in the Moth class," he explains.

Four months of training under the guidance of Carla Paoli paid off, so Albons conquered in the qualification overall ranking a meritorious 31st place out of 182 participants, among them professionals of the category. He did so overcoming six days of regattas of the competition, at a rate of three races per day. He even overcame a severe blow to his eye from the boom of another participating boat, which ran over him. Although he was offered to abandon the race to treat the injury and get stitches, Albons preferred to continue sailing and complete the race.

After finishing the regatta, Albons, Xisca and Carla returned to Mallorca, but returned with another passenger in the motorhome. “I like the experience so much that I bought the ship to the ninth overall classification, the Mexican Luis Barrios. I made him a favor so that he would not have to return sailing to his country, and I can continue growing in this category. The ‘El Emérito’ is an old ship: it is 15 years old, so it is hard to get good results, beyond the high level of the regatta," says Albons, who intends to participate next year in both the European Championship, to be held in Vilamoura (Portugal), and the Spanish Championship, to be held in Hondarribia (Basque Country).

"I have fallen in love with the Laser, a class that has the largest fleet, with 220,000 boats in the world, and in which you can sail at almost any age," says Albons, who participated in the European Championship in the Grand Master category. So much so that he has returned to Mallorca eager to start training at the Club Nàutic Portitxol with his new boat, which has not yet been christened but whose name will probably be a tribute to his trainer. 

"I would like to reach 80 sailing in ILCA 6, Olympic class so versatile and competitive that goes from 14 years old until you are old and strong enough to sail," says Albons, who highlights having had "the pleasure of sailing with Jefry, with 79 years and winner of a World Cup and the Europeans of Douarnez. He is a phenomenon," he adds.

“The next challenge is to participate in the Trofeo Mestre Rafel of ILCA which will take place in October at the CNP”, says Albons, who ends with “Thanks to the great support in this project to the Club Nàutic Portitxol, MercaNautic, Xaloc 11 Publicidad, Gemas Mallorca, Profutur, Jomixa and my sons”.