With preliminary races of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup now underway in Barcelona, Spain, the famous sailing competition is facing the storm of over-tourism protests that have swept across much of Europe, as well as, many tourist hotspots across … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Spain
CNN reports that two beluga whales have been rescued from the besieged city of Kharkiv in Ukraine and taken to an aquarium in Valencia, Spain, in a complex operation. A multinational team involving marine mammal care experts from Oceanogràfic de Valencia, the largest oceanarium … Continue reading
Congratulations to Cole Brauer, who finished second in the Global Solo Challenge, becoming the first American woman to race solo nonstop around the world, traveling roughly 28,000 miles, in her 40′ sailboat First Light. Brauer, at 29 years old, was … Continue reading
The P&O cruise ship MV Britannia was blown from her dockside moorings in Mallorca, Spain on Sunday during a sudden and intense storm. The ship drifted across the harbor and collided with a moored oil tanker, the Castillo de Arteaga. … Continue reading
In late 2019, we posted about Spanish authorities seizing a narco sub loaded with 3 tonnes of cocaine, valued at $110 million, off the northwestern coast of Galicia. Narco subs have been caught operating in the Pacific and in the … Continue reading
Sad news. The Eleonora E is being scrapped. Last June, we posted that the classic 49m schooner was struck by a 60m long search and rescue vessel in Port Tárraco, Tarragona, Spain, and subsequently sank. The search and rescue vessel … Continue reading
More news of orcas attacking sailboats in the Atlantic off the Iberian peninsula, in this case involving a sailing icon. Scuttlebutt Sailing News reports that a pod of orcas attacked Sir Robin Knox-Johnson while sailing his Farr 56 Sanjula, damaging … Continue reading
We recently posted about “hunger stones” revealed by falling water levels in the Rhine and Elbe rivers, as well as the emergence of a graveyard of sunken German warships filled with explosives and ammunition in the Serbian section of the … Continue reading
In 2020 and 2021, orca whales started attacking sailboats and fishing boats cruising off the Iberian peninsula and in the Mediterranian near the Strait of Gibraltar. Pods of juvenile orcas rammed sailboats and often grabbed their rudders or keels. More … Continue reading
It has happened again. While sailing in a qualifying race for the upcoming transatlantic solo sailing contest Route du Rhum, 62-year-old French sailor Laurent Camprubi found himself trapped inside his sailboat after it capsized. The keel on his boat, the … Continue reading
Sad news. On Friday, the 49.5-meter schooner Eleonora E was struck by a 60′ long search and rescue vessel in Port Tárraco, Tarragona, Spain and subsequently sank. The search and rescue vessel Punta Mayor was maneuvering in the harbor and … Continue reading
Last September, the Spanish government issued restrictions on operating sailboats less than 15 meters long off a section of its Galician coast after multiple cases of encounters with pods of orcas, also known as killer whales. Last week, Spain issued … Continue reading
Some sailors along Spain’s Galician coast must be saying “we’re gonna need a bigger boat.” There have been reports of up to 30 attacks by orcas directed at sailboats on the northwestern coast of Spain and Portugal. Now, the Spanish … Continue reading
Another 2020 story. Despite being dubbed killer whales, orcas in the wild have a long history of not attacking humans and rarely attacking boats. [Edited — see note at the end of the post.] (The situation with orcas in captivity … Continue reading
Last week, Spanish authorities seized a narco sub loaded with 3 tonnes of cocaine, valued at $110 million, off the northwestern coast of Galicia. Narco subs have been caught operating in the Pacific and in the Gulf of Mexico. The … Continue reading
In June, three Spanish divers located the wreck of the German World War II submarine U-966 near the coast of Galicia in north-west Spain. The BBC reports that the submarine’s wreckage is spread widely in a very rocky area where rough weather often makes diving … Continue reading
One hundred and twenty years ago today, on February 15, 1898, a mysterious explosion ripped through the hull of the American battleship USS Maine, at anchor in Havana harbor in Cuba. The ship sank killing 266 of the 350 men aboard. The loss … Continue reading
Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18: Episode 2 The Volvo Ocean Race, now in its 13th edition, is back. From the start on October 22 in Alicante, Spain, seven teams are racing around the world, and will be stopping in 12 cities before … Continue reading
A fleet of seven teams of racers set off this morning from Alicante, Spain bound for Lisbon, on the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-2018. The eleven leg race will visit 12 cities in six continents, ending next July in The Hague, Netherlands. The teams … Continue reading
In early July, the year old Polina Star III – an extended 90ft version of the Oyster 825 — suffered some sort of hull failure and sank off the East Coast of Spain. The Oyster press release describes it as a … Continue reading