CNEV not to repeat its "annual" regatta, according to official Spanish sailing calendars

If one is to judge by the calendar the Spanish Sailing Federation (RFEV) published last week, it appears that the CNEV's "annual" regatta, meant to satisfy one of the Deed of Gift's criteria, will go to history as the shortest annual event. It will have lasted exactly one year with only its inaugural edition being hosted.

The RFEV published last week, a couple of months late, the calendar of the various sailing events under its jurisdiction that will take place in Spain this year. There are the usual renowned events such as the Copa del Rey in Palma or the Trofeo de la Reina in Valencia as well as a large number of regional and local regattas that constitute the regional and local championships.

Still, the Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV), current Challenger of Record of the 33rd America's Cup, is nowhere to be seen. Given it was a newly-formed yacht club CNEV had never held a regatta in the past and as a result it created one from scratch, called "Troféo Desafío Español", in honor of the America's Cup team that raced the colors of the club. The inaugural race took place in Valencia, on the 24th and 25th of November 2007.

Anyone even remotely interested in the America's Cup will be aware by now that the timing of this regatta (held after Desafío Español had challenged Alinghi) was the cornerstone of BMW Oracle's legal case and finally the argument Justice Cahn used in order to decide that the CNEV was not a valid Challenger of Record under the terms of the Deed of Gift.

Part of the boats that took part in the inaugural edition of the "Troféo Desafío Español". Was that the first and last time the trophy was held? Apparently, yes. Valencia, 24 November 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Surprisingly, the "Troféo Desafío Español" has disappeared from the 2008 calendar. This is even more surprising considering the fact all 5 members of the CNEV form part of RFEV's executive board. They don't even include it under the "Regattas of Interest" qualification. Doesn't the RFEV consider its own event as being of interest to the Spanish sailors?

The "Troféo Desafío Español" is also absent from the 2008 calendar of the Valencia Sailing Federation (FVCV). The official calendar of the regional federation consists of a whopping 178 regattas, ranging from the local mom–and–pop weekend regatta to the ISAF Grade 1 match race event in Calpe. The CNEV doesn't appear anywhere as organizer of any regatta in Valencia.

PS. It seems the person in charge of writing RFEV's calendar became overly ambitious and included various circuits or events, completely unrelated to the federation. For example the GP42 2008 Cup as well as the 2008 Audi Medcup have their place in the Spanish Federation's calendar, even if the former is organized by the GP42 International Association and the latter by an independent private company. Still, without any doubt, the most extravagant item in the calendar is the inclusion of the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race with the claim it is organized by the Spanish Federation itself!!!

The 2008 calendar of the RFEV (in Spanish) can be accessed here.