Friday, March 29

Don Juan Carlos and that feeling of freedom that the sea gives him


Sanxenxo

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A honk and a pennant with red and white stripes -what in sailing language is called an intelligence pennant- indicated yesterday at the Royal Nautical Club of Sanxenxo that the InterRías regatta had been postponed. A wind of only two knots prevented the Bribón500 −the 6 Meter class sailboat captained by Don Juan Carlos− from going out to compete.

For the father of Felipe VI, the sensation of sailing the waters of the sea in a sailboat has always been the closest thing he has come to feeling free. By moving away from the coast and not knowing what is happening on the mainland for a few hours, he manages to clear his mind and disconnect. “The sea means freedom,” he said in 2017, when he became world champion for the first time.

This title was revalidated in Hanko (Finland) in 2019 and, since then, Don Juan Carlos had not embarked on the Bribón500 again.

Nor had he returned to enjoy the company of his crew embarked at sea. From Jane Abascal, Roi Álvarez, Alberto Viejo, Eduardo Marin, Ross Macdonald… and from Pedro Campos, his close friend, his host these days in Sanxenxo and the one in charge of taking the sailboat during Don Juan’s stay of almost two years Carlos in Abu Dhabi.

Yesterday the father of the King could not compete, but he did go out to train. The wind was so unstable throughout the day that the two planned tests had to be suspended.

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take off the candle

The opposite happened the day before. On Friday, with a wind between 14 and 22 knots, the Rogue500 won both races. Victories that Don Juan Carlos celebrated from a motorboat. At 84 years old and with mobility difficulties, he preferred not to go out on the sailboat. Yesterday, however, was the day to get rid of the bug. After three hours of waiting, when the competition was finally suspended, Don Juan Carlos went out to sea with his crew to at least train for a few hours.

“My return to Spain is being very good, you see,” said Don Juan Carlos yesterday at the end of the day on the high seas. In the morning, when he left Pedro Campos’ house, he already thanked the media for the coverage of his return to Spain: «Everything is going very well. Thank you very much for what you are doing.” He had had the whole night to assimilate the sensations of the previous day: the happiness of returning to Sanxenxo to meet up with his friends, the Rascal500 and his crew, and also to find the affection of all the anonymous people who came to welcome him.

emotions in private

All of this exceeded his expectations to such an extent that he admitted that he had goosebumps getting out of the car on Friday at the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo, where he hugged many friends he had not seen for a long time. He also avoided eye contact with others so as not to express more than necessary in public. She did it later, in private.

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This is the second reason why he declined the journalists’ questions at all times. Don Juan Carlos could not avoid the stir that his return could generate. He stuck to the most private sphere possible −as ABC reported yesterday−, but he did not dare to answer any of the questions that were raised because at that time he did not know how he was going to respond. He feared that his state of mind, due to everything he was experiencing, would play tricks on him. In fact, there were times when he looked like he might burst into tears.

normalize the situation

Once the emotion of Friday’s welcome had taken over, yesterday Don Juan Carlos looked just as happy, but more serene and less overwhelmed.

With this four-day stay in Spain, Don Juan Carlos intends to normalize his situation. Once the causes for which the Prosecutor’s Office was investigating him have been archived, he hopes that little by little it will be understood that he can come to Spain whenever he wants, so that he can enjoy the company of his family and friends, as well as sailing, bullfighting or the good food.

Tomorrow Don Juan Carlos will return to Abu Dhabi, but first he will pass through the Palacio de la Zarzuela, where he will meet with Felipe VI and Queen Sofía, among other members of his family. He will be back in Sanxenxo in three weeks. By then, it will not be the first time that he has set foot in Spain after two years outside the country. Then a third trip will come, a fourth… until it is no longer news that Felipe VI’s father is in Spain. The absence of a headline will be the best news for him.

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