It’s 8 in the morning. The day has risen radiantly. The temperature is good and the wind, mestral, ideal to start a journey. A team of nine brave ones are thrown into the sea to fulfill a promise. No one has ever completed the 200 kilometers that separate Tarragona from Mallorca by canoe. Not even they could imagine everything that awaits them for the next 23 hours and 14 minutes.
Vicenç Roura makes his way. He is an expert paddler, as was his father. He has won several medals in canoeing championships. From him was the idea to launch a section of surf kayaking at the Club Nàutic Tarragona, of which he is the coach. For many years now, with his father, they had imagined what it would be like to take a sea kayak trip from his native Tarragona to Mallorca. Initially, his father, who was also called Vicenç, stopped him. He then accepted the challenge. But when they wanted to they could no longer: he died of cancer seven years ago now.
That idea, crazy to many, kept going around in his head. And so it was that one day, after training, Vicenç looked up and launched the good and breakfast proposal: “Who dares to go kayaking to Sóller?” Eight raised their hand. Two seasoned in the competition, Raquel Arcediano and Ramón Yllera; and six amateurs: Montse Blanch, Laura Pliego, Bernat de Cal, Nacho Cáceres, Jesús Padilla and Àlex Vilagut. They started two marathons. One, to find sponsors and pay for the trip. The other, to train.
The adventure begins
The mestral blows them in favor during the first four hours of crossing and they go at an average of 12 kilometers per hour. Stir in 60-minute shifts. The first miles are escorted by the Civil Guard. Then they are on the adventure with the canoe surfing the waves and a boat 20 meters long, captained by Eugenio and Florenci, which serves as a guide for kayaking and as a rest for those who do not have to row. The only contact with the mainland is the GPS, which is pending at all times Maritime Rescue.
After a postponement, the expedition finally sets sail on June 29th. They couldn’t wait much longer because it was about making the night as short as possible. The problem is that this particular Wednesday there is a waning moon and the night is very dark. Spectacular, because you can look at the sky and contemplate the Milky Way. But at the same time, it is dangerous for a team that only has the light of the boat and a front for the paddlers. A boat can look good during the day, but a kayak is a tiny dot of light when the sun goes down. And if it moves away about twenty meters, it almost disappears. Therefore, while it is getting dark, two crew members stand guard with the mission of never losing sight of who is rowing.
Forecasts say the mestral will give way to a light garbí at 3 p.m., which should accompany them until midnight. It turns out that it has nothing light, that it starts early and folds much later. At 12 noon the sea raged with waves of almost a meter. One of the paddlers, Bernat, is dizzy to the point of not being able to take over. Two more, Laura and Montse, fall into the water and fail to re-embark on their own. The rescue maneuver is not effective either, with the waves, and in the end there is no choice but to throw yourself into the sea to rescue the companions. The storm is still hostile and, in a wave, Nacho opens his eyebrow and needs two stitches from Vicenç, a nurse. And Alex, who had also been dizzy paddling, has to bend in half a turn because his twin is up and ends up needing two hours of massage, crying in living tears, to soothe the pain. To make matters worse, they lose a very small inflatable boat, which they called the hammock, which served them to make the relays. The fiberglass kayak can easily break if it collides with the boat. But around three in the morning, when it’s time to change, they realize that the boat has disappeared. The knot had been untied and, being black at night, no one had noticed. Anyone would have folded, with only half the setbacks. The team, on the other hand, is determined to keep going.
Land in sight!
And so, overcoming all possible obstacles and wondering more than once “what the fuck am I doing here, here,” they throw miles and dawn arrives. And with the first rays of light, the majestic image of the Serra de Tramuntana. The team decides that Vicenç, the coach who invited them to the adventure, will close the journey. He does the last 15 kilometers excited and thanking his father for accompanying him on a historic journey that no one will ever forget. A milestone where he wants to put water sports at the forefront as a synonym for nature and show that age is no impediment: Ramon is 70 years old and diabetic, and Laura, a housewife, has only been there for a year. started playing sports.
From Tarragona to Mallorca by sea kayak
The expedition has succeeded and is allowed the luxury of arriving in Sóller at 07.14, before even what they imagined. If the late Vicenç Roura wrote “game over” on the sand of the beach shortly before he dies, today his son wears a T-shirt, a gift from the team, which he says “just started the game.” So much so that the next challenge is to turn this trip into an annual competition.
Already on land, one last surprise: they have arrived so soon that everything is closed and they can’t find where to have breakfast. They are in no hurry either. While they wait, the last anecdote. A captain from the port of Sóller, an old sea wolf, puts his hands on his head, pointing to the kayak: “Did you come with that? Are you crazy? But if there was a storm, tonight.” Maybe they got it because they didn’t know it was impossible.
