Álvaro Basterra has been the Port Captain of the Real Club Marítimo del Abra-Real Sporting Club de Las Arenas (Vizcaya) since October 1, 1995. He sailed a lot from 1984 to 1995, mainly on Ignacio Jáuregui’s historic ‘Zorongo’, “With which we crossed the Atlantic twice, but I have done this ten times, of which six have been in a regatta. With the ‘Zorongo’ I did three Tours of Spain. I completed the last one at Caja Madrid: a Cádiz-Havana in 2001. It was the last one and the memories I have are very good. He went with Pachi Rivero, Joao Cabecadas, José Luis Tuero, José Luis Suevos and with a person named Juan Mazo, a Caja Madrid worker who was offered the prize of crossing the Atlantic with us. In Vueltas a España I have been part of the José Luis Suevos team and a couple of skirmishes in the Fortuna”, recalls Álvaro Basterra sitting on the deck of his boat, the Jonbi. Before chatting with him, he meets many people on the pontoons of the Real Club Marítimo del Abra-Real Sporting Club, they consult him about everything and then he asks us for some time to greet Gerardo Teijeira, who was president of the Las Arenas Club. The conversation flows on his boat, although it was planned on a very close stone bench that pays tribute to Jorge Churruca, former president and sailor of the RCMA-RSC, where Álvaro Basterra sometimes goes to take a deep breath, think and contemplate some beautiful views of ‘ its’ open. “The sea is my home,” he whispers.
How did you start with this sport of sailing?
My father Joaquín taught us to sail. He bought us an Optimist in 1965 or 1966 and on weekends he took us for a ride through the Abra. He would leave us here -in that place that he is passionate about- and then he would come looking for us later. We stayed sailing my brother Peperra and I. Then, we already participated in the Real Sporting Club School, which at that time was in Arriluce. We hit each other because pieces were missing. We went there very early, from eight in the morning to assemble the boats and make sure there were no missing parts. And it is that the last one that arrived did not sail and it was a matter of doing it. We liked it. I remember that at that time the dock in the port of Santurce was the same as the one in Arriluce. There was nothing. The coal merchants anchored in the middle of the bay with very large buoys that we used for regattas.
What a difference with today’s sailing. How do you perceive it?
Yes, there is a lot of difference. Now she is picking up a rhythm, for me, very high. I think I’m a bit behind. Speed prevails and, although there are fleets like the Snipes that are booming, I see that many people who sail do so in flying devices. It’s taking a bit of an extreme turn. I understand that young people have more fun flying than not looking at the wind and where the current comes from. We have a good Snipe team here and we have a strong Optimist base. We also have a good fleet of ILCAs, but this lasts while the young people are studying. Some go to the Snipe class and try to hold on while they work, others go to the J80 class, but few people jump anymore when cruising. They are not addicted to being in four-hour regattas. We did tests of six and eight hours and we came back delighted. Now you tell them to do a four-hour regatta and they tell you if you’re upset.
His Club is one of the most prolific in the organization of regatta.
This Club is super active. Practically every weekend there are regattas between cruisers, J80 and dinghy sailing, in addition to training. The activity and the calendar of the Club are important during the last years. I perceive that in the cruise class there is little new boat, there are no new owners. Slightly aggressive ship designs appear, but it doesn’t quite start. The owners are the same for I don’t know how long… I know all of them from when I was little and I have sailed with them. It’s hard. We think a lot about how to attract people, but you have to hit the key.
What do you remember about your time as a sailor?
Back then you didn’t go out as much as you do now. We were very small. They were club regattas. We participated with the Taps, when there was a large fleet of 12 or 14 boats at that time when Toño Gorostegui already stood out as a great champion. There used to be a circuit trophy once a year and we used to go sailing to Santander or Palma with the Taps.
He was captain “by title” -he clarifies-, but not skipper of the regatta, in a stage in the Tour of the World with the Fortuna. In that crew of 13 people there were veterans of the Licor 43 and the Fortuna Lights and other well-known Spanish sailors such as Jan Santana and Javier de la Gándara as skippers. There were, for example, Joan Vila y Miguel and Héctor López Piqueras, Iñaki Castañer, Jordi Doménech, José Eloy, Guillermo Altadill, Juan José Fernández, Rafa Tibau, Fernando Muñoz, Quino Quiroga, Santiago Portillo, Gerard Pares, Pelayo López, José Luis Doreste, Javier Visiers and Álvaro Basterra himself.
That was perhaps the top of my career as a sailor. I was involved in Licor 43, but I didn’t finish the selection. I was also with Javier Visiers and participated in the Forutna. I did a stage that was Uruguay-Fort Lauderdale in the United States -the one they call the Venice of America-, replacing the captain of the ship. All of them were ’round the world’. Being there was like a dream come true for me. I consider that I have always liked long regattas more than those of a day, these windward-leeward. What I liked was being in the sea.
What do you think of the current Copa América?
The evolution as everything has developed in general seems good to me, although it loses part of its idiosyncrasy, which is that of hitting you ship against ship. Now there is practically no such fight. Markings are remote. There isn’t that close-quarters battle like there was before. They are some designs that you said: this is not going to rise from the water. Seeing ‘cracks’ of this sport being scared on the boat has its little thing. It seems that soon in the next America’s Cup in Barcelona they will try to do a youth Cup and a women’s Cup in 40-foot boats instead of 70. It will be nice and interesting. Ships evolve a lot.
His children Sofía, Telmo and Perico have followed in his footsteps and are great fans and practitioners of this sport.
Sofia was champion of Spain, France and Italy of 420 and was also pre-Olympic with the Elliots. She now works in Madrid. Telmo studies and sails in the United States. And Perico has now been junior world champion in the J80 class and second best amateur in Newport with the Fhimasa Escuela de Vela José Luis de Ugarte.
Dozens and dozens of young people pass through this School of your Club. It is a nursery for sailors.
This Sailing School tries to promote this sport through fun and delve into the spirit of sailing, promoting teamwork at sea. It is about people learning to help each other and understand that you are in an environment that is sometimes hostile. The pissed off sea is… Sailing generates that type of harmony that then continues on land. It is a very healthy sport because it takes you off the street.
Your Club turns 125 in 2023.
Ours is one of the great clubs in Spain. This Club has always been my Club. When I entered, a few years later, he was already one hundred years old. The perspective is to celebrate 125 years with events that, for us, both in the port and on the water, are going to be very interesting because we are going to organize three Spanish championships (ILCA, Snipe and J80) and we comfortably meet expectations of a 125-year-old historic Club.
