Great turnout for the 25th Canoe Day

Laura Valentina Pineda and Marc Cardona have won the two paddleboards in the prize draw. The event connected Es Nàutic with es Salt d’en Portes.

The registration figures in the days leading up to the event already suggested that this 25th Canoe Day would be a memorable occasion, as was confirmed throughout the activity, which forms part of the programme of the Sant Bartomeu Patron Saint Festivities. The 92 participants who ultimately took to the water on this bright and sunny day gathered at the Club’s facilities from 9 a.m., setting off an hour later towards es Salt d’en Portes, next to the Aquarium at es Cap Blanc, where they stopped before returning to the CNSA at around 12.30 p.m. Before setting off, an Eskimo roll workshop was held, teaching the technique traditionally used by Inuit paddlers to right a capsized kayak using the paddle. The session was led by Arturo Fernández, from Ibiza Kayak, and Antonio Aranguren, a keen enthusiast of the sport.

All registered participants were able to take part in a draw for dozens of prizes, held in the hangar of the Sports Area and donated by various sponsors and partners. The prizes included backpacks, suitcases, towels, coolers, restaurant dinners, different experiences and more. Prizes were also awarded for the best costumes in the children’s category (Iria Gómez) and adult category (Toni Vingut and Yenit Paola), as well as for the best-decorated kayak (Davinia Martínez and Aitor Torres), who received windsurfing and wingfoil experiences at the Club. The main prize everyone hoped to take home, however, was one of the two paddleboards with kayak kits, which ultimately went to Laura Valentina Pineda (bib number 84) and Marc Cardona (bib number 37).

It should be remembered that paddlers aged ten and over were able to take part, although children aged three and above also joined the event, provided they were accompanied by an adult and travelled in a double kayak. During the event, the use of reusable containers was compulsory, with water dispensers available for participants to refill their bottles both before and after the route, as this was a ‘Zero Plastic’ event. Measures were also adopted to protect biodiversity, including minimising noise, avoiding anchoring on Posidonia seagrass and respecting an area classified as a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA) and Nature Reserve.

The Canoe Day is one of the island’s iconic kayaking events and is intended to foster camaraderie among enthusiasts. The first edition took place on 6 August 2000 and was launched by Pepín Valdés and Neus Mateu, who at the time were respectively the delegate and coach of the CNSA’s kayaking section. Both also paddled this morning, as they have done since the very beginning. On that first occasion, paddlers set off from Caló des Moro towards Cala Salada, with around 60 people taking part.

Attendance gradually stabilised at around one hundred enthusiasts, with the first major record set at the 7th edition in 2006, when a total of 168 people took part. That figure was not surpassed until the 15th edition in 2014, when 178 participants were recorded. Throughout the history of the Día de la Piragua, there have only been two years in which the event could not be held: 2008, when the Club was undergoing a complete refurbishment of its facilities, and 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The activity resumed the following summer, in 2021, with a 20th edition attended by almost one hundred participants and organised with the required hygiene and safety measures recommended by the authorities.