Three CN Arenal sailors to star at the Terras Gauda National Sailing Awards

Paula Barceló, Neus Fernández and Martina Gomila will represent Club Nàutic S’Arenal at the Terras Gauda National Sailing Awards. The three Mallorcan sailors will take centre stage at the gala to be held on the 5th of September in Baiona. Barceló, together with her teammate María Cantero, will receive the award for Best Olympic Crew, while Fernández and Gomila will be recognised as Best Dinghy Sailing Crew following their international successes in the 49er FX and 420 classes, respectively.

The crew formed by Mallorcan sailor Paula Barceló and Gran Canaria’s María Cantero will receive the Terras Gauda National Sailing Award for Best Olympic Crew after winning the 2025 49er FX World Championship in Cagliari in their first competition together.

Barceló and Cantero began sailing together in January last year and this season they have once again reached the podium at a World Championship, this time as world runners-up.

Paula Barceló and María Cantero needed only a few months to reach the top of the world podium. The sailors from Club Nàutic s’Arenal and Real Club Náutico de Gran Canaria will receive the Terras Gauda National Sailing Award for Best Olympic Crew after being crowned 49er FX world champions in 2025 in Cagliari, Italy, in what was also their first competition together.

The Mallorcan and Gran Canarian sailors had begun sailing together as a crew in January of that same year. Barceló was embarking on a new stage, with a change of position on board and a new teammate, and just a few months later the pair arrived in Cagliari to make their competitive debut. The result could hardly have been better: they ended the event as world champions.

The success in Cagliari marked the beginning of a partnership that has only just started. This season, Barceló and Cantero have once again established themselves among the leading international 49er FX crews and added another world medal to their record, finishing as world runners-up in 2026.

Paula Barceló has particularly fond memories of that World Championship in Cagliari. “The Cagliari World Championship, where after changing position and starting with a new teammate, we managed to win the world title,” says the Mallorcan sailor.
The Mallorcan sailor came into this new project with an impressive record in the class. World champion in 2020, world bronze medallist in 2022 and European bronze medallist in 2023, she competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games, where she earned an Olympic diploma with a fourth-place finish, and represented Spain again at Paris 2024. The 2025 gold medal in Cagliari therefore marked her second 49er FX world title.

Barceló herself also holds special memories of that first World Championship victory in 2020, just a few months after having been forced to withdraw from the previous World Championship due to injury. That title also secured qualification for Tokyo 2020, her first Olympic Games. Five years later, now sailing with Cantero, she once again reached the top step of a World Championship podium.

Speaking about the recognition she is now receiving alongside María Cantero, Barceló says: “It is a very special recognition for me, not only because of what it represents personally and in sporting terms, but also because of the history behind these awards.”

“These awards have a long and prestigious history, and many of the great figures in Spanish sailing have received them, sailors I have always admired and learned from throughout my career, which is why I have always followed them with great affection. For me, it is recognition of many years of work, effort and dedication, but also of all the people who have been part of my journey,” she adds.

Among them, the Mallorcan sailor particularly highlights her coach Xabi Fernández, the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation, her clubs and the sponsors who have supported the project. “I would like to dedicate the award to all those people who accompany us along the way. Starting with our coach Xabi, who planted the initial seed of the project and has continued nurturing our journey day by day so that we can grow as athletes and as people.”

On the other hand, Club Nàutic S’Arenal will also have strong Mallorcan representation at these awards through Neus Fernández and Martina Gomila, who will receive the Terras Gauda National Sailing Award for Best Dinghy Sailing Crew.
The pair receive the award following a 2025 season in which they were crowned overall 420 world champions in Urla, Turkey, and European runners-up in Matosinhos, Portugal.

Cousins and crewmates, Fernández and Gomila won the world title last summer in Urla, Turkey, where they finished 22 points ahead of the runners-up. Just a few weeks later, they were back on an international podium in Matosinhos, Portugal, this time taking silver at the senior European Championship.

Their 2025 results confirmed the excellent form of a crew that had already been making a strong impression the previous season. In 2024, they were crowned senior European champions and Under-17 world champions, as well as winning bronze at the Under-17 European Championship. These results, achieved at just 18 years of age, have earned them a place among the leading names in Spanish dinghy sailing.

For Neus, one of the moments she remembers most fondly is precisely the 2024 senior European Championship. “I especially remember the 2024 senior Europeans because it was the first time we had raced in the senior fleet and it was a very special championship,” explains the Mallorcan sailor.

Martina, for her part, looks beyond results when reflecting on these years. “There are several moments I remember in a special way. On the one hand, our achievements, all of them a reflection of the enormous effort and dedication behind every medal. On the other, all the people, organisations, clubs and federations that have been and will continue to be an essential part of our journey,” she says.

Among those people, both agree in highlighting the coaches who have accompanied them throughout their sporting careers. Neus dedicates the award “to all the coaches who have accompanied me throughout my sailing career”, while Martina particularly remembers Xesc Mullet, their coach for much of their time in the 420 class. “He has taught us to enjoy the sport, manage pressure, face difficult moments and also appreciate and enjoy the good ones,” she says.

The National Sailing Award comes for both sailors after several years of sharing a boat, training and competing together in the 420 class. “I am very grateful for this award, as I believe it recognises the effort we have put in over these years in the 420 class,” says Fernández. For Gomila, sharing this recognition with sailors they have looked up to for years represents “an enormous source of pride and motivation to keep working and enjoying this sport that has given us so much”.

The Terras Gauda National Sailing Awards gala, sponsored by Terras Gauda, will be held next Saturday, 5th of September, at the Monte Real Club de Yates de Baiona, as part of the programme of the 41st Príncipe de Asturias Trophy, bringing together this year’s award winners to recognise the leading figures in Spanish sailing.