The Cádiz association with Elcano has awarded the ocean navigator Alex Pella with the prize Juan Sebastian Elcano. This award will be presented next August 8 at the Casa de Iberoamérica in the capital of Cadiz, at 21: 30 hours.
This prize will be awarded annually until at least 2027, when the 100 years of the construction of the school ship are commemorated, and in this first edition Alex Pella has been selected as the ideal person to receive it. Alex Pella holds the absolute speed record in the circumnavigation of the planet, in a time of 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds. The winner will receive a bust of the navigator of Guetaria made by the sculptor Fernando Espinosa de los Monteros.
The jury has valued Alex Pella's medal winners Le Diable Espagnol, winner of the most prestigious ocean races and registers as The Route du Rhum (Atlantic crossing alone), The Transat Jaques Vabre (Atlantic crossing to two), The Route du Thé (Record Hong Kong - London) and the Julio Verne Trophy (Absolute Record of the World Tour), among others ...
He has especially valued the human aspect of the sailor, who combines his sports career in the elite of ocean sailing in France, with his commitment to bring the sea closer to society in Spain. In this sense, Pella is working on an innovative sports and informative project within the framework of the V Centenary of the 1st World Tour, with which it intends to connect the past (the maritime history of Spain) with the future (the global challenge of sustainability and the protection of the marine environment).
Alex Pella commented: “I receive this pleasant news while I prepare the regatta Brest Atlantique, my next ocean challenge for fall. It will be a pleasure to travel to Cádiz next August 8, to collect this prize in person and participate in this beautiful event, five hundred years after the start of the greatest maritime deed of all time. Thank you".
The Cádiz Association with Elcano has among its objectives to strengthen the ties that link the city with the Spanish Navy school ship, which date back to the construction of the ship in the year 1927 in the Cadiz shipyards of Echevarrieta and Larrinaga and that reinforce every year with the departure of the boat from its docks always accompanied by more than 200 sailboats and pleasure boats.
He also works to remember the city's relationship with America, which was born since the departure of Columbus's second trip and is still very much alive, thanks among other things to the presence in many ports of the Juan Sebastián Elcano school ship as ambassador of Spain and of the city.
