In August 2020, before heading to Abu Dhabi, Juan Carlos I made one last stop in Sanxenxo. It was not a simple coincidence, but a gesture loaded with meaning. He was saying goodbye to what had been his refuge in recent years and he did so through a dinner with his closest circle, the one who welcomed him when, after his abdication in 2014, already an emeritus, his agenda was empty and the hostile environment began to surround him.
The Real Club Náutico where he dined that last night is chaired by one of his unconditional friends since decades ago when he joined them in sailing: businessman Pedro Campos. His relationship with his family is so close that in recent years he has chosen to stay in his chalet and not in a hotel. In any case, before his imminent return, it is expected that he will settle in a nearby house that has been adapting for months to his needs for accessibility and security.
His idyll with the tourist capital of the Rías Baixas began in 1957, while he was still a prince, when he entered the Marín Naval School to complete his military training, and was consolidated after his abdication.
The architect Mauricio Sánchez-Bella Carswell presented him with the possibility of returning to his great hobby by lending him the vintage 6M class boat, Acacia, which allowed him to return to sailing after his delicate health forced him to leave the Rogue.
In this boat designed to be seated and fitted, he returned to compete and, shortly after, a new circuit was created for him with which since then he returned to Sanxenxo at least one weekend a month. On some of those visits he was accompanied by his daughter Elena and, in July 2019, even Queen Sofía made her debut in the regattas of this town.
Sanxenxo is your meeting point with unconditional friends united for decades by their passion for sailing. Among them is José Cusí, owner of the boat with which he competed in Palma and who ended up buying and restoring the 6M of 1929 to turn it into the new Rogue; the Venezuelan banker who owns Abanca, Juan Carlos Escotec; the Galician banker Francisco Botas and the economist and businessman César Elízaga complete that discreet circle that is already awaiting their return.
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