[1] Passionate about this sport, in which he was an Olympian in the 1972 Games, Don Juan Carlos won the prestigious Palma tournament five times and continues to be, along with Pedro Campos, the most successful skipper in the history of the competition.
[5] At the time, RCAR was not even a year old and the transfer of land for the construction of the summer pavilion in the old San Pedro battery had not been resolved, so the authorities and personalities attending those first sailing competitions had to enjoy the regatta from an improvised terrace, which was located in the same place where the club would build its facilities shortly after.
[5] Under the reign of Juan Carlos I, the competition was reinstated, and in its first two editions it was held under the protection of the International Mediterranean Championship (IMC), which Spain was to organize, which meant that, from its origin, it was a calling for sailors from many countries.
[1] The splendor of the regatta increased at the same time as the Spanish high competition fleet itself and in 1983 the victory was won by a Balearic boat, the "Barracuda" of the Mallorcan Pepín González.
[1] The 1984 and 1985 editions witnessed the dominance of the Bribón IV, owned by the Catalan shipowner José Cusí, and established the tradition of King Don Juan Carlos sailing in "his" regatta.
[6] Names such as Josele and Noluco Doreste, José Luis Suevos, Pedro Campos, and Jaime Yllera registered their triumphs between 1990 and 1995, opening the way for the national sailors who would come later.
[6] At the beginning of the decade, the dominant party was "Caixa Galicia" created by Vicente Tirado and designed by Botín & Carkeek, which achieved a milestone: winning the Copa del Rey three consecutive years: 2002, 2003, and 2004.
[6] Neither the economic crisis of 1993 nor the gradual disappearance of the IOR units affected a Copa del Rey that gave unequivocal signs of having a life of its own and aspiring to become the top regatta event in the Mediterranean.
[1] The surprise was the victory of a production boat, the "Estrella Damm", by Ignacio Montes de León, a Beneteau First 40.7 from the Cruise-Regatta division, who managed to beat sailboats of much higher rank with a relatively modest budget.
[1] The 1985 edition marked the entry of the Puig family as sponsors of the regatta through its Agua Brava brand, which opened a twenty-year collaboration that translated into an increasingly greater sporting and social dimension of the competition.