Starting this Saturday, the Real Club Náutico in Motril will be hosting the Oseberg Challenge (Snipe Class). A Snipe is a ​15ft-6in, (472cm), 2-person, single-design, racing dinghy.

Participants are coming from other clubs, such as the Real Club Náutico de Madrid, Club de Mar de Almería, Real Club Náutico de Valencia and Real Club Mediterráneo de Málaga, amongst others.

In fact, there will be participants from Norway, Poland, Denmark, Belgium and Portugual, as well.

The Norwegian, John Haga, who founded the regatta, was present at the presentation of the event at the club.

The race, which is organised here by J.H. Sails S.A, in collaboration with Snipe Fleet 69 and Snipe Class International Racing Association (SCIRA), starts at 12.00h on Saturday with 40 yachtsmen from all over Europe.

The second day of the event, Sunday, the race will begin at 11.30h with the prize giving taking place in the afternoon at 17.00h.

The level of seamanship is high; one of the participants, Álvaro Martínez Iribarne, is the European Sub-Champion 2016 and came in 3rd place in the 2015 World Championships, for instance. the race founder, John Haga, was the 2012 World Champion in the Master Category and national all-over champion in the Norwegian national race.

It was four years ago that he founded the Oseberg Challenge, holding it in Málaga, but this year they’re trying out the Costa Tropical, rather than the Costa del Sol to hold the regatta.

Finally, and as a point of interest, the Oseberg Trophy is named after the Viking longship, which was uncovered in 1904 in Tønsberg (Vestfold, Norway), which was built some time between 815 and 820 AD and is on display in the Viking Longship Museum in Olso.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)