The Ministry of Defense has paralyzed the purchase of the Navy’s new racing boat that was to replace the sailboat with which the King of Spain competes every summer. An acquisition for which an expenditure procedure of 1.5 million euros plus VAT had been opened. In total, 1.8 million for the new ‘Aifos’, the Navy competition boat that King Felipe VI uses once a year.
Defense decided last Friday to suspend the bidding process that had officially opened on August 12. In the public documentation that slows down this purchasing process, it is briefly alleged that the deadline for submitting offers is suspended “for technical reasons”, without further explanation of the reasons and without establishing a deadline to restart the process.
The stoppage occurred on the same day that it emerged that the PNV parliamentary group registered an interpellation before Congress questioning the expenditure and asking the Government for explanations about the investment, which has its origin in a repeated claim by the Navy within the framework of the renewal of its fleet of sailboats, considered necessary within the marine section of the Armed Forces.
The report justifying the acquisition of the new ‘Aifos’ (this is the name of the current State-owned boat with which the King races, a TP 52 model of 15.84 meters in length) argues the reasons why the “replacement” of the sailboat.
This document, prepared before the summer and which responds to a demand that has been brewing for years, does not at any time refer to the figure of the monarch. Not in vain, the King only uses the boat in the summer regatta that is held every year in the bay of Palma, coinciding with his stay at the Marivent palace. The ‘Aifos’ competes in other regattas with a crew of Navy cadets, as occurs for example in the Queen’s Cup in Valencia.
The report justifying the expense recalls that Sailing and competition in international regattas are part of the sailor training of the students of the Naval Academy and their “high-level training.”
The participation of the ‘Aifos’ in nautical competitions, explains the report that initiated the purchase process, is integrated into this training strategy, which, it alleges, “has a very favorable impact on the prestige” of the Navy and “generates ties with the maritime community “.
The ship, he indicates in the same line, “is an exponent of the Navy’s sporting cruise sailing and [enjoys] great prestige in the maritime community and in the sport of sailing at the national and international level.”
In that report to explain the convenience of the investment, the Navy argued that the Aifos, the best-known sailboat in its fleet of racing boats, was built in 2004, almost two decades ago, and has only been able to maintain a level of competition. “acceptable” thanks to successive modifications.
The reason officially stated by Defense to request its renewal had been twofold. On the one hand, it was argued that there is an economic motivation, since to maintain the current ship “at the required level” a “very onerous” effort must be made each year. It is considered that the purchase of a new, modern model already adapted to elite competition would significantly reduce this high maintenance after the initial outlay.
In fact, the current ‘Aifos’ is a boat that Felipe VI has skippered for years, with the exception of two summers in which he did so aboard a Swan model boat, one of the most famous shipyards in competitive sailing, and that the Navy had on loan until it finally decided to return it without exercising the purchase option. That boat was valued at one million euros, a sum that he finally decided not to invest.
Secondly, before this unexpected suspension, the Ministry of Defense considered the expense to renew the ‘Aifos’ necessary for “safety” reasons, since the level of stress to which the hull and structure of the boat is subjected when competing can be “highly dangerous.”
The Navy has not renewed its fleet for years and memory indicates that it is necessary to purchase a new sailboat that allows it to compete in the elite, where the models of other sailors have been modernized. The intention was to launch the new boat next year.
Following the reports justifying the expense, on August 14, the approval of the tender to acquire an ORC50 racing sailboat was published, contemplating a maximum budget of 1,815,000 euros.
Since then, and based on the events in the public file, the only novelty has been the political controversy raised after the battery of questions presented to the Government last Friday by the PNV spokesperson in Congress, Aitor Esteban, in which he requested to know if “the racing boats used by the King in private competitions are property of the State” and denounced the use of “public money” to “finance a private activity of the Head of State.”
The Navy’s justification makes it clear that the boat is part of the Spanish State as a flagship in different regattas throughout the year, something that other international navies and navies usually do. Without going any further, the Italian Navy participated last weekend with one of its boats in the famous Mahon Vintage Boat Regatta.
The current ‘Aifos’ is based at the Porto Pi Naval Station, in Palma de Mallorca, and was launched in 2005 for the creation of the Transpac 52 class Med Cup circuit.
The news about the paralysis of the process, reported by the media specialized in marine information ‘Gaceta Náutica’, has generated a reaction of indignation among sailors trained in the Navy and in the navigation circles of the island where the King spends his summers, according to this medium itself.
At the moment, neither the Ministry of Defense headed by the socialist Margarita Robles nor the Navy have given more explanations to this newspaper about those “technical reasons” that, according to the purchase file of the new ‘Aifos’, have led to the paralysis of spending, aborting the receipt of offers just the same day that the PNV raised the matter to the political arena and questioned the tender.
