The Navy ships NRP Zarco and NRP Polar left this morning, July 25th, from the Lisbon Naval Base, in Alfeite, for an instructional mission with the Naval School cadets until August 21st, participating, at the same time, in in the Discoveries Race international oceanic regatta.
During the trip, whose final destination will be Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands, Spain, the ships will also call at the ports of Sines, Funchal, Porto Santo and Portimão.
NRP Zarco and NRP Polar have stopovers in Sines (26-28 July), Funchal (2-4 August), Las Palmas (Canary Islands, Spain from 7-10 August), Porto Santo (13-15 August) and Portimão (19 to 20 August), returning to the Lisbon Naval Base on 21 August.
The regatta, organized by Cofradía Europea de la Vela, had its first edition in 2017 and the second in 2019, having established itself as the reference oceanic regatta between Spain and Portugal, consisting of stages between Portuguese and Spanish ports, with a strong component of ocean navigation.
The mission of these two Portuguese Navy school ships has as its main objective to complement the instruction of the cadets at sea, putting into practice, on board and at sea, different curricular subjects, mainly in the area of navigation, leadership, seamanship, meteorology. and logistics.
The NRP Zarco is a sailboat with two masts, 23 meters in length and 60 tons of displacement, being commanded by the frigate captain Humberto Santos Rocha.
The NRP Polar is a sailboat with two masts, 29,9 meters in length and 70 tons of displacement, being commanded by Lieutenant-Captain Luís Filipe Nunes dos Santos.
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