Spain

The Mediterranean powerhouse. 1540 boats across 17 events. Aeroblade-led fleet DNA.

Kinship

Every fleet has a fingerprint.

From the Solent’s tide-lines to the Aegean Meltemia — find your waters.

 Hidden Shape

11 archetypes across 31 dimensional features.
How this country's fleet clusters before the results arrive.

How every Spanish boat clusters, before the results arrive.
Kinship

Fifteen hundred forty boats on the Spanish coast.

Spain's ESP-flagged fleet is the deepest single-country cohort on FleetEdge — AEROBLADE and HEADFORCE lead the archetype mix, reflecting a production-boat coastline where light-to-moderate Mediterranean conditions reward refined-rig heel-sensitive and upwind-biased platforms.

1,540
boats
17
events
270
races
National cohort · as of 2026-04-21 · build a2e90234

ORC Authority: RFEV

Spanish offshore racing extends from the Balearics to Atlantic Galicia. The Real Federación Española de Vela governs 1540 ESP-flagged boats in the FleetEdge corpus — 1492 ORC-rated hulls and 48 IRC-synthetic twins. Mediterranean light-to-moderate conditions and a broad production-boat base shape a distinctly mixed-archetype fleet character. The coastline itself does the sorting: the flat-water bays of the Balearics reward light-air agility, the Cantabrian coast tests rough-water platforms, and the Atlantic Galician edges of the peninsula demand hulls that can read long-swell offshore geometry.

The Fortuna 9 is a uniquely Spanish fleet staple. Found nowhere else in the global ORC registry in these numbers, the Monotipo-built one-design anchors domestic club racing alongside the ubiquitous Dufour 34 and First 31.7. Beneteau and Dufour design houses dominate the production fleet, with strong representation at Copa del Rey and domestic championship events.

In 2026, the Spanish calendar opens with the Sandberg PalmaVela from 23 April to 3 May in Palma Bay — the ORC Int, TP52, and Maxi classes gather on the same water where the 43rd Copa del Rey just concluded six months earlier. Copa del Rey MAPFRE 2026 follows in the first week of August, and the ORC DH European Championship already closed its Altea, Costa Blanca edition in March. A year that begins and ends on Spanish water.

At a glance

Spain — structural snapshot.

Scope
1,540 boats
1,492 ORC-rated · 48 IRC-synthetic
Top 3 archetypes
  1. AEROBLADE — 260 boats (16.9%)
  2. HEADFORCE — 200 boats (13.0%)
  3. STORMLINE — 192 boats (12.5%)
Eleven canonical performance archetypes cluster the fleet by dimensional signature. See the full map →
Top designer cluster
Finot J-M
122 boats (7.9%) — the most-represented design voice in this fleet.

Counts and archetype assignments above are measured from the current corpus. Commentary below is interpretive.

National cohort · as of 2026-04-23 · build e775022a
Hidden Shape

The shape of the Spanish fleet.

1,540 Spanish boats across 11 archetypes — here's how they cluster, and what the collective signature reveals about how Spain races.

The Spanish ORC Fleet Signature

Spain's fleet is a mixed-archetype production collective. AEROBLADE leads at 16.9% (260 boats) — refined-rig heel-sensitive platforms with sharp trim response across Balearic thermals. HEADFORCE follows at 13.0% (200 boats), pressure-driven compact-rig hulls biased to the windward mark, and STORMLINE anchors the big-rig heel-sensitive contingent at 12.5% (192 boats) for the Biscay and Galician ocean-facing fleets. All eleven archetypes are represented — the broadest single-country mix on FleetEdge, and the tail (GRAVITYRUN 71, KEELFLEX 60) is populated, not thin.

  • AEROBLADE 16.9% · 260 boats
  • HEADFORCE 13.0% · 200 boats
  • STORMLINE 12.5% · 192 boats

Dimension emphasis: Sail Performance · Condition & Tactical

In 2026, this fleet opens its season at the Sandberg PalmaVela (April 23 – May 3) on home water in Palma Bay — the light-to-moderate Mediterranean window where AEROBLADE's sharp heel sensitivity and rapid trim response read clean — and closes the summer at Copa del Rey MAPFRE in the first week of August.

High confidence Production

Aeroblade

Refined-rig platform with sharp heel sensitivity and rapid trim response when sailed flat.

Boats 260
Share 16.9%

Headforce

Pressure-driven compact-rig hull that punches through chop at the windward mark.

Boats 200
Share 13.0%

Stormline

Big-rig heel-sensitive platform with the fleet's highest rig-power-to-stability ratio.

Boats 192
Share 12.5%

Aeromax

Power-efficiency hybrid with strong upwind drive and moderate displacement.

Boats 143
Share 9.3%

Deepframe

Deep-hull efficiency paired with a stiff platform for drag-optimised flow.

Boats 130
Share 8.4%

Steelform

Compact-rig stiff-platform with the fleet's lowest race-to-race variance.

Boats 130
Share 8.4%

Balancecore

Heel-sensitive platform with a wider, more forgiving performance envelope.

Boats 121
Share 7.9%

Ironwind

Stiff, stable-drive platform with predictable load behaviour.

Boats 114
Share 7.4%

Glideform

Low-drag hull with strong downwind bias through efficient waterline-to-beam ratios.

Boats 106
Share 6.9%

Gravityrun

Heavy-mode momentum boat with strong downwind power in sustained breeze.

Boats 71
Share 4.6%

Keelflex

Narrow stability window; fast when perfectly balanced, punishing when not.

Boats 60
Share 3.9%

Spanish fleet diversity across all eleven archetypes. AEROBLADE's refined-rig heel-sensitive geometry leads at 17.0%, followed by HEADFORCE's pressure-driven upwind power (13.1%) and STORMLINE's big-rig heel-sensitive contingent (12.6%) — together those three account for 43% of the classified cohort. The mix reflects the range of Spanish coastlines from flat-water Mediterranean bays to Biscay and Atlantic Galicia. The tail is populated, not thin: GRAVITYRUN (71) and KEELFLEX (60) both cross the scale thresholds that let FleetEdge classify them with confidence.

Archetypes in the Spanish fleet, grounded in real platforms.

AEROBLADE

17.0% · 260

Refined-rig heel-sensitive platforms with rapid trim response when sailed flat.

  • Fortuna 9Monotipo (uniquely Spanish)
  • J 80Johnstone / J Boats
  • First Class 8Finot / Beneteau

Spanish AEROBLADE boats cluster on platforms like these — refined-rig heel-sensitive geometry that rewards disciplined trim on the flat-water Balearic bays where the bulk of Spanish club racing happens.

HEADFORCE

13.1% · 200

Pressure-driven compact-rig hulls biased to the upwind mark.

  • First 31.7Finot / Beneteau
  • Dufour 34Felci / Dufour
  • First 36.7Farr / Beneteau

Spanish HEADFORCE boats cluster on platforms like these — upwind production racers that punch into the chop rather than dance around it, stocking Spanish club racing from the Balearics to the Cantabrian.

STORMLINE

12.6% · 192

Big-rig heel-sensitive platforms with the fleet's highest rig-power-to-stability ratio.

  • First 40.7Farr / Beneteau
  • Grand Soleil 43Felci / Cantiere del Pardo
  • Salona 44Jakopin / Salona

Spanish STORMLINE boats cluster on mid-size platforms like these — big-rig heel-sensitive designs for the Biscay and Galician ocean-facing fleets, the boats that turn rig power into reaching-leg speed when Atlantic pressure fills the foredeck.

What we saw

From the Spanish cohort.

Spain's 2026 season opens on home water at the Sandberg PalmaVela (April 23 – May 3), and the 40-boat ESP cohort at the 43rd Copa del Rey just six months earlier is the 2025-vintage signature that shapes the pre-race read on what Palma will test. Four insights from the Spanish subset of Europe's largest ORC championship — the story told from the Spanish-flag perspective, not the European field's.

Pre-race window · Archetype-Conditions

PalmaVela's light-to-moderate Palma breeze is where AEROBLADE does its loudest work.

The Sandberg PalmaVela runs April 23 – May 3 on Palma Bay, the Spanish season opener. Palma's late-April pressure typically delivers a light-to-moderate Mediterranean band with thermal shifts — the exact window where AEROBLADE's refined-rig heel-sensitive geometry rewards sharp trim response through the shifts. The Spanish fleet's 17.0% AEROBLADE density (260 boats) is the highest of any national cohort heading into Palma, and the Balearics' flat-water bays are where that signature lives. FleetEdge reads this as home-field advantage on home water. Pre-race speculation — actual conditions and crew execution will arbitrate.

  • Racing: April 23 – May 3, 2026 · Palma Bay
  • ESP AEROBLADE density: 17.0% · 260 boats
Pre-race speculative FE Weather × Archetype (historical)
Championship Citation

MON DE L'ONA II carried Spain's only title at the 43rd Copa del Rey.

ESP-7834 MON DE L'ONA II (Vrolijk 37, AEROMAX) finished 1st of 31 with 18.5 points in Class C at the 43rd Copa del Rey — the only Spanish title of the 2025 ORC European Championship and the only class title ESP brought home from the 114-boat field. The Vrolijk 37's power-efficiency hybrid platform converted the light-to-moderate Palma breeze into a margin over a mixed-nation class; the podium ran ESP-ITA-ITA with STIG and SARCHIAPONE FUORISERIE in second and third. AEROMAX found its Mediterranean home on home water.

  • 1st of 31 · Class C, 18.5 points
  • Podium: ESP-ITA-ITA · AEROMAX Vrolijk 37
High confidence RR Copa del Rey 2025
Magnitude Gap

SAIOLA XIV cleared the Spanish cohort on allowance and crew at the same time.

SAIOLA XIV (TP52, KEELFLEX) topped the 40-boat ESP cohort at Palma on Comparative Time at 5.25 sec/nm vs ORC (1st, 5.79 sec/nm clear of AIFOS) and on Crew Effectiveness at 7.19 sec/nm residual (1st, 6.86 sec/nm clear). Two dimensions, same answer, same boat — Spain's narrow-window balance ceiling at Palma was a single KEELFLEX TP52 programme converting crew discipline into the same result twice. AIFOS, the other Spanish TP52, filled the runner-up slot on both axes. Not a lead; a different pace.

  • SAIOLA XIV Comp Time: 5.25 sec/nm · lead 5.79 sec/nm
  • SAIOLA XIV Crew Eff: 7.19 sec/nm · lead 6.86 sec/nm
High confidence RR Copa del Rey 2025 · ESP cohort
Fleet vs Race Composition Shift

The Spanish boats that travelled to Palma were not the Spanish fleet.

Spain's national fleet runs AEROBLADE 17.0% / HEADFORCE 13.1% / STORMLINE 12.6% — the everyday production and rough-water signature of the full 1,540-boat cohort. The 40 ESP boats that travelled to the 43rd Copa del Rey ran AEROMAX 32.5% / KEELFLEX 25.0% — a completely different archetype mix, dominated by the TP52, DK 46, and Swan 42 grand-prix platforms of the European championship layer. The race cohort read differently from the fleet: AEROBLADE, STORMLINE, IRONWIND, and GRAVITYRUN — the everyday production archetypes that dominate the national fleet — were absent from Palma. The event is a window into Spain's grand-prix layer, not a cross-section of its entire fleet.

  • Full fleet lead: AEROBLADE 17.0%
  • Race cohort lead: AEROMAX 32.5% · KEELFLEX 25.0%
High confidence FE Cohort vs Fleet
Continue

Go deeper.

Fleet Overview

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Platform Scale

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Join the world's offshore racing teams.

Historical weather meets hull physics — every fleet, every leg.

See Spain Racing — Mediterranean Championship See Fleet Overview