There is one boat among the fleet of many that stands out. She is a boat that appears again and again in the fleet listings where others come and go, and she is the only boat from that era still sailing in Spain today: Acacia III.

Acacia III sailing in the 1950s. From archive record MSBL.1.11

Acacia III, originally named Meye, was built in Sweden in 1929. She was designed by the Finnish naval architect Gustaf Estlander and built by Abrahamsson & Son in Gothenburg, Sweden. However, she was built for a Spanish owner and was sent straight to Luis de Allende who registered her in Bilbao among the then growing northern fleet.

In an article published in 2010 by the Real Club Nautico de Barcelona, Maria Margarita and Joan Cuyàs Robinson describe the story of the boat. She was known for being a highly competitive boat, regularly winning races held between two rival clubs in the 1940s and ‘50s. The owner of the boat had a secret weapon: regular helmsman Santiago Amat Cansino was a multiple Olympic competitor, having represented Spain in 1924, 1928 and 1932 games. In the 1932 Los Angeles games he came home with a bronze medal in the Snowbird dinghy racing.

Margarita and Robinson suggest, however, that, such was Meye’s success, rumours started that she did not in fact measure six metres. It is thought that de Allande decided to sell the boat, feeling pressured by this rumour. It was later proved to be wrong, and the boat was found to indeed be a Six Metre, but just one in very capable hands.

Like so many other Spanish Six Metres, Meye, now renamed Acacia III, found her way south to Barcelona in the early 1950s. Her new owner, Camilo Cuyás Zaragoza, raced with the fleet there, eventually being converting the boat for cruising with the addition of an engine in the 1960s.

Acacia II awaiting restoration at the Astilleros Lagos boatyard, Vigo, Spain. She was restored in the early 2000s. From archive record MSBL.1.13

In the early 1970s, this tenacious boat ended up being sold, heading back to the north of the country. At this point her story becomes obscured, with rumours of her hitting an underwater obstruction and sinking. However, this was far from the truth. While we don’t know exactly what happened in the intervening period, in the 1990s Acacia ended up in the hands of the Astilleros Lagos shipyard where she waited for a new owner to restore her to her former glory. Here, she was spotted by her current owner who oversaw her restoration. She was re-launched in 2010, looking as good as the day she was built.

Acacia was now the only Six Metre left in Spain, as the whole of the rest of the fleet had fallen by the wayside. She would sail under a handicap in classic regattas, but she really lacked competition from other Six Metres. Her story does not finish there, however, as she went on to become the catalyst for a whole new 21^st century revival of the class.

Acacia III at the end of her restoration in 2010. From archive record MSBL.1.14