Every summer, life on the Basque coast revolves around a twelve-metre boat and thirteen people. In Bilbao, this phenomenon is best understood if you start at the beginning: for centuries, being the first to reach port didn’t win you a flag. It earned you a better price.

Craftsmanship over the stopwatch

The ‘trainera’ takes its name from the traíña, the type of boat used to catch sardines and anchovies in the Cantabrian Sea. It was a working boat: it would set out to find the shoal, load its catch and return by rowing. And it would return quickly, because the first catch to reach the fish market set the price for the day. Rivalry between ports existed long before any regulations were in place.

When motorboats were introduced to fishing, the traditional fishing boat lost its role but retained its rivalry. That explains why an ‘estropada’ – the Basque name for the regatta – is still experienced as a neighbourhood and village affair rather than as a sporting competition. What is being defended on the water is a sense of belonging.

Thirteen people and a buoy

There are twelve people on the bench arraunlariak, the rowers, each with a single oar, seated on fixed seats. They are joined by the coxswain, standing at the stern, who steers the boat and sets the pace with his voice. Thirteen in total. The boat measures around twelve metres and the regulations set a minimum weight, so the difference does not lie in the equipment: it lies in the synchronisation. The classic reference distance is three nautical miles, just over five and a half kilometres, although each nation adapts the course to its own bay. The race is almost always decided at the turn, the manoeuvre around the buoy that marks the end of each leg. There, the trainera almost comes to a standstill, the water stops pushing, and the crew have to start from scratch with their arms already tired. Whoever enters the turn in third place and comes out first wins.

If you could only watch one moment of the regatta, that’s the moment.

How to read the calendar

Fixed-seat rowing is organised into leagues. The main men’s league brings together the leading clubs from the Basque Country and Cantabria, with the season running from July to September; the women’s league runs in parallel, with the same weekend schedule and the same route of ports. Earlier in the spring, rowing takes place in smaller boats: the ‘batel’ and ‘trainerilla’, which serve as the foundation for everything else.

The season draws to a close in Donostia with the Bandera de la Concha, which takes place on the first two Sundays in September and is decided by the combined times from the two days’ racing. The race has been held since 1879 and remains the only regatta that can change the course of a crew’s career. It is just over an hour’s drive from Bilbao, and is well worth a day trip there and back.

At the mouth of the river – known locally as El Abra – various regattas are held throughout the summer. It is the natural setting for rowing on both the left and right banks, and allows spectators to watch an entire regatta without having to move from the spot.

Where to watch, and at what time

Portugalete and Santurtzi are the most direct options from the centre of Bilbao: the metro takes you to the quay in just over twenty minutes. It’s best to arrive early and position yourself near the buoy, not on the finish line, because the order of the boats gets mixed up at the turn, not at the finish. Once the rowing boats have passed, the late afternoon in Santurtzi’s Old Harbour has its own ritual: grilled sardines and txakoli, the local white wine, which is served chilled and with a high acidity precisely to complement the oily fish.

The Bizkaia Bridge, also known as the Suspension Bridge, is another viewpoint that isn’t marked as such on any map. It is the world’s oldest ferry, in service since 1893, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006. The crossing in the cable car between Portugalete and Las Arenas takes a minute and a half and offers the only view of the estuary at water level – the same view as that of the crew. Do it before the regatta, whilst the water’s surface is still free of wake.

On the right bank, the Old Port of Algorta serves as a fitting continuation: you can get there by metro on the line that runs along the coast, and its whitewashed taverns retain the layout of the old fishermen’s quarter – and it was precisely these fishermen who invented all this.

The season ends in September and the rowing boats are put back in their sheds until the following summer. It’s just a few weeks a year, almost always at the weekend and almost always in the late afternoon. All you need to do is be on the quay when they turn round and know which way to look.

Tayko Bilbao. The start of your story in the city.