Anyone who wanted to swim in the sea 100 years ago didn't have it easy. People who lived near the sea still had the bad habit of throwing trash into the water. The factories that had been built on the Barcelona coastline were polluting the sea more and more. Chronicles speak of dead animals, all sorts of debris and industrial waste that deterred many swimmers. The most determined began to go a little further out to sea with "patinadors", modest boats that were essentially a small catamaran, with two canoes joined by a plank. They would climb on board and, by rowing, would go to the clean waters. At the beginning of the 20th century, the bathing clubs of Barcelona and Badalona rented these "patinadors", until someone had the idea of putting a mast with a sail on them. And so was born the most typical vessel of Catalan sailing: the "patí de vela", which has celebrated its 100 years of life in good health.

For centuries, these waters were feared by any navigator. Sailing around Cape Horn, the southernmost point of the American continent, or along the coast of Patagonia has never been easy. Now, two Catalan sailors, Dídac Costa and Guillermo Cañardo, are preparing to sail along the Chilean coast to southern Patagonia on a voyage unprecedented in the world of sailing. They will cover more than 1,500 nautical miles (2,780 kilometers) in a traditional sailing dinghy: the Catalan sailing dinghy. This small vessel will face a challenge unlike any seen before.