Jesús Lasso Cabrera
Some years ago, I was told that an emigrant from Lanzarote was returning to the island with an impressive project under his arm. Then that little office appeared in Puerto del Carmen where Rosa and a few other people offered information on what would become Puerto Calero in the future.
I don't even know how many years have passed since those early days when the port had only a single piece of pontoon anchored in the middle of the enclosure that had been made with the primitive breakwater. It seemed to me that it was an enormous work impossible to fill on an island like Lanzarote. At that time I did not know the drive, the enthusiasm, the way of delegating, of the marriage formed by "Pepe" and Milagros, who have also known how to instill in their children Daniel and José Juan.
I remember those afternoons where the faces in Puerto Calero were always the same, some watchman, Alfredo Morales, Juan Montenegro... But times have changed, important extensions have arrived, what was a simple dry dock has become a first class leisure area...
After the consolidation of the Port and its surroundings, a new stage began with the organization of different events that each year place their level even higher.
Little by little and in just 4 years, Puerto Calero has achieved with a fabulous team led by "Pepe" and Milagros, that the sailing fans on the Island feel proud of them. Who was going to tell me? That next to that pontoon where I slept so many nights, where I kept my talks with my water neighbor Armando de León, only 20 meters away one day the Canarian group par excellence would perform. Los Sabandeños, were only a sample of the level and ability to surprise with which they work in Puerto Calero.
If we add to that pleasant surprise the sporting level of the V César Manrique-Puerto Calero Trophy contributed by the participants, the organizational level, the hospitality that we all received who came there, and above all the emotional drive that the organizers infect, success in the future is guaranteed
It is difficult to choose a moment of the five days that the program lasted to keep it in the memory, the performance of Los Sabandeños, to be able to witness the TP52 in the waters of the Island, the spectacle of almost 70 boats in the regatta field, the surprise pirate party, to see all the participants in a carnival atmosphere following the pirates and the batucada along the promenade of Puerto Calero.
There is something that should make us all proud, the level of satisfaction of the hundreds of athletes, fans and families who have visited us during those days. Let the promoters of the tourist campaigns take good note. One of the participants and old friend told me at noon on Sunday: "I have enjoyed more here in 5 days than in 15 days of vacation in the Caribbean".
The great secret is that "Pepe" and Milagros at the head of their team are already working on what will be the sixth edition of the César Manrique-Puerto Calero Trophy. Daniel, José Juan, Andrés, Alfre, Tante, Pilar, Mirella... Thank you for the work well done.
Once again the sponsors have participated at institutional level and private companies, without a doubt an investment that they will not regret being able to be remembered as collaborators of what has become the first sporting event of those held on the Island.
I don't know if fear or joy, is what one should feel when the tireless "Pepe" Calero takes the microphone at each closing of the sporting events, and is that until now he has fulfilled the following year each of the promises he has launched into the air. That means that in the sixth edition a new step forward will be taken, is it possible to improve something?.
Don José, Doña Milagros, thank you on behalf of all the sailing fans on the Island, and with all your team: test directors, technicians, marketing, photographers, press, staff of the Amura Restaurant and all the collaborators, hostesses... GO FOR A MILLION!!!.