Eight Bells: Alejandro Alonso

Dury Alonso

Journalist Alejandro ‘Dury’ Alonso died December 10 at the age of 62 at the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital in Vigo, Spain. His passing followed a long illness that forced his admission in the last days of November.

Dury was one of the media greats of the Spanish sailing scene. He was passionate about ocean racing and through his media reporting, was instrumental in introducing the Spanish public to the world’s great ocean races, such as the Vendee Globe, Route du Rhum, Jules Verne, and many more.

One of his early forays into offshore racing was as the communications director of Javier de la Gandara’s Galicia93Pesconova campaign in the 1993-94 Whitbread Round the World Race, a campaign that sealed Javier and his young team into the history of the race

The campaign became a springboard for Dury to feature as a go-to person in press teams for leading events including the Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup, and the TP52 MedCup Series. He was also a regular feature at most of Spain’s regatta circuits.

Alongside his work in the sailing industry, he was heavily involved in the development of the iconic VIG-BAY half marathon, which led him to become one of the key advisors to the Spanish Athletics Federation.

But to those lucky enough to know him, he was a humble, honest and funny man, helpful and supportive in the extreme, and the greatest addition to any media team or press office.

He will be sorely missed – sail on friend!