Travesía a Nado Bahía de Playa Blanca

Event information

One swim, two names

This race goes by two names. And the contradiction sits inside a single document: the island Cup rules call it «XVI Travesía a Nado Bahía P. Blanca - Yaiza» in its date tables and «XVI Travesía a Nado Playa de Papagayo» in the calendar in its article 12. It is under that second name that the Asociación enters it, signing its website as B15 Active. It is the same fixture on Saturday 7 November 2026, with a single entry, and here it also has a page as the Travesía a Nado Playa de Papagayo.

About the crossing

The Travesía a Nado Bahía de Playa Blanca is the one that closes the open water year in Lanzarote: fifth and final stage of the 12th Lanzarote Open Water Swimming Cup 2026, on Saturday 7 November in the bay of Playa Blanca, Yaiza. It is organised by the Asociación de Aguas Abiertas inside a series which, according to article 1.1 of the rules, is called by «el Cabildo Insular de Lanzarote y La Graciosa a través del Área de la Actividad Física y del Deporte» (the island council of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, through its physical activity and sport department); the island sports service turns up in a different article, 8.8, and only to publish results. The official Cup listing has it as the 16th edition. It is swum at Playa Dorada, the name the organiser uses throughout its own rules.

Being the last stage changes how it is swum. Anyone fighting for the overall standings arrives with the maths done, and anyone just looking for one crossing gets the end of season swim, with water already colder than in the August races.

The Cup: five crossings

The 2026 series is made up of these five stages:

1. 1 August: II Travesía a Nado La Tiñosa El Poril, Puerto del Carmen, Tías
2. 22 August: XXXI Travesía a Nado San Ginés RCNA, Arrecife
3. 29 August: Travesía a Nado Emmax, Playa Honda, San Bartolomé. The edition number is published three different ways and all three are official: «XXIV» in the tables of the Cup rules, «XIV» in the calendar of that same PDF and «XXI» on the series page
4. 17 October: VIII Travesía a Nado Alejandro Candela, at Playa Las Cucharas, Costa Teguise. The Cup rules do not publish the 2026 venues; the beach comes from the entry page, «A partir de las 11:00 salida en Playa Las Cucharas en varios horarios» (starts at Playa Las Cucharas from 11:00, in several waves), read on 3 October 2026
5. 7 November: Travesía a Nado Bahía de Playa Blanca, Yaiza

The rules say that «los 16 primeros clasificados» (the first 16 finishers) in each category score, and then list fifteen numbers: 19, 16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. The one for 16th place is missing, and in the club table in the next article there are indeed sixteen, with a 7 between the 8 and the 6. To make the standings you have to swim at least three of the five crossings, and the best four count, or the best three if one is cancelled. The rules set out the prizes for the award ceremony but do not publish its date, and the series page still carries only the 2019 one. So there is no gala date.

Distances and categories

The Cup rules set bands by category: benjamín up to 400 metres, alevín up to 800, and 1,200 to 3,000 metres for infantil, junior, senior and master. The exact distances and the start times ARE published, in the race’s own rules: the 4.5 km starts at 10:00, the 1,200 m at 12:00, the 50/150 m at 13:00, the 400 m and the 800 m at 13:20 and the relays at 13:45. With their caps, their minimum ages and their two cut-offs, all of it on the Travesía Playas de Papagayo page, which covers the same race.

Entry and prices

This crossing is entered together with the Travesía Playas de Papagayo: it is the same event on 7 November 2026 and there is a single entry, so the fees are the ones for that race. From 1 October 2026: 4.5 km 55 EUR, 1,200 m 20 EUR, 800 m 12 EUR, 400 m 10 EUR, 50/150 m 5 EUR and the 3x200 m relay 5 EUR per swimmer. Until 30 September the 4.5 km cost 45 EUR; the rest have not changed. The Cup rules set different fees, 20 EUR for the senior category, 12 EUR for alevín and 8 EUR for benjamín, but what is charged is the list above. The cap has two official readings. The Cup rules say «Cada travesía tendrá un máximo de 450 plazas» (each crossing has a maximum of 450 places); the race’s own rules give no total but a cap per distance that adds up to 470 (150 in the 4.5 km, 200 in the 1,200 m, 30 in each of the three short races and 10 teams of three in the relays), and add that «la organización se reserva 20 plazas para compromisos con los patrocinadores y colaboradores» (the organisers hold back 20 places for sponsors and partners). On 3 October 2026 there were 149 entries, 111 of them in the 4.5 km, which is 74 % of its 150 places. The closing date we give, Wednesday 4 November at 23:59 Canary Islands time, rests on two separate documents: the organiser’s fee table and article 5.1 of the official XII Cup rules, which sets the close of every crossing at «cada miércoles de la semana del evento a las 23:59h (hora canaria)», the Wednesday of race week, read on 1 October 2026 on lanzarotedeportes.com. 7 November is a Saturday, so that Wednesday is the 4th. What disagrees is article 3 of this race’s own rules, the B15 Active ones, which says «hasta el martes semana previa», the Tuesday of the week before, meaning the 3rd. That is not the Cup rules: in those, the word «martes» does not appear once. Sportmaniacs publishes no closing date on its page either. We give the 4th because it is the date the two documents that count agree on, but with a day of difference in play it is not worth leaving it to the last minute. On refunds, the two sources say different things: article 7 of the Cup rules says that «las entidades organizadoras no realizarán devoluciones del importe de las inscripciones» (the organising bodies will not refund entry fees), and article 3 of this race’s rules sells a «servicio de devolución por cancelación inscripción» (entry cancellation refund service) for 16 EUR which «garantiza la devolución del 100% de su inscripción sin importar el motivo» (guarantees a full refund whatever the reason), available only together with the entry and with «efecto de garantía hasta 7 días antes del evento» (cover up to 7 days before the event). Entries go through Sportmaniacs, on the same page as the Papagayo one; the series address is still c_aguasabiertas@lanzarotedeportes.com.

Kit and water rules

The organisers’ official cap is compulsory and is the same one across every crossing in the series; if you lose it, a replacement costs 2 EUR at the Ciudad Deportiva Lanzarote. The chip is compulsory too, and not returning it costs two different amounts depending on the document: article 6.3 of the Cup rules says «deberá pagar 20 euros» (you must pay 20 euros) and also that «se le prohibirá nadar en las siguientes travesías» (you will be barred from the following crossings), while article 8 of the race’s own rules talks about «el abono de 30 €» (a payment of 30 EUR).

Wetsuits depend on the thermometer. They are compulsory below 18 ºC and banned from 18 ºC upwards, with referee discretion up to 20 ºC. Outside the range of 16 to 31 ºC the swim is called off. But the race’s own rules set a different rule, and that is the one to read before the suit goes in the bag: its article 8 allows a wetsuit «cuando sea inferior a 21ºC» (when the water is below 21 ºC) and adds that «podrá usarlo en todo momento el nadador con más de 50 años» (swimmers over 50 may wear one at any time); and by distance it says that in the 4.5 km it «es opcional» (is optional) and that in the 1,200 m it «no está permitido» (is not allowed) except below 18 ºC. Two different regimes for the same day’s water. Judges come from the Canary Islands Swimming Federation, alongside the single judge appointed by the Lanzarote swimming delegation.

Planning your race

November is what sets this date apart from the rest of the series: the water has been cooling for weeks and the wetsuit rule matters more here than in the August crossings. Bring the suit even if you do not expect to use it, because the call is made on the day with a measured temperature.

Playa Blanca sits at the southern tip of the island and the bay is right inside the town, with a promenade and parking around it: it is easy to watch from dry land.