Pirate rafts take back Concha Bay on Monday

Donostia will become pirate territory again this Monday. Pirate boarding, one of the most popular and crowded events of the Pirate Big Week, will return to Concha Bay. Hundreds of artisanal rafts will be ready to sail from the port to the shore of the beach.

This event can no longer be separated from the festivities of San Sebastián: gangs, families and large groups of acquaintances gather in the port, using various materials to build their rafts and ships that, for a few hours, will attempt to cross the bay of La Concha.

This year, the assembly work will begin at 9:30 a.m. . From then on, participants will prepare and decorate their boats before one of the main moments of the day. They have also organized apopular meal  , at 14:00 in Flamenka, before the participants go to the rafts.

Over two decades

The pirate boarding came about in 2003 , when half a hundred people then decided togo out to sea to claim a different festive model, a first act that claimed the free and community use of public space and proposed an alternative to the official model of Big Week. Since then, the initiative has been growing to become one of the pillars of Pirate Big Week .

The increase has been gradual, from about 50 people in the first edition to 100 in 2004, 200 in 2005, 400 in 2006, 1,000 in 2007 and 2,000 in 2008. Over the years, boardinghas even brought together about 4,000 participants .

Beyond the spectacularity of the rafts and the efforts of hundreds of people to reach the beach of La Concha, the event keeps intact the vindictive character ithas had since its inception. Donostiako Hacking is a movement in favor of the popular, participatory and Basque holidays created for the citizens, with the encouragement of the festivities organized by the citizens.

That also requires coordination.

The pirate approach requires important organizational and security work . The collective itself has a specific working group on the event, including the registration and security plan. In previous editions, the device has involved firefighters, Red Cross, DYA, Civil Protection, divers and volunteers.

In this context, pre-registration is required for each raft. The organization closed the registration deadline on Friday 7 August and then the assembly shifts were distributed. Each vessel must also have a person in charge of contacting the organization during the process .