Mario Uriburu

Mario Roberto Uriburu Peró was a sailor from Argentina, known as "Bobby, who represented his country at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Le Havre, France. Together with his brother Captain Ernesto C. Uriburu and Ernesto's wife, Elena Murray de Uriburu Peró, Bobby sailed the oceans aboard "El Gaucho", a 50-foot ketch that took the Uriburu brothers in several trans-Atlantic trips around the world, to Europe, North America, South America, and Africa. Armed conflict in the Middle East prevented them from getting to Asia and complete their trip around the world, as they had originally planned. The Uriburu Peró brothers wanted their ship to be built exclusively using wood from Argentine native trees, and instructed the shipbuilder Lorenzo Parodi, Enresto's childhood friend, to use lapacho and viraro for the boat's keel, peteribí for the cover and algarrobo for the boat's ribs. The sails were knitted with cotton from Chaco, a province in Northern Argentina. The boat "El Gaucho" displaced 28 tons and had a total length of 15 meters (50 feet), its max beam of 4.30 mts., a draft of 2.15 mts. It was designed by the prestigious designer Manuel M. Campos and built in the shipyard of Parodi Hnos. located in Tigre, province of Buenos Aires. It took the Uriburus from Buenos Aires through the Mediterranean and to the Suez Canal and then to New York, following Columbus' route from Palos, Spain, to San Salvador. The Uriburu brothers were close friends of King Juan of Spain, who also loved sailing and with whom the Uriburu brothers used to sail together. The Uriburu brothers sailed over 67,000 nautical miles aboard El Gaucho, and their adventures abroad were reflected in the 1957 book "Seagoing Gaucho" authored by Ernesto Uriburu (entitled "67,000 millas a bordo de El Gaucho") A Maiden Trip that entered into History El Gaucho's maiden trip was remarkably significant, since it was also the first historical reconstruction of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus. It lasted from 1946 to 1948, when the Uriburus sailed for 27,508 nautical miles, having invited Lieutenant of Corvette Julio Álvaro Vázquez as navigator who was considered one of the best navigators that El Gaucho had. They visited 14 countries and, upon returning to Argentina, they raised the flag of Castile and Leon upon their arrival, which was later donated to the Naval Museum of Tigre. The Uriburu brothers used to say that they inspiration for this historical trip had come from a combination of literature and history, since they had been asked to translate "The Ships of Columbus" by Martínez Hidalgo into English by Howard Chapelle. From 1951 to 1952, El Gaucho took part of the Havana-San Sebastián regatta, covering the 18,232 nautical miles between Cuba and Spain with the Uriburus joined by Lieutenant of Corvette Roald Kolliker Frers. In 1954-1955, their navigator was Pedro Margalot and in the year 1959-60 on a 6,984-mile voyage, the navigator was Jorge Goulú and, later, don Pedro Margalot. In its third trip, El Gaucho took part for the second time in the 1954-1955 Havana-San Sebastián regatta, in which it performed significantly better than in the previous regatta. El Gaucho finished in the 3rd position, having taken 36 days and 22 hours to complete the trip that had begun in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where a rather large storm that delayed them for 19 days, breaking the stick. El Gaucho sailed to Trinidad Island, as the Uriburus were waiting for the hurricane season to pass. After three months there, they sailed to Curacao, Jamaica, and Santiago de Cuba. From Miami, they sailed through the Intracostal route to Annapolis. On that trip, they delivered a painting (portrait) of Admiral Guillermo Brown to the Annapolis Naval School. Back in Miami, they sailed to Havana and then to San Sebastián. El Gaucho took the Uriburus in several voyages across the South Atlantic ocean, the North Atlantic ocean, the Caribbean sea, the Mediterranean sea, the Ionian Sea, the Tyrrhenian sea, the Red sea and the Cantabrian sea. The Uriburus were awarded countless trophies, among which are the 1947 Blue Water Medal of the Cruising Club of America (CCA), the 1951 TransOceanic Pennant of the Cruising Club of America (CCA) and the 1956 John Parkinson Memorial Trophy, also from the Cruising Club of America (CCA). An interesting fact is that at a ceremony held at the City Island Yacht Club in New York, the Gaucho crew was given a personal flag of Sir Thomas Lipton, the most persevering challenger of the America Cup, as a symbol of sports friendship between the two countries. Sir Lipton's flag was hoisted at the top of the main pole of the Gaucho to celebrate the start of the races for this cup. The flag is made of wool, green and white, and it is said that Thomas hoisted it in his Shamrock in numerous attempts to reconquer the cup for England.

Mario Roberto Uriburu Peró (Bobby Uriburu)

Personal information
Full name	Mario Roberto Uriburu Peró
Nationality	Argentine
Born	(1901-08-08)August 8, 1901
Died	August 9, 1984(1984-08-09) (aged 83) San Francisco, California
Sailing career
Class(es)	8 Metre
Competition record Sailing Representing  Argentina Olympic Games 5th 1924 Le Havre 8 Metre
Updated on 8 March 2015http://www.geocities.ws/navemundo/pedro.margalot.html.