Cabrera de Mar makes the dream of a paraplegic athlete come true

Cabrera de Mar – When Álvaro Bayona , known as Alvin to his friends, a paraplegic athlete, went to present one of his dreams to Jordi Mir , the mayor of Cabrera de Mar (Maresme), he couldn't have imagined that he would completely transform the town's beach, making it the most accessible – though not adapted – for people with disabilities on the Barcelona coast. In just under a year, the 50-meter stretch of beach next to the Yacht Club has become a benchmark, allowing people with disabilities to enjoy swimming, water sports, and dining in a restaurant without architectural barriers.

The indomitable spirit of Álvaro Bayona, a 31-year-old paraplegic athlete, was not diminished even by the avalanche that swept him away on January 15, 2010, while snowboarding in La Masella, causing a spinal cord injury. Competitive to the extreme, he never resigned himself to being confined to a wheelchair "or to losing everything he had fought for." A former mountain guide and sports coach, he decided that it was the world that had to change, or that he had to change it. He has continued practicing and competing in the sports he loves: skiing, surfing, kitesurfing, wakeboarding, stand-up paddleboarding (SUP)... in many of which he has been an international pioneer, such as adapted SUP, for which he manufactures a patented chair in a small company he founded.

For Álvaro Bayona, everything boils down to passion. It's the passion that drives him to live life to the fullest and that he transmits to those around him. This yearning didn't go unnoticed by an active politician, the mayor of Cabrera de Mar, Jordi Mir, who has been fighting for years to have a beach with the maximum number of amenities. With Álvaro, it all started with a request to "extend the wooden walkway to the water," but he acknowledges that given the mayor's willingness, the opportunity to transform his beloved beach—after having traveled to beaches all over the world—into "a benchmark for adapted water sports" was too good to pass up. "Sailing, kayaking, surfing, wakeboarding, paddle surfing..." he lists with pride.

The perfect example of what Cabrera de Mar beach aspires to is Marta García , a 31-year-old woman from Badalona with a spinal cord injury that confines her to a wheelchair. She couldn't believe what she had just accomplished. Accompanied by a physiotherapist, she practiced paddle surfing "without falling," changed and showered in an adapted, air-conditioned changing room, rested in a shaded area, and enjoyed a snack on the terrace of the Nautical Club bar. "It's incredible, I was able to do an excellent activity on a very accessible beach," she acknowledged, proud of the progress she had made in her personal independence.

“We didn’t want to miss this opportunity,” says Jordi Mir, the mayor of Cabrera de Mar, who is showing off facilities that he believes are the most accessible on the Catalan coast, although not officially adapted, as the bureaucratic requirements for that are more complex. From the moment they arrive at the reserved parking area “right on the beach,” people with disabilities access a network of walkways that connects them to the water and all the services—lifeguards, amphibious chairs, etc.—that guarantee them access to swimming, sports, relaxation, and dining. “What makes this beach unique is that it’s adapted so that people with disabilities can practice all kinds of water sports,” a pilot project they are trying to get approved by the Catalan government and which “we hope other municipalities will follow.”