With just one day to go until the start of the first scoring race of the 39th Copa del Rey MAPFRE, today the bay of Palma was filled with sails. The official training regatta brought together the 105 teams for a dress rehearsal of what will happen from tomorrow until Saturday. H.M. King Felipe sailed aboard the Aifos 500.
The training regatta today convened all the participants of the 39th Copa del Rey MAPFRE in the bay of Palma. The nine classes took to the water to compete in a single windward-leeward non-points scoring race in which the crews were able to test the performance of their boats, test their rivals and regain sensations on a race course that had not brought them together since August 2019. Everything was ready for the first major Mediterranean multi-class regatta in two years.
Six days of competition
Tomorrow the lockers will be opened in all classes. The competition program contemplates a maximum of 11 races for all except Herbalife J70 and Mallorca Sotheby’s Women’s Cup, which will be able to race up to 15. The scoring will be divided into a Preliminary Series for the first three days and a Final Series for the last three days, with each boat starting with a number of points equivalent to its position in the Preliminary Series.The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday at 21:00h at Ses Voltes, at the foot of the Cathedral of Palma.
Seven champions
The registration has been closed with 105 teams of 19 nationalities, including seven champions of the last edition. The Porrón IX of Luís Senís (winner of Swan 45 and now in BMW ORC 1) and the El Carmen – Élite Sails of José Coello (champion of BMW ORC 2 and now in BMW ORC 3) have changed classes. Defending title are Luis Martínez Doreste’s Estrella Damm (winner of the last two editions in BMW ORC 1), Carles Rodríguez’s L’Immens Laplaza Assessors (winner of the last two in BMW ORC 3), Leonardo Ferragamo’s Cuordileone (ClubSwan 50), George Brailoui’s Natalia (ClubSwan 42) and Helena Alegre’s AGD (Women’s Cup champions in 2019 under the colors of Federación Balear).
A look at the rest of the entries confirms the excellent level in all categories, which includes the current ClubSwan 50 (Marcus Brennecke’s Hatari) and J80 (Olatz Muñoz’s Decoetxa) world champions, and several teams that have lifted the Copa del Rey MAPFRE in previous editions, such as Henrick Brandis’ ClubSwan 50 Earlybird (2018 and 2017), José María Meseguer’s ClubSwan 42 Pez de Abril (2018 and 2017), Rafael Carbonell’s Swan 45 Rats on Fire (2014, 2013, 2011 and 2010) or Andrés Soriano’s TP52 Alegre (2017). All of them are looking forward to the Mallorcan event.
Double debut
Tomorrow two monotype classes will make their debut in the Copa del Rey MAPFRE: Herbalife J70 and ClubSwan 36. The smallest of the ClubSwan family brings together a dozen teams of five nationalities full of top-level sailors. They arrive in Palma after competing in Sardinia, where G-Spotde Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio won, although the three points that separated the first three classifieds will be an intense battle for the first victory in Palma.
Don Felipe, with the Aifos 500
King Felipe VI has trained today aboard the TP52 Aifos 500. After having participated in the last editions in the ClubSwan 50 category, the Spanish Navy crew this year recovers the TP52 winner of the Copa del Rey MAPFRE in 2008 to participate in the competitive BMW ORC 1 class.
The first starting signal of the 39th Copa del Rey MAPFRE is scheduled for tomorrow, Monday, at 13:00h.
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