Spectacular Regatta Copa del Rey
(Palma Mallorca, Spain)- A very special edition of the Copa del MAPFRE, the 40th-anniversary edition, took place from July 30th to August 6th on the Bay of Palma, off Palma Mallorca, Spain. Hosting the event and rolling out the red carpet for the 111 teams and 18 nations was the Real Club Náutico de Palma. The event featured four divisions for the BMW ORC fleet and one-design classes for the Herbalife J/70 fleet and the Mallorca Sotheby’s J/80 Women’s Cup. The Bay of Palma lived up to its billing as one of the best places in the world to sail, certainly one of the nicest on the Mediterranean, which is notoriously light and fickle. For seven straight days, the fleet enjoyed crystal clear blue skies, 80s F temps, and daily sea breezes in the 10 to 18 kts range.. quite literally “postcard perfect” sailing.
Sotheby’s J/80 Women’s Cup
In the Mallorca Sotheby’s J/80 Women’s Cup, the winner dominated the regatta from the midpoint onwards, much to the surprise of the very talented teams in the fleet. Starting with a red-hot 2-3-1-1, it looked like Natalia Vía-Dufresne’s DORSIA COVIRAN (skippered by Nuria Sánchez) was going to run away with the regatta win. Perhaps that evening of the third day, it got to their heads, and the crew enjoyed a little too much sangria. Whatever happened, the DORSIA COVIRAN girls squandered their lead, posting a 3-6-1-2-4 to end up settling for the silver medal with 23 pts total.
Conversely, starting slowly with a 1-2-3-5 in the first four races, Mariva Bover’s BALERIA- TEAM RCNP posted a blistering 1-1-2-3-1 to close the gap and vault onto the top of the leaderboard with 10 pts total. Finally, rounding out the podium with the bronze medal was Eva Gonzalez’s SOHO BOUTIQUE HOTELS- TROCADERO with 29 pts. The King of Spain enjoyed giving the women their trophies on the podium!
Herbalife J/70 Class
For the eight-boat Herbalife J/70 class, it was an up and down battle for the entire week for the top of the podium, with three teams trading places in virtually every race. In the end, it was Gustavo Martinez Doreste’s ALCAIDESA MARINA, with skipper German Eduardo Panei, that won class honors counting only podium finishes (two 1sts, five 2nds, two 3rds) for an 18 pts total. The other two protagonists ended up in a fierce battle for the final two steps and they ended up tied with 25 pts each! Early regatta leader, Luis Bugallo’s LES ROCHES- TRIP SST team (with skipper Pepequin Orbaneja), ended up winning the countback tiebreaker over Jorge Martinez Doreste’s BODEGA CAN MARLES’s team. The balance of the top five included Luis Albert Solana’s PATAKIN in fourth and Manuel de Tomas’ RESTOO in the fifth position.
In ORC 4 division, Otto & Gabriele Pohlmann’s J/99 MEERBLICK FUN team from Germany ascended to the top of the leaderboard halfway through the regatta and never relinquished their lead. In the Grand finale over the last three days, they posted an astonishing four bullets to win the regatta comfortably.
“We knew going into today we had the lead and just had to do better than fourth. We had a good start and then could control the upwind. We have a fantastic team all from the club here in Palma,” said Meerblick Fun’s Sam Francis Hume.
The awards ceremony of the 40th Copa del Rey MAPFRE was presided over by His Majesty Felipe VI, the King of Spain. Himself an avid sailor, Felipe presented the awards to the winners of the nine classes competing for this historical 40th edition. For more Regatta Copa Del Rey MAPFRE sailing information