2023-07-31 00:22:45
From today until Saturday in the Bay of Palma, the 41st Copa del Rey MAPFRE sailing brings together the most competitive fleet of boats in the world. Fifteen hundred sailors distributed in a hundred boats representing 16 countries will sail in search of lifting the Cup.
Crews registered in eight classes, one of them reserved exclusively for female athletes, will be eligible for victory: Majórica ORC 1, 2, 3 and 4; Clubswan 50, Clubswan 42, Herbalife 70 and Mallorca Sotheby’s Women’s Cup.
In ORC 1 with 15 participating boats, King Felipe VI will sail aboard the “Aifos” of the Spanish Navy in search of his first Copa del Rey MAPFRE. Also noteworthy in this category are the Swan 45 boat of the Yacht Club Argentino “From Now On” by Fernando Chain, current runner-up in the world and the DK46 “Estrella Damm” by Nacho Montes, owner, and Luis Martínez Doreste, skipper, winner in 2018 and 2019.
Also, the “Elena Nova”, by Christian Plump and Javier Sanz, points to the top of the podium as current champion of the Queen’s SM Trophy.
The Swan 42 “Teatro Soho CaixaBank” by Javier Banderas, will try to revalidate the title of absolute winner won last year in the ORC 2 class with 17 registered. One of her rivals will be the Portuguese Grand Soleil 44 “Tiro”, owned by Nuno Vasco Barreto, one of the three boats that suffered damage from killer whale attacks when they were sailing to Mallorca.
The ORC 3 category, with 22 boats, is the largest in the fleet that will compete with Alexandre Plaza’s “L’Immens” as one of the favourites.
Seven boats, all of them flying the Spanish flag, will fight for the victory in ORC 4 against the Englishman “Just The Job” by Scott Beattie.
Also, a great duel is expected between the “Mestral Fast” of Jaume Morell, a Sun Fast 36 that defends the colors of the RCN de Palma and the “Lassal” of Gonzalo Calvo, of the RCN of Valencia.
In the ClubSwan 50 and 42 one-designs, a fleet of 17 teams from Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Great Britain and Monaco will haggle in real time, including Pablo Garriga’s “Tenaz”, which will be the only team flying the Spanish flag among the fleet
Three teams will make up the Spanish representation in the ClubSwan 42 class: Pedro Comas’ “Nadir” (2022 champion), José María Meseguer’s “Pez de Abril” (2017 and 2018 champion) and Luis Senís’ “Porrón X”. The “Hang Ten” of Mon Cañellas, current champion of Spain in the Herbalife J70 class, chooses to climb to the top of the podium in that class.
In the Mallorca Sotheby’s Women’s Cup class, eleven teams will sail to register their names in the list of winners in this category, exclusively for female sailors.
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