Olympians flock to Palma

With many Olympians in Palma training over the winter the organising team are looking to the future

Olympic training:

The Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia Regatta will be held from 31 March to 6 April and will welcome to the Bay of Palma around 1,700 competitors representing twelve classes (eleven Olympic classes and the Dragon invited class). These classes will sail in eight racing areas and four Clubs (Club Nàutic s’Arenal, Club Marítimo San Antonio de la Playa, Real Club Náutico de Palma and Escuela de Vela Calanova). The 38th edition of the regatta will also be the Tornado Class European Championships.

Proving itself to be one of the winter training destinations of choice almost 150 teams from 21 nations are already currently training in the Bay of Palma. Included in the Olympic teams who have chosen the Bay of Palma to train are Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Russia, USA, New Zealand and South Africa, among others.

With so many sailors, Club Nàutic s’Arenal has decided to organise during the first week of March the “Arenal Training Camps Trophy”, a training regatta that will also be the Tornado Spanish national championship and in which around 20 boats are expected.
More than 500 entries have already been received for the 38 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia.

ISAF World Cup Series:

The six regattas to be part of the World Cup Series, due to be tested through the 2007 season, were invited by ISAF to Southampton, in order to define some details of this new Olympic classes circuit. The Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia – Mapfre drew high attention being a very well known regatta with very high participation.

The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) will own the rights of this WCS and the circuit’s official title will be ISAF World Cup Series.

The WCS will have a similar format to that of the tennis ATP and will be held in the following order: Melbourne regatta in January; Miami in February; Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia – Mapfre de Palma de Mallorca at the end of March beginning of April; Hyères at the end of April and Holland regatta in May. The circuit will finish in Kiel in June.

The ISAF Executive Committee will meet mid May and decide the final format of the competition as well as the 2008 regatta dates. The circuit will be officially ratified in November.