Tricky conditions

Platoon and Near Miss lead the TP52 and GP42 classes after a lighter day three of Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre

The third day of the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre turned out to be a little less exciting than the first two, with the sea breeze kicking in later and lighter than expected. The Swan 45s and X-35s were luckier and enjoyed up to 13 knots in their race area.

The GP42 and TP52 classes suffered from the lack of breeze in their race area. After waiting for more than two hours for the wind to come, the race committee decided to move further south where the local southeastern 'xaloc' was at least blowing at 9 knots.

The IRC and ORCc lasses sailed the first coastal races inside the Bay of Palma, on a day that proved tactically difficult due to the demanding wind conditions. After an initial windward-leeward leg, the fleet had to round the Illetas islet.

The first race for the TP52s was almost a repeat of yesterday’s first one. Once again, Platoon, helmed by Jochen Schuemann, led the fleet from the start and won with a one minute advantage over Mutua Madrileña and Desafío. The two Spanish boats took revenge in the day’s second race with Terry Hutchinson leading Desafío to victory and Vasco Vascotto steering Mutua Madrileña to second place. John Cook’s Cristabella was third. Jochen Schuemann’s Audi-sponsored boat is still ahead overall but her margin is shrinking.

In the GP42 fleet Franck Noël’s Near Miss, helmed by Bertrand Pacé (see our video on board here), prevailed in the first race. José Maria Van der Ploeg’s Madrid sailed a tight race, finishing just 20 seconds behind the Swiss, while Canarias Puerto Calero was third in a 1-second photo finish with Madrid. It seemed that nothing could stop Near Miss. They won the second race with a 1-minute lead over Airis while Madrid showed continued consistency by crossing the finish line third. Near Miss has now increased her overall lead. See more on the GP42 racing on page 2....

Aifos, the former TP52 yacht scored another bullet in the IRC 1 class and after the 31-mile long coastal race they have increased their overall lead. Sir Peter Ogden’s Swan 601 Spirit of Jethou and Philip Mecklenburg’s Moana continue to hold second and third overall, respectively.



After their 23-mile race inside the Bay of Palma, the leaderboard in the IRC 2 class has got tighter. Give me five is still ahead but her lead has now diminished to a mere point over second-placed Ngoni owned by Tony Buckingham. Jesus Turrós’ Sercotel Hotels is now third overall after finishing third in the coastal race.

The top of the score table in the Swan 45 class suffered an upset in the third day of racing after the poor performance of Italian Danilo Salsi’s DSK-Comifin and Codecasa’s and Battistela’s Jeroboam Ca’Nova, now second and third respectively. Both paid the price of one bad race during the day and the fleet is now led by the day’s best performer (three second places) No Limits-Bolidt, owned by RW Bol.

In the X-35s, Thorckild Juncker’s Cool Runnings is still the leader with a healthy 11-point advantage, after a second and a sixth in today’s races. Thanks to its consistency (two 4th places) Stefano Trifiro’s X-Trifix stole second place overall from John Parker’s Perfect Ten that paid dearly for her 11th place in the second race.

In the ORC 670 class Jesús Pintos’ Navantia regained her lead and Vell Marí, the best-performing local boats in this regatta, climbed to second overall. Daniele Augusti’ s Cometal-Ferrobeton slipped to third due to an 11th in the coastal race.

The coastal race als saw the intrusion on to the leaderboard of the Italians who took the top three spots of in ORC 570: Icaro, owned by Carles Rodríguez, is the overall leader with yet another bullet. Second position is held by Gustavo Martínez Doreste’s Hempel-Power Plate, and the new third placed is I.NOVA, helmed by Giancarlo Simeoli.


Copa del Rey AUDI MAPFRE – Provisional standings

TP 52
1. Platoon, Jochen Schuemann, 1-3-1-6, 11 points
2. Bribón, Dean Barker, 5-1-4-4, 14 points
3. Mutua Madrileña, Vasco Vascotto, 2-8-2-2, 14 points
4. Desafío, Terry Hutchinson, 4-7-3-1, 15 points
5. Matador, Alberto Roemmers, 3-4-7-8, 22 points

GP 42
1. Near Miss, Bertrand Pacé, 6-1-1-1-1, 10 points
2. Airis, Sandro Montefusco, 1-7-2-7-2, 19 points
3. Desafío, Laureano Wizner, 2-2-5-6-5, 20 points
4. Madrid, José Maria Van der Ploeg, 7-4-4-2-3, 20 points
5. Canarias Puerto Calero, José María Ponce, 5-3-6-3-6, 23 points

IRC 1
1 Aifos, Jaime Rodríguez Toubes, 1-1-1-1-1, 5 points
2 Spirit of Jethou, Sir Peter Ogden, 2-3-3-2-2, 12 points
3 Moana, Philippe Mecklenburg, 3-2-7-3-3, 18 points
4 CAM, SAR Felipe de Borbón, 4-4-4-6-7, 25 points
5 Plis Play, Vicente García, 7-5-2-7-5, 26 points

IRC 2
1. Give me five, Arya Yatchs Venezia, 2-2-1-5-2, 12 points
2. Ngoni, Tony Buckingham, 5-1-5-1-1, 13 points
3. Sercotel Hotels, Román Turró, 4-3-4-4-3, 18 points
4. Itaca IX, Manuel Gallego, 3-6-3-2-6, 20 points
5. Kora 4, Enrico Scerni, 1-5-6-6-7, 25 points

ORC 570
1. Ícaro, Carles Rodríguez, 1-8-2-1-1, 13 points
2. Hempel-Power Plate, Gustavo Martínez Doreste, 2-6-3-3-5, 19 points
3. I. Nova, Giancarlo Simeoli, 8-7-4-4-4, 27 points
4. Pasión x Castellón, Ernesto Vera, 4-12-1-5-7, 29 points
5. San Miguel, Enrique Terrol Ferrero, 7-1-8-8-6, 30 points

ORC 670
1. Navantia, Jesús Pintos, 2-2-1-7-2, 14 points
2. Vell Marí, Teo Matheu, 1-7-4-1-5, 18 points
3. Cometal-Ferrobeton, Daniele Augusti, 2-1-2-2-11, 22 points
4. Vindio, Alfonso Pascual, 3-4-5-8-3, 23 points
5. Telefonica, Pedro Campos, 8-3-6-6-6, 29 points

X-35
1. Cool Runnings, Thorkild Juncker, 1-3-4-1-2-6, 17 points
2. X-Trifix, Stefano Trifiro, 9-1-3-7-4-4, 28 points
3. Perfect Ten, John Parker, 5-13-2-3-1-11, 35 points
4. Who’s Next-Gaastra, Alwin Van Daelen, 6-6-10-9-6-1, 38 points
5. Quantum Racing, Nic Bol, 2-2-19-5-5-7, 40 points

Swan 45
1. No Limits-Bolidt, RW BOL, 9-6-4-2-2-2-2, 27 points
2. DSK-Comifin, Danilo Salsi, 2-5-5-5-5-1-11, 34 points
3. Jeroboam Ca’Nova, Codecasa / Battistella, 5-2-3-4-4-12-4, 34 points
4. Talj, Vittorio Ruggiero, 6-3-1-7-11-3-6, 37 points
5. Blue Nights, Tea Ekengren-Sauren, 1-4-6-17-3-5-5, 41 points