Tight at the top in the Mini Maxis

Strong winds yet at Copa del Rey MAPFRE

Today was intense at the 33rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE. The Xaloc wind from the southeast, visited the Bay of Palma with a wind speed of 15 knots, the strongest so far this week. This allowed the Race Committee to lay on two races in all classes and even a third one for the class Herbalife J/80s.

Going into the final day of racing the podiums remain to be determined across all the classes.

The day was exciting in the Gaastra IRC 0 class. After the first race was won by Robertissima III, there was a three-way tie between Roberto Tomasini’s boat and American Mini Maxis Bella Mente and Shockwave. The next race would be decisive. After coming fifth in the first race, Andres Soriano’s Alegre, the defending champion in Palma, put in her second victory of the week. Shockwave crossed the finish line 40 seconds later to regain the lead, followed by Bella Mente. There is just a one point difference between them in the fight for the title.

Paul Cayard reported from Robertissima: "We started of the day with a win. We won the left side of the starting line and therefore the left side of the race course and controlled things from there. After that first race, we were in a three way tie for first place overall, with three races remaining. Shockwave and Bella Mente were the other two tied with us.

"In the second race, we got a bad start. We fought for the left side as usual, but our timing wasn't perfect and we got squeezed out two minutes after the start. We had to tack and go out to the right to clear our air, and on this one sided race course, that was it. We hung close but could never get around the others and no one made any big mistakes.

"So going into tomorrow, we lie in third place, 3 points out of first and two points out of second place. Shockwave is back in the lead. We have a good situation should there be any ties in that we have won four races and the tie breaker goes in favor of most number of first places."

In Gaastra IRC 1 Giuseppe Parodi’s Hurakan is advancing steadily towards the title. The Italian TP52 today added two more victories to the five she already has, and it seems unlikely that any of her nine rivals will snatch victory from them. Hurakan's closest threat is Team Vision Future, the winner of the only two races that Hurakan hasn't claimed this week. Team Vision Future lies ten points behind, a considerable advantage for Hurakan but not decisive. Third is the Austrian yacht Aquila, six points off second.

Today was a day full of surprises in the BMW ORC 1 class. After Rats on Fire had a great start to the championship dominating with a string of victories, today’s wins went to the Dutch yacht No Limits and the Romanian Natalia. The order of the podium hasn’t changed, although the contenders have closed on the leader. Manuel Doreste’s boat is on 17 points, Hendrik Brandis’ Earlybird on 23.5 and Christian Plump’s Elena Nova has 26.5. These last two had technical tie in the second race today, giving 2.5 points to both.

Movistar continues to dominate the BMW ORC 2 class. The Galician boat scored two more victories, and has scored bullets in eight out of nine races. None of Movistar's 21 rivals seem to be able to stand up to Pedro Campos' Synergy 40 . The team will dock out tomorrow to defend its 13.5 point lead that separates them from their closest rival, Lluis Blanchar’s Varador 2000. Airlan Aermec, skippered by Teo Matheu, holds third place.

The Nespresso X-35 fleet had several surprises today. The leader, Alessandro Solerio’s Lelagain, had an uneven day (2-9), but so did her two closest rivals: Puerto Deportivo Benalmádena (6-2) and Audi e-tron (3-5). The winners today were the Finnish team on Teemu Kekkonen’s Audi ultra and Javier Sanz’s local team on Red Eléctrica de España. The leader goes into the last races five points clear of second.

It was a busy day for the Herbalife J/80 fleet, the only class that sailed three races today. Victories today went to Carlos Martinez’s Movistar, Marc de Antonio’s Bribón-Movistar and Hugo Rocha’s New Territories, in that order. However, the overall results favours José María Torcida’s Noticia (2-3-2), which goes into the last day with a 12 point lead over his nearest rival.

The 33rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE will be decided tomorrow. All classes will sail up to two windward-leeward races, except the Herbalife J/80s, which will only sail one. No races will start later than 15:45. The first race of the day will begin at 13:00.

Top three results

Gaastra IRC 0*
1.- Shockwave, USA, George Sakellaris, 1+2+2+2+3+(4)+2+4+2=18
2.- Bella Mente, USA, Hap Fauth, 2+(4)+3+4+1+1+3+2+3=19
3.- Robertissima III, GBR, Roberto Tomasini, 3+(5)+1+1+4+5+1+1+5=21
…up to 5 entries

Gaastra IRC 1*
1.- Hurakan, ITA, Giuseppe Parodi, (3)+1+1+2+1+1+1+1+1=9
2.- Team Vision Future, FRA, Mergui Mikael, 1+(5)+3+1+2+3+3+4+2=19
3.- Aquila, AUT, René Mangold, 5+2+5+3+(11DSQ)+2+2+2+4=25
…up to 10 entries

Barclays 52 Super Series**
1.- Quantum Racing, USA, Ed Baird, 2+1+2+2+6+1+2+2+4=16
2.- Rán, SWE, Niklas Zennström, 1+7+6+3+1+3+1+1+2=18
3.- Azzurra, ITA, Alberto Roemmers, 3+5+4+1+5+2+5+4+1=25
…up to 7 entries

BMW ORC 1*
1.- Rats on Fire, ESP, Manuel Doreste, 1+1+1+(7)+1+1+3+5+4=17
2.- Earlybird, GER, Hendrik Brandis, 2+5+4+(9)+3+3+1+3+2,5=23,5
3.- Elena Nova, GER, Christian Plump, 5+2+(8)+7+2+2+2+4+2,5=26,5
…up to 38 entries

BMW ORC 2*
1.- Movistar, ESP, Pedro Campos, 1+1+1+(4)+1+1+1+1+1=8
2.- Varador 2000, ESP, Lluis Blanchar, 4+4+(5)+1,5+2+2+2+2+4=21,5
3.- Airlan Aermec, ESP, Teo Matheu Riera, 2+2+4+1,5+4+(5)+3+5+2=23,5
…up to 22 entries

Gazprom Swan 60
1.- Bronenosec, RUS, Vladimir Liubomirov, 1+(4)+3+1+1+1+2+3+2=14
2.- Spirit of Europe, IVB, 4+(6)+6+3+2+6+1+1+1=24
3.- Petite Flamme, RUS, Dimitry Samokin, 3+(7)+1+2+4+5+3+4+6=28
…up to 7 entries

Nespresso X-35
1.- Lelagain, ITA, Alessandro Solerio, 1+5+2+(7)+2+1+1+2+2+9=23
2.- Puerto Deportivo Benalmádena, ESP, Dani Cuevas, 3+2+(6)+4+1+3+6+1+6+2=28
3.- Audi e-tron, FIN, Teemu Kekkonen, 7+3+5+1+4+(8)+2+4+3+5=34
…up to 12 entries

Herbalife J80*
1.- Noticia, ESP, José María Torcida, (5)+4+1+5+1+1+1+1+2+3+2=21
2.- Movistar, ESP, Carlos Martínez, 3+5+(17BFD)+1+7+3+3+2+1+4+4=33
3.- New Territories, ESP, Hugo Rocha, 4+6+5+3+4+4+4+(11)+3+5+1+6=40
…up to 16 entries