Beach buzz at Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mapfre

Record entries for a post Olympic year and the concentration of all sailing events in two venues is contributing to a real festival atmosphere in the Playa de Palma and El Arenal, where all teams are getting ready to start in the 44th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mapfre, first European regatta in the ISAF Sailing World Cup circuit.

For event Manager, Ferran Muniesa, the high attendance is proving the success of the event and requires a greater attention to logistic and services.

"It was a real surprise to have so many entries especially in the 49er and the Finn. It is a really good notice to see that people like to come to Mallorca for winter training and also for the Sofía trophy. We were expecting a good attendance in the new classes, we know that people need to test the new boats."

Muniesa realises the challenge to reduce from four to two venues.

"We wanted to make the event more compact and concentrate the action. Having only two venues will make logistic easier but required lots of preparation. Luckily, the Real Club Nautico de Palma is still present to help the two clubs in Can Pastilla and El Arenal."

Entries in the 49er have nearly doubled compare with 2009 and in the Finn see a 50% increase. The new classes who are still at an early stage of production and distribution are represented with good fleets.

For Gunnar Larsen, from Nacra Sailing, this is an encouraging sign: "Nacra & Performance Sails are very excited to see 37 entries in Palma World cup. This will be the first real challenge among the Olympic hopefulls in the mixed multihull discipline. We are present with our Nacra support truck to supply spare parts when needed and to help where we can."

The highest number of entries among all events is in the Laser class with the new quota of 120 quickly reached. However the most impressive is the number of countries and emerging sailing nations represented at the start of the Olympic quadrennial. There will be 39 different nation flags on the Laser fleet sails. Among them, some countries like Moldovia, Montenegro, Bahrain or Trinidad and Tobago are still young to sailing at this high level of competition.

Laser Class CEO, Jeff Martin explains the trend:
"In the Laser, 12 emerging nations missed out on sending a sailor to the 2012 Olympics which I think was a big wake up call to these countries. Getting to the Olympics is now more difficult and needs a minimum of a full on 4 year programme with an intensive lead up to that 4 years.

Jeff Martin also explains the general high attendance by a change in the sailing calendar: "The dates for the ISAF Worlds, an Olympic country qualifier, have been brought forward by a year and therefore the whole Olympic programme has moved forward a year."

Alexandr Denisiuc from Moldavia who has missed Olympic selection by two places last year has gone straight into the preparation for Rio:
"I was quite disappointed after London, and I could not apply for the IOC tripartite places because Moldavia had already eight selected athletes, most in weight lifting. Sailing is not the priority in my country so I get no support, I am lucky I can get free help from Trevor Millar and Sailcoach or it would be impossible. Last time I started late, just after finishing my studies but there is not much time now until the first Olympic selection in Santander. For me, as an European it is important to qualify in the first round. In the second Olympic qualifier, if places are allocated to continent, I will stand little chances against other European sailors!"

The Trofeo Sofia Mapfre / SWC Palma has collected over 2000 "Likes" on Facebook and has reached over 15,000 viewers in the first few days. Last year the website have registered more than 1.600.000 hits from 125.000 unique viewers.

For Ferran Muniesa, the communication of the event is essential and represent an important service for the sailors:
"We are doing a big effort to improve the media plan and the relation with the media companies. This year we have appointed Icarus media to bring more sailing footage to the public. For the sailors it is important to be showcased in their sport and reach a wider audience."

The website will offer many ways to follow the event with, online live racing, tweeter feeds from the race office and media center, facebook, daily racing video highlights with commentaries and interviews.

www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/en/