37th Copa del Rey MAPFRE at Real Club Náutico de Palma - Day 5
by Andi Robertson 3 Aug 2018 20:10 BST
28 July - 4 August 2018
Eleventh Copa del Rey Win for Campos. Momo, Beau Geste in the Box Seats. The Copa del Rey MAPFRE finishes tomorrow.
Three teams have a grasp on their Copa del Rey titles with one day of racing at the record breaking 37 Copa del Rey MAPFRE but as Saturday's final races beckon other premier classes became even closer.
The skipper they call 'Mr Copa', Pedro Campos, is tonight on the threshold of extending his record to an 11th Copa del Rey title, set to win the 6 Metre Classic division in Bribon with an unblemished score line of seven firsts from the seven starts so far.
Campos commented, "We are very pleased with this latest victory in the Copa del Rey MAPFRE, especially after winning all the races. That is something we've never done before. Personally for me this is my 11th Copa del Rey MAPFRE win, the sixth in a row, which are records for the regatta. This title is dedicated to our great skipper, King Juan Carlos, who sadly cannot be with us due to physical problems."
He added, "This has been a week of fantastic conditions for racing, with steady winds, but in our class it was challenging because of the short waves generated by the Embat sea breeze."
In the Sotheby's Mallorca IRC 0 class, Dieter Schoen's Vrolijk Maxi72 has all but sealed the title after a first and third today, while it also appears to be 'mission accomplished' for Team Beau Geste in Sotheby's Mallorca IRC 1 where Kark Kwok's team are going into the final day of the showcase regatta with a lead of 17 points over Tina Plattner's The Phoenix.
Momo won the first race and took third in their second race today and with three boats in their class cannot be beaten, so defend the title they won last year on the last day when there were four boats.
Markus Wieser, tactician commented, "Winning is the norm. It has to be. If you lose here then something is wrong and it's a disappointment. But we sailed really well. The boat is going well since we made the changes. Last year we were not strong under 11kts and it is better here. But it is long regatta, six days we would say is long in the heat. Five days or four days would be much better for us."
And so too it is very much a case of 'job done' for first time visitors from Hong Kong, Team Beau Geste which should add the Copa del Rey title to the substantial list of team titles over the years, the first time the team have been in Europe since 2008 in Europe on the Maxi of the same name.
Beau Geste's Gavin Brady who lead the team to the Offshore Worlds title two weeks ago in Holland said "We picked this regatta because it is the premier regatta in Europe for this kind of inshore racing. There is nothing better. It is a high quality regatta which is similar in a way to Hamilton Island 'down under' where, like here, they just know how to run a really, really good regatta."
Of their 17pt margin Brady added, "We did not expect to get the scoreline we did, not given the level of competition here and the range conditions, but I think that being into our third week of sailing the boat in the last month we come here with a lot of confidence in ourselves and the boat. We probably have done more sailing on a TP52 in the last month than any other team in the fleet and when it comes to finding speed and doing smooth manoeuvres then that helps."
These classes may be all over bar popping the champagne and picking up the silverware, others are poised on a knife edge. After today's Coastal Race for the ClubSwan 50s there is now just one point between new class leaders, Henrik Brandis' Earlybird and rivals NiRaMo, owned by Sönke Meier. With Jochen Schümann calling tactics Earlybird finished second today while the coastal proved to be NiRaMo's discard result, a tenth.
In fourth overall Leonardo Ferragamo and the crew on the emblematic Italian Cuordileone, with GBR gold medallist Paul Goodison as tactician, are doing all they can to break up an otherwise all-German podium.
And BMW ORC 1 class' all Spanish rivalry is every bit as closely fought and highly charged as the Teutonic duelling in the premier Swan fleet. Estrella Damm, the DK46 of Nacho Montes and Oscar Chaves won today while their arch nemesis Rats on Fire, the Swan 45 of Rafael Carbonell Pujol, placed third. With four points between the runaway top two, and both having a fifth place as their discard, Estrella Damm are on course to spoil defending title holders Rats on Fire's quest to win a sixth Copa del Rey title.
Prada America's Cup team helm Francesco Bruni is doing a good job as tactician to owner driver Alessandro Rombelli's Italian crew on Stig as the Melges 40 class makes its Copa del Rey debut. Stig are five points clear of the Japanese entry Sikon of owner-helm Yukihiro Ishida.
Rombelli said: "Racing at Copa del Rey is always fantastic and being part of this regatta, sailing on a Melges 40 is something really special.. In the first two races we saw our competitors and in particular Sikon playing very hard to reduce the gap we lead by but in the last race our team made a perfect job winning the race and defending our leadership. Tomorrow it will be another great fight on the Melges 40 Grand Prix and we'll do our best to see the name of Stig in the top position."
And in the GC32 Racing Tour event Leigh McMillan and the crew of Sir Ben Ainslie's INEOS Team UK are keeping Franck Cammas' Norauto at bay, leading by six points into the final day.
All classes race Saturday with the final time limit for the last time signal 1545h.
Results after Day 5: (top three in each class)
Mallorca Sotheby's IRC 0
1. Momo (IVB), Dieter Schoen, 1+1+2+1+1+1+1+1+(3)=9pts
2. Cannonball (ITA), Darío Ferrari, 2+2+1+2+2+(3)+2+3+2=16pts
3. Proteus (USA), George Sakellaris, (3)+3+3+3+3+2+3+2+1=20pts
Mallorca Sotheby's IRC 1
1. Team Beau Geste (HKG), Karl Kwok, 1+1+(6)+2+1+1+1+1+1=9pts
2. The Phoenix (RSA), Kristina Plattner, 3+2+(8)+1+4+5+6+2+3=26pts
3. Paprec Recyclage (FRA), Stephane Neve, 2+5+2+3+5+(7)+3+3+5=28pts
... up to 13 entries.
ClubSwan 50
1. Earlybird (GER), Hendrik Brandis, 3+2+1+5+4+3+(7)+4+2=24pts
2. Niramo (GER), Sönke Meier Sawatzki, 1+1+2+4+3+2+6+6+(10)=25pts
3. Onegroup (GER), Stefan Heidenreich, 5+6+(7)+2+6+6+3+1+1=30pts
... up to 10 entries.
MRW Swan 45
1. Elena Nova (GER), Christian Plump, 1+(4)+1+2+3+2+3+4+2=18pts
2. K-Force (NED), Jan de Kraker, (4)+2+4+3+1+1+2+2+3=18pts
3. Porrón IX (ESP), Luis Senís, 2+1+2+4+2+(5)+1+3+4=19pts
... up to 5 entries.
ClubSwan 42
1. Selene (ITA), Massimo de Campo, 2+3+2+2+1+5+(6)+2+2=19pts
2. Natalia (ROU), George Brailoiu, 3+5+3+(7)+3+2+5+1+1=23pts
3. Pez de abril (ESP), Jose María Meseguer, (5)+1+4+1+4+3+3+4+3=23pts
... up to 11 entries.
GC32
1. Ineos Team UK (GBR), Ben Ainslie, 3+2+1+1+2+4+1+2+1+4+3+3+1+2+3=33pts
2. Norauto (FRA), Franck Cammas, 1+1+2+2+5+5+3+1+4+1+7+2+3+1+1=39pts
3. Argo (USA), Jason Caroll, 9/DNF+4+3+4+4+6+5+4+2+5+1+1+2+4+5=59pts
... up to 8 entries.
Melges 40
1. Stig (ITA), Alessandro Rombelli, 1+4+2+2+1+1+(5)+4+1=16pts
2. Sikon (JPN), Yukihidiro Ishida, 5+1+1+5+(6/DNF)+3+1+1+4=21pts
3. Vitamina-Cetilar (ITA), Andrea Lacorte, 2+2+4+1+3+5+4+3+2=21pts
... up to 5 entries.
BMW ORC 1
1. Estrella Damm (ESP), Luis Martínez Doreste, 1+1+1+(5)+1+1+2+2+1=10pts
2. Rats on fire (ESP), Rayco Tabares, 2+2+2+1+(5)+2+1+1+3=14pts
3. BMW Sail Racing Academy (ITA), 3+4+4+3+3+(8)+6+3+4=30pts
... up to 23 entries.
BMW ORC 2
1. Antonio Banderas Design (ESP), Dani Cuevas, (6)+1+2+4+1+1+1+2+3=15pts
2. Red Eléctrica de España (ESP), Javier Sanz, 3+3+4+2+(6)+3+2+1+2=20pts
3. El Carmen – Elite Sails (ESP), 1+(5)+1+5+2+5+3+4+1=22pts
... up to 12 entries.
BMW ORC 3
1. L'immens – Laplaza Assessors (ESP), Carles Rodríguez, 1+1+4+1+1+2+1+(6)+5=16pts
2. Tanit IV – Medilevel (ESP), Ignacio Campos, 3+2+1+2+4+(9)+2+5+2=21pts
3. Brujo (ESP), Federico Linares, 2+11+3+(14)+2+1+3+2+1=25pts
... up to 30 entries.
Herbalife Nutrition J80
1. Bribon Movistar (ESP), Marc de Antonio, 1+3+1+(5)+1+1+5+2+1+3=18pts
2. New Territories (ESP), Alexei Semenov, 2+(4)+2+1+2+4+2+4+5+6=26pts
3. Grupo Garatu (ESP), Iker Almandoz, 5+1+3+2+2,8/RDG+3+1+6+4+(7)=27.8pts
... up to 19 entries.
6M Classics
1. Bribon (ESP), Pedro Campos, (1)+1+1+1+1+1+1=6pts
2. Titia (ESP), Alicia Freire, 2+2+2+2+(8/DSQ)+2+2=12pts
3. Aida (ESP), Francisco Botas, 3+(4)+3+3+3+3+3=17pts
... up to 7 entries.
6M Modern
1. Sophie Racing (SUI), Hugo Stenbeck, 1+1+2+(3)+1+1+4=9pts
2. Nivola (SUI), Reinhard Suhner, 3+2+(5)+2+3+4+1=15pts
3. Stella (ESP), A. Álvarez, 2+6+1+4+6+2+2=17pts
... up to 7 entries.
Full results can be found here.