Good first day of racing for the keelboat classes in the 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofía
by Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía 31 Mar 2023 20:34 BST
29 March - 8 April 2023
A high quality 6 Metre fleet opened their first attendance at Trofeo Princesa Sofía © Laura G. Guerra
Sal (J/80), Patakin (J/70), Ginkgotoo (6 Metros) and Willy (Dragon) are the first leaders of a competition that will continue until next Sunday in the Bay of Palma.
The good south-westerly breeze accompanied the monotypes in the opening races of the 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by Iberostar. The fleet brought together 27 boats in the J/80, J/70, 6 Metre and Dragon classes. The competition began around 13:00 hours with a southwesterly wind that remained stable throughout the day with an average intensity of 15 knots, which led to fast and fairly even races.
A high quality nine strong 6 Metre fleet opened their first attendance at the 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofia with two good races on the Bay of Palma in brisk conditions. Only three points separate the top four teams after racing today with Jan Eckert leading on Ginkgo Too. The Swiss flagged crew scored a first and a fourth to lead only on countback from Violeta Alvarez and team on Stella which went 3,2 today compared with a seven points aggregate for Markus Wieser and crew on Dieter Schoen's Momo who were 4.3 for the day.
Wieser, who was steering Momo today, reported, "It was great racing, perfect sailing very close all the time with a lot of place changing. The first race there was a left shift came in and we were sixth but got up to fourth. The Spanish seemed very fast downwind but it is very early to tell as the boats are just launched for the season and there are a few changes. But is very cool to have nine six metres here and be training out of Arenal. We are all just starting out for the season, we will race again at Palma Vela and do some more training here before going to Cowes (where the International Six Metres World Champs are in August)"
In the Dragon class the German flagged team on Willy lead with two second places today, the J/70s racing at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia for the first time see the local Palma boat Patakin (Luis Albert Solana) take an early lead winning all three races as did the Arenal/Puerto Andratx crew of Sal in the J/80s.
Check the complete results here.
The 52 Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía Mallorca by Iberostar is the first qualifying event for the Sailing World Cup 2023 and will be held from 29 March to 8 April under the joint organisation of the Club Nàutic S'Arenal, the Club Marítimo San Antonio de la Playa, the Real Club Náutico de Palma, the Real Federación Española de Vela and the Federación Balear de Vela, with the backing of World Sailing and the main Balearic public institutions. It is funded by the European Union Next Generation EU, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and the Balearic Islands Tourism Strategy Agency.
More information at www.trofeoprincesasofia.org.