'Hispania' takes the ORC 0 lead after the first day of the 44th Copa del Rey MAPFRE

After the first day of racing on a perfectly groomed Bay of Palma at the 44 Copa del Rey Mapfre only the ClubSwan 42 one design class leader, Pedro Vaquer’s Nadir, has managed to win both their races. But among the early class leaders King Felipe of Spain tops the leaderboard in the highly competitive Abanca ORC Class 0 after steering the Spanish Navy’s Hispania to a second and a first.

Conditions probably could not have been better for the highly anticipated opening day, with the sea breeze peaking at just under 14 knots in the second windward race, the first courses seeing a little less.

In Abanca ORC Class 0 first blood went to the Italian TP52 Vudu steered by owner Mauro Gestri who eclipsed Hispania by just two seconds. But Hispania started better and sailed in clear air more consistently in the second contest which they won. 

Vudu’s tactician Michele Regolo reported, “Today was a very nice day on the water but it was very difficult tactically the wind tended to go right but being Palma there were some surprises on the left too, so we had to risk a little bit more which paid off. We have made some changes to the rig set up, we learned a lot at the TP52 World Championship and have improved the boat. Apart from that the crew is very calm today which is not usual for us, but we are improved there. Mauro the owner is steering so well now, well on the tight marks and overlaps. First race we had a good start then we were good at the hoist with a gybe set which gave us a clean lane. The King’s boat is faster with a bigger rig, bigger keel with a trim tab and so staying close to them is hard but we know our boat and our lanes. The second race we were more in the traffic I made a mistake matching the other boat and going too low for too long, but a second and we are even with Hispania, tied on points.” 

Alberto Barovier who calls tactics on Hispania was also happy with their first day with their new boat at Copa del Rey, “It was a great day, the first race was a bit lighter and then in the second race there was more wind and we definitely got more comfortable. The King was in great shape, we have been training hard and he is very concentrated when it like this it is not easy. This boat feels very different, it is a faster boat it has a totally different set up with a trim tab, a bigger rig, we have a lot of tools that can make us go faster but still in this fleet with so many great sailors you need to fight hard to get the bow in front. And today we managed to do that. We chose our spots well, we did not do anything super special but we just did enough. The right was strong today as we expected.”

Points are tied too in SailRacing ORC A where the top two teams are both racing highly optimised Carkeek 40 designs of slightly different generations. By virtue of winning the second race Niklas Zennström’s Swedish flagged Rán are narrow leaders but they had to go to the jury room to overturn a mistaken OCS early start in Race 1. As they had timed how long it took them to recross the jury rescored them to second. 

“We were sure we were not over as there was a boat to windward ahead of us, but our number was called. We timed ourselves as re-crossing after 2 mins 20 secs and so it was a justified claim.” Said tactician Ado Stead. 

Rán finished the day tied at the top with the Estonian 40 footer Nola which has Portugal’s Olympic bronze medallist Hugo Rocha on board alongside project manager and navigator Aksel Magdahl. Owner-driver Margus Uudam said, “We prepared the boat well and did a lot of training. The first start of the first race was quite difficult for us but we went on to make some good tactical choices and the second race we had a good start. We have been training well but it is satisfying to see we are faster than ever before. We have a new ORC optimised keel and interceptors.”  

In Uber ORC B Javier Banderas team may have a brand new and relatively untested boat in the X41 Teatro Soho San Miguel, but the crew which has won their class eight times made a solid start with a shared, dead-heat win in their first race which they followed up with a third to top the class table by half a point. 

Banderas said “It’s been a decent day; we’ve finished the day at the top of the overall standings on this opening day. We’ve enjoyed a hard-fought day in such a large fleet, but watch out because this has only just begun. This regatta will be all about avoiding trouble right from the start; the most consistent team will come out on top, and whoever finishes in the top four in every race has a very good chance of lifting the Cup.”

Sonke Meir’s German team on Niramo are one of several to downsize to the simpler, high adrenalin one design Cape 31. With Bouwe Bekking calling tactics Niramo backed up a Race 1 win with a second place in Race 2 to build a four points margin after the first day of racing. There are four Cape 31s in the top six. 

Bouwe Bekking said, “I think we had good starts and we sailed the boat well. I think we have a good grip on the boat now . grips on now. We have worked hard at tuning up. I know some hate it but it is what it is. We've done a lot. We've been sailing a lot this spring and summer in Germany. So we've done quite a bit of work on the boat. It doesn't look bad. And today was not typically good conditions for the Cape 31 which in general is good in the super light or in the big breeze. In the middle breeze like today it's normally good for the boats with a spinnaker pole which can go direct downwind.”

But it is in the equally matched one design class that the Nadir crew made the best start of the entire regatta. Tactician Rayco Tabares said “We had pretty good conditions for sailing the ClubSwan 42s, which are all very similar in terms of speed. I’m really pleased because the fleet was incredibly evenly matched. These were conditions where tactics were key; it wasn’t a one-way track. We were lucky at the start by choosing the right spot to then defend the side we wanted to take, and we took the lead. It’s much closer than it looks, because although we’ve won both races, it’s been very tight.”  

Today, Wednesday sees the Baleària Women’s Cup start competition. The ORC classes are scheduled for a Coastal Race.