The 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE already has its provisional leaders

The 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE reached the halfway point of its competition program with a busy day in all classes. With two days to go, the classifications are beginning to identify the top contenders for the title, although everyone remains attentive to the entry into play of the discards that could come today, Friday, July 31st. The Aifos , on which the King Don Felipe competes, retains eighth place in the ABANCA ORC 0 class.

The third day of competition marked the return of the ORC European Championship participants to the windward-leeward format and allowed the Balearia Women's Cup to score a good portion of partials in its qualifying heat. The four ORC divisions took to the water with the intention of competing in up to three races, but the wind only allowed them to complete the first two.      

Having crossed the halfway point of the 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE racing programme, the provisional leaders are Italy's Blue in the ABANCA ORC 0 class , Estonia's Technonicol in Ubico ORC B , Germany's Early Bird in Uber ORC C and Spain's Pez de Abril in Sail Racing ORC A and CN Regatas in the Balearia Women's Cup .

ABANCA ORC 0 is the most closely contested class in the battle for the European ORC title. After three days and four races, the standings show a tie at the top between Italy's Blue and the American Vesper . The day began with a victory for Brazil's Crioula IV and a technical tie for second place between the American Vesper and Italy's Blue , which temporarily dropped Vudu from the top of the table. Mauro Gestri's team, which would regain the lead by scoring a second place in the following round, was disqualified upon reaching land due to an incident with Vesper on the final buoy crossing. Blue is the new leader, with the same 13.5 points as Vesper . Tomás Gasset's Urbania is in fourth place and is the highest-ranked Spanish boat. Meanwhile, the TP52 Aifos , helmed by the King Felipe, finished ninth and eighth, and retains its provisional eighth place.

In Sail Racing ORC A , the Pez de Abril of José María Meseguer is the new leader. The winner of the last Copa del Rey MAPFRE and current ClubSwan 42 world champion won the first race and added a fifth in the following one to place himself with a total of 12 points and three ahead of the world runner-up, Pedro Vaquer's Nadir (4+2 today). Third is also the ClubSwan 42 Elena Nova of Germany's Christian Plump, who gave up the lead with which he went out on the water this morning after scoring partials of 6+7 and faces the fourth day five points off the top spot.  

In Ubico ORC B , the Estonian Technonicol is the new rival to beat. The team led by Mati Sepp, fourth in the previous two races, secured a first and a third place to take the lead in the standings with an eight-point advantage over the Italian Sideracordis and 8.5 over the 2024 European ORC champion, the also Estonian Sugar 3 . The best Spanish team after three days is the Escuela de Navegación Taboga of Aurelio Guzmán, fourth.

The third day of the week in Uber ORC C served to confirm that Early Bird is not unbeatable. Although only just. The German boat, the only one in the fleet with as many victories as races contested until this morning, scored two seconds that do not compromise its lead. The Cape 31 sailed by the German Hendrick Brandis has a six-point advantage over the winner of today's second race, the Italian Sarchiapone Fuoriserie , and 8.5 over the winner of the first, the Spanish Nunota Cafiver of Antonio Porres.

The day was very full for the 15 teams of the Balearia Women's Cup . The women's class took to the water with an intense program of between 10 and 15 races, which would mean up to six sections for each team according to the Round Robin format. After punctually starting the first of their races at midday, they would not stop adding races until around six in the evening, when they returned to the Real Club Náutico de Palma with 13 races completed. The provisional standings after two days and 23 races continue to be led by Esther Gómez's CN Regatas after winning six of their ten races, ahead of Bárbara Cornudella's CN El Balís and María Bover's Balearia RCN Palma .

The competition returns today, Friday, at 12:00 p.m. with more windward-leeward races for the four ORC divisions and a new round of round robin races for the Balearia Women's Cup. If the program goes according to plan, the ORC class discards will come into play at the end of the second race of the day, and all teams will be able to discard their worst result.