These are the first leaders of the 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE

The first day of racing in the 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE opened the scoring in the four classes vying for the 2025 ORC European Championship. Wind conditions in the Bay of Palma only allowed for one of the two scheduled races to be held, enough to identify the early leaders of the week. Italian boats lead three of the four classifications, and the Aifos del Rey Don Felipe occupies ninth position in the ABANCA ORC 0.

The four ORC classes opened their scoring in the 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE, distributed across two race areas in the Bay of Palma. A northeasterly wind awaited them with strengths that slightly exceeded ten knots, but which would gradually decrease as the day progressed. Despite arriving on time for the event and allowing everyone to start their competitions at 12:00, the breeze died down after the first race of the week and would not allow the second to take place. The 117 boats of 24 nationalities competing for the ORC European Championship returned to the Real Club Náutico de Palma with only one leg to their name.

The leaders of the 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE at the end of the first day are the Italians Blue in the ABANCA ORC 0 class , Morgan V in Sail Racing ORC A and Guardamago in Ubico ORC B , and the German Early Bird in Uber ORC C ABANCA. 

The debut among the most powerful boats of this edition was dominated by two Italian TP52s, with victory for Blue skippered by Fabrizio Boromei, with former Portuguese Olympians Afonso Domingos and Nuno Barreto (bronze win in the 470 class at Atlanta 1996). Mauro Gestri's Vudu took second place , followed by Tomás Gasset's Soto 52 Urbania . Rey Don Felipe's Aifos opened its scoring with a ninth place.  

The ClubSwan 42s were the stars of the first round of Sail Racing ORC A, taking five of the top six positions. Victory went to the Morgan V of the Italian Nicola De Geminis (winner of the Italian ORC 1 championship), followed by José María Meseguer's Pez de Abril (current ClubSwan 42 world champion) and Christian Plump's Elena Nova (winner of the last Copa del Rey MAPFRE). The DK46 Estrella Dammskippered by Luis Martínez Doreste, who led the race for a good part of the course, finished fourth as the only different ClubSwan 42 design in the provisional top six.  

The debut in Ubico ORC B ended with a victory for another Italian boat, Massimo Romeo Piparo's Guardamago, second place in ORC 2 in 2024. It won by 22 seconds over Rodrigo Vargas' Bamak and by 41 over Nuno Neves' Syone Panther . The negative note of the day was the collision between Augusto Cortina's L'Immens and Eduardo Maestre's Proalviento Servicios Náuticos , which resulted in the retirement of both and serious damage to the L'Immens' hull that jeopardizes its continuity. It was third in ORC 2 in 2024 and champion of ORC 3 in 2018 and 2020.   

Early Bird is the first leader of the week in the Uber ORC C class. German owner Hendrik Brandis, current world champion and winner of the last Copa del Rey MAPFRE one-design ClubSwan 50, chose a Cape 31 this time and reinforced his crew with the tactics of Mallorcan Manu Weiller to compete for the European ORC crown. Early Bird won by 39 seconds over the Cape 31 Meerblick of his compatriots Otto and Gabriele Pohlmann (ORC 4 champion in 2022). Third was the 6-seater JP Financial , skippered by Félix Sanz de Frutos.  

With the debut of the four ORC fleets decided, tomorrow the 15 Balearia Women's Cup teams will join to complete the total grid for the 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE: 132 teams of 24 nationalities. The day's program will include a coastal race for all ORC divisions and the first round of windward-leeward races in the women's class debut. The first start of the day is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.