The fleet of the 44th Mapfre King's Cup faces the Final Series with the Baleària Team RCNP of María Bover as the standout leader in the women's category. The team from the Real Club Náutico de Palma is the clear favourite for Saturday's final.
The bay of Palma hosted the third day of the 44th Mapfre King's Cup on Thursday, which concluded the Preliminary Series for most classes. The introduction of discards revolutionised the rankings and left the teams ready for the Final Series over the last two days of racing.
In the women's category Baleària Women’s Cup, the Baleària Team RCNP of María Bover arrives as the undisputed leader and main contender for the title. The crew from the Real Club Náutico de Palma has shown great consistency and has an advantage heading into the grand final on Saturday.
The other leaders after the third day are the Italian Vudu in Abanca ORC 0, the Estonian Nola in Sail Racing ORC A, the Spanish Teatro del Soho San Miguel in Uber ORC B, Project Work in Azulmarino ORC C, and Nadir in ClubSwan 42.
Vudu and Nola Maintain Their Lead in ORC 0 and ORC A
In Abanca ORC 0, the Vudu of Mauro Gestri scored two partial victories on Thursday and extended its lead at the top of the provisional rankings. The Italian boat is six points ahead of the Swiss Kilara II and seven points ahead of the Brazilian Caballo Loco. The Hispania of King Don Felipe dropped to fourth place, just one point off the podium.
The tactician of Vudu, Michele Regolo, explained the keys to their success: “Today we saw a lot of potential in the boat. I suppose we were quite in tune with the phases of the wind: First the gradient appeared, then the thermal on the left, and then some wind shifts to the right. We had good speed and knew how to defend the left on the second leg.”
In Sail Racing ORC A, the Nola of Taavet Hinrikus defended its lead with a score of 2+1. The Estonian boat is two points ahead of the Rán of Swedish Niklas Zennström and 10.5 points ahead of Christian Plump's Elena Nova. The skipper of Nola, Margus Uudam, highlighted the role of his tactician: “Hugo was incredible yesterday interpreting the breeze in the coastal race, and today he dared to do things differently from the rest of the fleet.”
Teatro del Soho and Project Work Aim for the Cup
In Uber ORC B, the Teatro del Soho San Miguel of Javier Banderas won both races of the day and regained the lead after activating the discard. The Spanish XR-41 arrives at the Final Series with an 8.5-point advantage over the Sinergia 40-Mod. L’Immens and the X-41 Máximo are tied for second place.
The tactician Luis Doreste expressed confidence: “The day has been very positive; we sailed quite well. We have got a feel for the boat a bit with these conditions, and little by little we are becoming more competitive. My feeling is that everything is quite well on track: better to be here with these points than in another position.”
In Azulmarino ORC C, the Project Work of Armando Gutiérrez completed the Preliminary Series at the top, tied on seven points with the Niramo of Sönke Meier. The veteran Vrolijk 37, helmed by Javier Padrón, has taken advantage of the conditions to challenge the modern German Cape 31 designs.
Gutiérrez himself acknowledged that the team is performing above expectations: “Yesterday we went over the line and recovered very well. Today it happened again in the first race, and we managed to finish third, which was a spectacular save. In the next race, we had a good race, but we were overtaken by Earlybird at the end.”
The competition will resume this Friday with the first day of the Final Series. The races will start at 12:00 hours in the bay of Palma, with the forecast of thermal wind that has been marking the week.
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