Princesa Sofia Mapfre Trophy - first ISAF World Cup event in Europe

by Corinne Rolland-McKenzie on 5 Apr 2009
The 40th Princesa Sofia Mapfre Trophy, third event in the ISAF Sailing World Cup, is in full preparation with registration, measurement and last training sessions in the four venues across the bay of Palma.

The new status of the Sofia Mapfre trophy as ISAF World Cup event has brought the regatta into a new dimension. Race management, media coverage and inclusion of Paralympic classes are the direct results of such involvement.

'We are very happy to have the 2.4m as part of the regatta for the first time, and hope they will be joined by the other Paralympics classes in future years.', declared Jaume Carbonell, event manager. 'We have also given special care to the quality and experience of the racing officials, including race officers, measurers and judges. This has greatly added to the budget but it is an area that needs the best competence to insure a successful event.'

In order to maximise the worldwide coverage of the event, racing will be filmed daily to provide TV feeds. Sail TV will be involved again producing racing highlights accessible through the ISAF Sailing World Cup microsite.

The event website will again showcase the regatta live with mark rounding, ocs, top finishers…as well as audio and video interviews.

The 49ers and Finns will be equipped with tracking devices for the Medal race. 'This is the first time we are using this technology. We have restricted it to two classes but if the experience is conclusive we would like to extend it to all the events next year.' explains Carbonell.

The start of the European sailing season will not strain the sailors with light winds forecasted all week and expected to reach a maximum of 8 knots for the opening day. Racing will start at 2PM on Sunday with two races scheduled in each class and three for the 49ers.