World Cup- 40th Princesa Sofia Mapfre Trophy Leaders hold on

by Corinne Rolland-McKenzie on 7 Apr 2009 The conditions on the second day of racing in Palma didn’t create many changes in the leadership. Light to medium, the sea breeze increased to 14 knots providing the 800 sailors engaged in 10 classes with perfect sailing conditions.

Marina Alabau (ESP) and Paige Railey (USA) maintain a narrow lead in their respective classes, over their team mates. Two victories bring Blanca Manchon (ESP), leader of the ISAF Sailing World Cup after winning Sail Melbourne and placing third in Miami, into second overall in the RS:X class. She is five points from Alabau who performed well again with two top three results. They are closely followed by Flavia Tartaglini (ITA) who climbs to third position overall after placing second twice.

It is the same scenario in the Laser Radial, with Beijing Gold medallist, Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) moving from ninth to second overall, two points from Paige Railey (USA). Tunnicliffe, like Manchon, is currently at the top of the ISAF Sailing World Cup, after winning the Miami OCR regatta and Sail Melbourne.

Robert Stanjek and Markus Roy (GER) conserve a slight advantage over the Star fleet. However, the new Italian team of Diego Negri and Luca Devoti climbs from fifth to second after winning the first race and a second in the last. Athens Bronze medallist Xavier Rohart from France with new crew Pierre-Alexis Ponsot, are conserving their third position.

It was a long day on the water for the 49ers who had three races scheduled. The wind came in late and didn’t permit a third race to be sailed by the second group, reducing the overall results to five races.

Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello (ITA) increased their lead after scoring two second places. Lauri Lehtinen and Kalle Torcen (FIN) have gained eight places in the overall ranking to sit in second after a victory in the first race and a third in the second.

The Princesa Sofia Mapfre is the first regatta for the Sibello brothers after the Olympic Games: 'We took a long rest after the Olympics. We needed to recover from our disillusion caused on the last day.'

The Italians finished in fourth place and missed on Olympic medal narrowly after a protest over the last race!

'I took time to enjoy the family.' explains Pietro who has a young daughter and a newborn baby boy. 'We only started training in Alassio and this is our first event since the Olympic Games.

There is some new blood in the fleet, lots of young teams who have been training all winter to get to the highest level.'

Another Italian in the lead is Fabian Heidegger (ITA). Third in Palma last year, he adds another victory to his score and a fourth, to secure a small six points margin over Ricardo Santos. The Brazilian moves up from eight to second after placing third and a bullet in the second.

The level in the RS:X is one of the highest among the fleets present in Palma with many Olympic representatives. It is also one of the classes with the best attendance at ISAF World Cup events.

With two victories today, Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) has increased his lead in the Laser class by 18 points over Nick Thompson from the UK. A six points score, in a fleet of 134 sailors is a real performance that could put the Croat in great position for the Absolute trophy given to the class winner with least points this week.

Only four classes have a new leader today. In the Finn, Spanish sailor Rafael Trujillo Villar enjoyed the conditions that led him to a second and a victory. ' These were typical Palma conditions, the wind came in late and increased up to 14 knots. That was perfect for the Finns, especially in the second race when free pumping was allowed. The waves were bigger and it provided great surfing conditions.'

Trujillo who has been training most winter in the US was glad for his training partner, Bryan Boyd’s (USA) victory. 'The first race was very close but Brian finally passed me on the line.' This was the first race victory for Boyd in the Finn at this level. The American is coached in Palma by Rafa Trujillo’s wife, Caroline Brisebois!

Thierry Schmitter took the lead from team mate Andre Rademaker in the 2.4m, while Helena Lucas (GBR) climbed to second. Schmitter comments on the racing in Palma: 'Things are good in Mallorca. We have perfect conditions for sailing and very good temperature so far. It is a great event for training for us. A lot better than sailing in Holland at the moment.

The competition is not very strong although the English are giving us a ride for our money. But the event has to grow in this class and it will. It is good that the disabled class is part of the World series but I would also love to get more competition from abled sailors. The Spanish 2.4 fleet is impressive with 14 boats. They are more in the development stages. But it is very good to see that they can use each other to improve their performance quickly.'

The 470 class in both the Men and Women division’s have both changed hands. Austrian team of Sylvia Vogl and Carolina Flatscher are in first overall. They took the gun in the first race and placed third in the second.

Ingrid Petitjean and Nadège Douroux from France have climbed to second after a second and a first. Their team mates in the men division, Nicolas Charbonnier with new crew Baptiste Meyer are leading the 76 boats fleet with top four results.

Racing will resume on Tuesday with two races scheduled in all classes and three for the 49ers.