ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca - Solid start for 49er and 49erFX

by Ben Remocker on 1 Apr 2014

49er action on day 1 of the 45th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofia / Jesus Renedo http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/

On the opening day of racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca – Trofeo Princesa Sofia, both the 49er and 49erFX managed to get in three races each. After an overcast start to the day, the clouds parted and a light sea breeze formed to allow racing to begin around noon on all courses.

The 49er sailors had the majority of the fleet stuck on land until most fleets were finished and then took to the bay of Palma in the late afternoon. For the most part, typical Palma sea breeze strategies held, with good starts and the left corner making for good results. Tomasz Januszewski (POL) commented, 'We had a good start and headed left in contention for the lead. When we came back, we ducked a couple of boats who continued left another couple of hundred meters, and by the top mark they were way ahead of us. There was more breeze out there, and we should have held out for it.'

There were occasions where teams could make the right work. With good timing on some shifts it is usually possible to put a race together, but the odds are not in your favor. Later in the day and farther up the bay the course was more even and teams were able to sail from both sides of the course.

Mattheiu Frei and Yann Rocherieux (FRA) had a great start with a 1, 2, in the Blue fleet. They started once from the pin and once from the boat with similar results, and commended the race officer for quickly cycling through the races and managing the big start line well. The Frenchmen commented that conditions were very similar in Miami, with 35 boats, so they were comfortable today. Of course, they were at the front of the fleet, where it matters much less how many are behind.

Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign (GBR) won the first race of the day by a country mile, but didn’t manage to pull off the same feat in the second one. We caught up with Dylan in between the second and third race….

After a second in the final race of the day it was Diego Botin and Pablo Turrado who lead the Yellow fleet. These two young speedsters spent the winter training in Cadiz and are ambitious for 2014.

The 49erFX were the last groups to start today, with one group heading for the Finn course and the other group sailing on the beach (49er) course. Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) started the regatta continuing on from recent form with the first win of the series. They followed that up with two second place finishes to lead the championship after the first day.

Martine and Kahena are very happy with how they’ve been sailing and clearly are very comfortable in the light to medium wind strengths. It was also interesting to note that Kahena was sent in for doping control, which is nice for everyone to see that there is monitoring in place.

Also sailing well were Sweden’s Lisa Ericson and Hanna Klinga. Sweden’s results are improving daily it seems after forming a squad around British 49er legend Paul Brotherton, who shot to coaching fame for taking ’3 blondes in a boat’ through to Gold in 2008. In both the 49er and 49erFX there are a number of teams moving up the rankings. Lisa Erikson was all smiles after two good races and one slightly further back. In only the teams second regatta together and the future is looking bright.

Half of the 49erFX fleet were sailing on the Finn course, which is a couple of miles upwind. The course was not quite as left favored as down on the skiff course, and there was significant swell that added a dimension to the racing. In light winds it was manageable for the teams, it will be interesting to see if conditions build later in the week how the 49ers fair in open water.

49er Results

	Sail Nr.	Bow Nr.	Boat Name	Crew	Net Points	TotalPoints	1Q	2Q	3Q
1	ESP 900	29		Diego BOTIN Pablo TURRADO	3	7	4	1	2
2	FRA 14	6		Mathieu FREI Yann ROCHERIEUX	3	19	1	2	16
3	GBR 4	5		Dylan FLETCHER Alain SIGN	5	29	1	24	4
4	GBR 98	7		David EVANS Edward POWYS	5	10	5	3	2
5	GBR 77	1		Stevie MORRISON Chris GRUBE	5	11	3	2	6
6	FRA 144	28		Kevin FISCHER Marc MALLARET	8	19	2	11	6
7	ITA 969	21		Stefano CHERIN Andrea TESEI	10	44	2	8	34
8	AUT 192	17		Benjamin BILDSTEIN David HUSSL	10	19	9	7	3
9	SWE 16	11		Carl P SYLVAN Otto HAMEL	10	18	6	8	4
10	AUT 84	42		Nico Luca Marc DELLE KARTH Nikolaus Leopold RESCH	12	24	8	4	12
11	GBR 114	27		Nic ASHER Fynn STERRITT	13	33	20	12	1
12	GBR 25	12		James PETERS Ed FITZGERALD	13	30	6	17	7
13	FIN 49	23		Lauri LEHTINEN Miikka PENNANEN	13	21	7	6	8
14	NZL2	14		Marcus HANSEN Josh POREBSKI	14	37	13	23	1
15	GER 12	8		Erik HEIL Thomas PLOESSEL	15	36	21	6	9
16	JPN 81	10		Yukio MAKINO Kenji TAKAHASHI	16	34	18	13	3
17	NZL 1	41		Peter BURLING Blair TUKE	17	46	16	1	29
18	POR 27	34		Jorge LIMA Jose COSTA	17	40	23	4	13
19	CRO 13	9		Pavle KOSTOV Petar CUPAC	17	35	18	12	5
20	ITA 140	44		Andrea SAVIO Alessandro SAVIO	17	36	12	5	19

49erFX Results

	Sail Nr.	Bow Nr.	Boat Name	Crew	Net Points	TotalPoints	1Q	2Q	3Q
1	GER 369	32		Ann Kristin WEDEMEYER Pia Sophie WEDEMEYER	3	9	6	2	1
2	BRA 12	1		Martine SOFFIATTI GRAEL Kahena KUNZE	3	5	1	2	2
3	DEN 136	5		Jena Mai HANSEN Katja SALSKOV-IVERSEN	4	21	3	17	1
4	FRA3	11		Sarah STEYAERT Julie BOSSARD	4	10	1	6	3
5	NED 5	10		Annemiek BEKKERING Annette DUETZ	6	19	4	13	2
6	SWE 381	36		Lisa ERICSON Hanna KLINGA	6	14	2	8	4
7	AUS 9	13		Olivia PRICE Eliza SOLLY	6	20	2	4	14
8	JPN 611	39		Chika HATAE Noriko OKUMA	6	24	3	3	18
9	SWE 25	23		Julia GROSS Cecilia JONSSON	7	18	11	1	6
10	GER 6	9		Victoria JUCZOK Anika LORENZ	7	13	4	3	6
11	SIN 33	18		Griselda KHNG Sara TAN	8	14	5	6	3
12	GBR 22	4		Charlotte DOBSON Sophie AINSWORTH	10	23	9	1	13
13	USA 826	37		Paris HENKEN Helena SCUTT	10	21	6	11	4
14	GBR 99	15		Kate MACGREGOR Katrina BEST	10	29	19	5	5
15	DEN 11	3		Ida Marie BAAD NIELSEN Marie THUSGAARD OLSEN	12	21	8	4	9
16	NZL 1	8		Alexandra MALONEY Molly MEECH	13	28	15	5	8
17	ESP 294	35		Aura MIQUEL MOLONS Silvia ROCA MATA	16	27	9	11	7
18	ITA 747	2		Giulia CONTI Francesca CLAPCICH	17	29	5	12	12
19	DEN 49	16		Maiken SCHUTT Anne-Julie SCHUTT	17	31	7	14	10
20	GER 161	7		Tina LUTZ Susann BEUCKE	17	33	16	9	8