Copa del Rey - Leadership confirmed on day 3

by Eva Dallo on 19 Jul 2012 The 31st Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre crossed its equator today in the bay of Palma, with a twenty five mile coastal race which confirmed Ran and Audi Azzurra, Swanderful and Powerplate as the current leaders in IRC and RI respectively. The remaining divisions completed two windward-leeward races which brought changes to the J-80 class scoring board, where Mapfre loses the first position out to Nextel, whereas Alegre remains first in Soto 40, and Hotelplan – Spirit of Nerina increases her lead in X-35.

Unlike precedent years, this edition's coastal race scored just one point, and there was no scoring mark in the course. As no discard applied for this year's long course either, teams in the IRC and RI divisions couldn't risk a bad result. Conditions were perfect as the start gun was fired, with a nice Southerly breeze reaching 15 to 18 knots.

82 footer Highland Fling XI was the first mini-maxi to cross the finish line today, but ended up third after times were corrected. The final winner was George Sakellaris' Shockwave, followed by Ran of Niklas Zennstrom, which remains leader with seven points advantage over the former.

Jochen Schuemann's Audi All4One scratched one point today by winning the coastal race in the IRC 2 division, which, together with Gladiator's fourth place helps the French-German team climb to the third position in the overall classification after five races. Guillermo Parada's Audi Azzurra Sailing Team is the current leader after her second position today, followed by Power Play, which was third. Stephane Neve's Paprec, which started this 31st edition of the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre in the first position, seems to have lost momentum and is now fifth in the scoring board.

A 19 seconds advantage over Chuni Bermúdez skippered Swanderful at the finish line gave Grupo Clínico Luis Senís the victory in the RI1 coastal race, but the former remains leader of her division, and sees her advantage over Earlybird and Rats of Fire -second and third overall overall classified respectively- increased to six and eight points.

In the Soto 40 division, the first race of the day saw Iberdrola pull together a perfect performance dominating the first windward-leeward set up from beginning to end, performing considerably better starts than yesterday. Alegre was hot on their heels but Pichu Torcida finally got away with the victory. Further behind Spanish Noticia IV crossed third. The second race of the day was won by Alegre after Ibedrola missed a wind shift in the first upwind leg, what leaves them first and second respectively in the overall leader board just four points apart.

Ignacio Camino's Nextel Engineering perfect show on the water today with two back-to-back victories catapults the team to the top spot in the J-80 division. Mapfre managed two second places and is now tied in 13 points with Camino, whereas Olympic sailor José María van der Plough loses ground after being over the line in the last race, in spite of what he managed to cross the finish line in third position, and remains third in the overall classification.

As far as the X-35 are concerned, Hotelplan – Spirit of Nerina stands out as clear favourite for the final victory thanks to a third and a first places which help her increase her advantage over Margherita and Audi Ultra.

Tomorrow all the classes will meet on the water again for two windward-leeward races in the Bay of Palma. Following the race instructions, discards will apply as from race eight but for the Soto 40 class which will not be able to discard any result.

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