Palma
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The bay of Palma provided extraordinary conditions for the participants of the 51st Princesa Sofía Mallorca. The sun shone at times to liven up the thermometer, and the wind settled from noon on in a slightly more friendly range of intensity than yesterday, which made it possible to fulfill the competition program and confirm the excellent reputation of the Mallorcan stage for the show of sailing.
For the first time since March 2019, the ten Olympic classes were convened, adding to those that competed yesterday (ILCA 6, ILCA 7, 470 Mixed, iQFOiL Men and iQFOiL Women) the 49er, 49erFX, Nacra 17, Formula Kite Men and Formula Kite Women, and more than a thousand sailors unfurled their sails in the eight regatta areas distributed throughout the bay of Palma.
The Regatta Committee decided to take advantage of the excellent conditions to organize a long test of the iQFOiL boards, which meant bringing forward the first start of the day at 09:00.
Formula Kite: Kites in Olympic format
The first outing of the new Formula Kite class was the official debut of kitesurfing at the Princesa Sofía Mallorca, with 76 kites in the men’s category and 38 in the women’s category on a program of four dazzling tests at speeds unprecedented in the history of the event.
In Formula Kite Men, the fleet was divided into three groups. After four sets, and applying a discard, equality is maximum at the head of the provisional, with a tie and leadership shared between the Slovenian Toni Vodisek (1+1+1+1), and the French Benoit Gómez (1+1+ 1+1) and Theo De Ramecourt (1+27+1+1), current world champion in the category. Valencian Alex Climent is 23rd after a very regular day (7+6+8+8).
In Formula Kite Women the competition began without a clear dominance of any participant. Leading the classification is the British Ellie Aldridge (3+17+2+2), followed by her compatriot Maddy Anderson (2+2+5+9) and the American Daniela Moroz (1+3+7+6), absolute dominator of the world circuit of the class in the last five seasons. Gisela Pulido, the best ranked Spaniard, is in eighth position (8+14+6+5), nine points off the podium.
49er and 49erFX: On the edge
The premiere of the skiff class competition program tested the ability of crews to compete in a range of winds at the edge of their safe limit. In the 49er, the French couple Erwan Fischer/Clément Pequin was postulated as the rival to beat, with three wins out of three possible. They lead the class tied on points with the Germans Jakob Meggendorfer/Andreas Spranger (4+1+1) and two points ahead of the Swiss Sebastien Schneiter/Arno de Planta (2+11+2). Diego Botín from Spain and Florian Trittel from Catalonia completed a very good day (2+5+5) and are seventh, just four points off the podium.
The 49erFX session was resolved with a distribution of victories in the three contested races. The Dutch Odile Van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (4+1+2) returned to land at the top of the table, tied on points with the two-time Brazilian Olympic champions Martine Grael/Kahena Kunze (2+1+6), and followed by the Italians Carlotta Omari/Steva Carraro (1+4+9). The Galician Patricia Suárez and the Canarian María Cantero are the best classified Spaniards and occupy the fifteenth position (9+3+23).
Nacra 17: Change of pace
The Nacra 17 premiered today at the Princesa Sofía Mallorca a new configuration of foils called to revolutionize the handling and performance of the Olympic catamaran. Several teams went out on the water with little experience with this change, which will allow the boats to fly upwind, and with many unknowns about the performance of their rivals. The day was resolved with three heats and the provisional leadership of the Italians Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (2+1+1), current Olympic champions, followed by their compatriots Gianluigi Ugolini/Maria Giubilei (1+4+3) and the Finns Sinem Kurtbay/Akseli Keskinen (3+2+2).
iQFOiL: Regatta Day Long
The earliest risers of the day were the members of the iQFOiL flying windsurf. Summoned at 09:00 in the morning to celebrate a long regatta (13 miles), they encountered the toughest conditions of the day (20 to 25 knots), with victory for the British Andrew Brown in the men’s category and the French Hélène Noesmoen in female. After a well-deserved rest, they returned to land in the afternoon to complete two tests. After two days and seven sets, the leader in iQFOiL Men is the Dutchman Luuc Van Opzeeland, level on points with the British Andrew Brown and the Dutchman Amado Vrieswijk. In iQFOiL Women, she leads Noesmoen with the highest lead in Sofia: 13 points over Israeli Schachar Reshef and 17 over British Islay Watson. Pilar Lamadrid from Seville is in fourth position, one point behind third, after scoring a sixth today in the long race, a 15 and a seven.
470 Mixed: Xammar and Brugman are still on the prowl
The 470 mixed day was resolved with two sleeves that have not changed the order of the podium. The Italian tandem Giacomo Ferrari/Bianca Caruso (1+9 today) continues to lead, one point ahead of Jordi Xammar/Nora Brugman (2+3). The game of discards (each team subtracts its worst result after a certain number of partials depending on the class) favors the Italians, despite the fact that the Spanish are showing better consistency at this start of the championship. Third are the Australians Nia Jerwood/Conor Nicholas (1+17).
ILCA: Double ration
The ILCA disputed both tests in their second day. In ILCA 7, the menu of the day served the British Michael Beckett (1+2 today) to tie on points with the Cypriot Pavlos Kontides (2+4) and become the new leader. Third is Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (2+1). In the women’s category (ILCA 6), the Canadian Sarah Douglas leads the classification after a perfect day (1 + 1) that allowed her to distance herself four points from her immediate pursuer, the Hungarian Mária Érdi (11 + 5). Third is the Dutch Maxime Jonker (8+2). Cristina Pujol is the best classified Spanish and occupies the 40th position.
After completing the first two days of competition, ILCA 6, ILCA 7, 470 and iQFOiL will be divided into groups to start defining the candidates to occupy a position in the Medal Races, which will be held from Friday.
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