The first scoring regatta for the 2023 Sailing World Cup threatens to break all participation records. With exactly two months to go before the 52nd Princess Sofia Mallorca Trophy begins, the number of pre-registered exceeds five thousand, an unprecedented figure in the long and fruitful history of what is considered the world’s leading Olympic-class regatta. Since the publication of the Notice of Race opened the registration of participants on December 15, the trickle of pre-registrations has not stopped, and the Organizing Committee offices are beginning to consider the possibility of breaking the participation ceiling. “We have never had such a high number of pre-registered just a month and a half after publishing the Announcement of the Race and with two months to go before the start of the competition”, confesses Ferran Muniesa, technical director of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca. “This is excellent news for the event and encourages us to continue working for and for the sailors” .
At the time of writing this information, 568 teams of 56 nationalities have formalized their pre-registration, a figure ostensibly higher than the 382 teams pre-registered two months before the start of the 2022 edition. Among the ten classes that will compete in the Olympic Games. of Paris 2024, ILCA 7 (130 pre-registered) and ILCA 6 (89) are the ones that contribute the greatest number of teams as of January 31, followed by Formula Kite Men (75), 49er (45), Nacra 17 (44), iQFOiL Women (42), iQFOiL Men (40), 49er FX (39), Formula Kite Women and 470 Mixed (both with 32).
In Muniesa’s opinion, there are several factors that can explain the high turnout expected for this edition: “On the one hand, the exceptionality of this unusually short Olympic cycle due to the pandemic puts extra pressure on sailors and for the federations of the countries in the allocation of places, we are in a pre-Olympic year and Sofia is the first scoring multiclass event for the Sailing World Cup 2023. On the other, the Asian countries that could not come in 2022 return because their borders remained closed. Last year we touched 800 boats and more than a thousand sailors of 64 nationalities, and although it is early to talk about records, the indicators suggest that it will be an exceptional edition”.
The 2023 Sailing World Cup 52 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofía Mallorca is held under the joint organization of Club Nàutic S’Arenal, Club Marítimo San Antonio de la Playa, Real Club Náutico de Palma, the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation and the Balearic Federation de Vela, with the support of World Sailing and the main Balearic public institutions.
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