Copa del Rey

One couldn't have asked for a better start for the 27 Copa del Rey AUDI MAPFRE. Throughout the afternoon, all three race areas had a stable southwestern breeze that started at 10 knots and gradually picked up to 15. All classes, except the GP42's and TP52's that were practicing, were able to sail two tight races.

The IRC 1 class saw the clear domination of the former TP52 Spanish AIFOS that scored two bullets. Tied at second place are French Moana and Stuart Branson's Spirit of Jethou. The Farr 54 CAM, helmed by HRH Don Felipe, stands 4th, 2 points from a possible podium place.

In the IRC 2 class, consistency paid off for Italian Give me Five. Two second places put them at the top of the score table, followed by fellow Italians Kora 4. Tony Buckingham's is third, after a 5th and a 1st.

In IRC 0 the two Telefonica VO70 boats are carrying out an exhibition race, within the Copa del Rey, giving the right to the City of Palma Trophy. The Blue yacht, helmed by Bouwe Bekking, won both races. The Black yacht, helmed Pedro Campos, had to abandon the first race after a spinnaker problem.

The ORC 570 leaderboard is an Iberian affair. Jose Manuel Mesquita's Luso-Roux is first after a 3rd and 4th place. Manuel de Tomas' San Miguel is second, just two points behind the Portuguese boat, tied with Gustavo Martinez' Hempel-Power.

In the X-35 fleet the first race was a British-Dutch battle. After a clear start, Thorkild Juncker's Cool Runnings stayed ahead despite the tough race against Quantum Racing and Just for Fun. A clear indication of the tight racing was the fact the 6 first yachts crossed the finish line within 15 seconds. The second race was won by Italian X-TRIFIX, but with a 3rd and a 2nd respectively, Cool Runnings and Quantum Racing are tied at the top.

In the SWAN 45 class German Earlybird, one of the favourites to win the Copa del Rey, had a difficult first day. Blue Nights, the sole Finnish boat in the regatta, won the first race after a close battle with the Italian DSK-Comifin and the Japanese Yasha. The Italians were ahead from the start of the race but Tea Ekengren-Sauren's yacht grabbed the lead at the second beat and crossed the finish line ahead of the fleet. In the second race, Earlybird had a clear start and lead from the start. Blue Nights lead overall after a fourth in the second race.

The GP42 class premiered in the Copa del Rey AUDI MAPFRE the practice race and for the first time ever all competing yachts had a journalist guest aboard. Near Miss, the Swiss yacht owned by Franck Noel and helmed by Bertrand Pace, once again showed her clear speed advantage over the other yachts while the local crowds had a reason to cheer with the Spanish Desafio finishing second. Close behind them were the two Italians Roma GP42.2 and AIRIS.

The TP52's also had their official practice race, won by Vasco Vascotto's Mutua Madrilena, followed by Platoon, helmed by Jochen Schuemann. Terry Hutchinson, fresh from two victorious events in the TP52 circuit, helmed Spanish Desafio to 3rd place.

MedCup Copa del Rey

The third event in the Circuit is part of the famous Copa del Rey, which has become the largest and most important cruiser regatta in the Mediterranean and a first-class event in the world calendar. After a start to their 2007 Breitling MedCup Circuit season which has been quite disappointing so far, Vasco Vascotto and the crew of Mutua Madrilena showed a marked improvement in the first day when they posted a first and a second to lead the 22 boat TP52 fleet after the first two races of the prestigious 26th Copa del Rey Camper Audi on the Bay of Palma. Mutua Madrilena made the best of a reshuffle in the bay of Puerto Portals as the TP52 fleet beat to their final windward mark to win the second section of the 27 miles costal race. While a consistent day, posting a third and a fifth, was enough to return Alberto Roemmers' Siemens to the overall regatta lead again, a standout pair of victories by Stuart Robinson's Stay Calm elevated them to third overall. In the second race the British boat was chasing Jose Cusi's Bribon hard on the approach to the final leeward gate. But the Bribon crew had misheard or misread the course instruction and did not realise that it was a five leg windward leeward, and one final beat to the upwind finish remained.

Alberto Roemmers' Argentinian owned, Spanish sponsored Siemens clinched the overall title in the 22 strong grand prix TP52 class at the 26th Copa del Rey Camper Audi on the Bay of Palma. Peter de Ridder and the Valle Romano Mean Machine scored what has become something of a 2007 trademark, a final race victory when they bolted from the pin end of the line and were first into the left side advantage.

Copa del Rey TP52

Alberto Roemmers' Argentinian owned, Spanish sponsored Siemens clinched the overall title in the 22 strong grand prix TP52 class at the 26th Copa del Rey Camper Audi on the Bay of Palma. Twenty years after he last won the Mediterranean's premier trophy on the Maxi Il Moro di Venezia Paul Cayard called the tactics successfully for owner Roemmers and skipper-helmsman Guilermo Parada, winning a closely fought series by just six points from Vasco Vascotto's 2005 Breitling MedCup winning team on Mutua Madrilena.

A fifth place in the first race of the final day meant Siemens entered the final race of 10 with a five points lead over Mutua Madrilena. Caught flat-footed on the start line Cayard conjured a third from a poor opening, while Mutua Madrilena's pair of sixth places left them second with Roberto Bermudez de Castro's Corporacion CxG Caix Galicia finishing third overall. For the second successive regatta Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis wins the Corinthian Trophy. Caixa Galicia still lead the overall standings on the 2007 Breitling MedCup TP52 Circuit.

With the modest Southerly seabreeze fluctuating between six and 10 knots through the day the SM Juan Carlos skippered Bribon looked for all the world to have won the first race today and in so doing atoned for one minor error yesterday which cost them a victory when they misread the number of legs of the course. But Bribon were judged to have started early and were disqualified, handing the race win to Kiki Sanchex and Santi Lopez's CAM. Bribon's protest against their disqualification was later denied. Peter de Ridder and the Valle Romano Mean Machine scored what has become something of a 2007 trademark, a final race victory when they bolted from the pin end of the line and were first into the left side advantage.