Trofeo Princesa Sofía IBEROSTAR, a regatta ready for innovation

470s at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía IBEROSTAR © Jesus Renedo / Sofia

The 48th edition of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía IBEROSTAR will be one of the most innovative of the last years. In just uner two weeks time, on Friday 24th March, this Olympic sailing event - consolidated as one of the most important ones in the world - will kick off. Up to 1st April, in the bay of Palma, over 600 teams will test novelties and changes in the racing formats with the goal of setting the tone and making decisions towards the upcoming events.

Classes and the International Sailing Federation choose the Mallorca event to test new racing formats

The Princesa Sofía IBEROSTAR will bring innovations for the Olympic Classes in many ways, but the first novelty will be the inclusion of the ORC and one design J80 class that will sail from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th, based at Real Club Náutico de Palma. These classes will be joined by the Dragon fleet, a regular class in the regatta, in this start of this 48th edition of the Spanish regatta.

In Olympic events, which will race from Monday 27th to Saturday 1st, the main innovation will be seen in the 49er FX, a traditionally female class that will be "open" in this year's Trofeo Princesa Sofía IBEROSTAR, opening entries to female, male and mixed crews.

Furthermore, more than half of the participating classes at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía IBEROSTAR will test a new format for the Medal Race, as announced by Ferran Muniesa, the event manager.

"Over the past years, we have faced situations where a sailor was the Class winner before the Medal Race. The idea is to avoid this kind of situations and, therefore, new formats will be tested" explained Muniesa, satisfied to see the Spanish regatta chosen by the Classes and World Sailing, the international sailing federation, to test the new formats.

Finn, RSX M and W, 49er and 49er FX as well as 470 M and W are the Olympic events that have decided to change the system to decide the final winner aiming at ensuring the "fairest possible option".

The new Medal Race formats will be implemented at the Sofía IBEROSTAR and other events at the request of the Classes and World Sailing.

In this year's Sofía IBEROSTAR, the 49er and 49er FX classes will use the Theatre Style Racing format, in which the fleet sails three 10 minute races in a closed rectangle with the winner being the best of the three races.

The RS:X Men and Women will sail quarter finals with 12 sailors, which will be eliminated to reach a last final with 4 from which the final winner will be decided.

The Finn, 470 M and W results will take into consideration the scores obtained the day before the Medal Race and the podium places will be decided in just one final, each of them with different details considered and adapted for each class.

Another novelty in this edition of the Sofía IBEROSTAR, as put forward by Ferran Muniesa, will be shorter Medal Race, with a duration between 10 and 20 minutes.

Organised by Club Nàutic S'Arenal, Club Marítimo San Antonio de la Playa, Real Club Náutico de Palma and the Balearic and Spanish Sailing Federations, the 48 Trofeo Princesa Sofía IBEROSTAR is sponsored by IBEROSTAR and the collaborators are Trasmediterranea, OK Rent a Car, Electtro, Infiniti and Marine Pool, as well as Govern de les Illes Balears, Ajuntament de Palma, Ajuntament de Llucmajor and Ports de Balears.

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