Drama rules J/70s at Regatta Copa Del Rey MAPFRE
by J/Boats 5 Aug 2024 13:42 BST
27 July - 3 August 2024
Patakin, Sandberg Estates J70 on day 3 of the 42nd Copa del Rey MAPFRE © María Muiña / Copa del Rey MAPFRE
The Real Club Nautico de Palma hosted their famous Regatta Copa Del Rey MAPFRE regatta this past week, delivering spectacular sailing in sunny Mediterranean weather!
The regatta was sailed on the gorgeous Bay of Palma which is surrounded by a beautiful mountain range off to the east and north. As a result, the sailors enjoyed nearly perfect sailing conditions starting around noon each day with a clockwork-like sea breeze that filled in around 12 to 18 kts from the southwest. With the J/70s on the southernmost course area in the bay down near the airport, the mild leftward shift each day meant teams tried to get off the port end of the line to get into the favored new breezes on the left. That strategy meant many teams tempted fate to start at the port end, resulting in multiple black flags and fouls. And, many top teams that experienced that "fate" got pounded in the results in the very tightly-fought 31-boat fleet!
Keeping their "nose cleaner" than most, it was Luis Bugallo's Spanish team on KIMPTON HOTELS/ LES ROCHES that ended up winning the regatta by nearly 30 pts net after the 12-race, one discard series! They were walking a tightrope for the entire regatta since they got BFD in the second race on the first day! There was quite a gutsy performance with that huge guillotine hanging over their heads!
It was the American team of John Heaton from Chicago, Illinois, sailing EMPEIRIA, that made by far the most dramatic comeback of all the top crews. Starting the first two days barely cracking the top 15 provisional places, Heaton's crew closed their last four races with a 7-3-1-3 to take the silver medal with 93 pts net! Like Bugallo's Spanish team, they too endured a BFD in race 1 and had to sail solidly and consistently to climb back up the ladder and avoid another regatta-killing race!
Perhaps the surprise performance came from the Turkish team led by Gulboy Guryel and his DENIZCIK Team from Istanbul! Starting the first three days in the top 20, they climbed back into contention with four solid races mid-series to earn the bronze medal with 112 pts net! That's a shocker for J/70 regattas to average 10th place to finish on the podium!
Portuguese Olympic bronze medallist Hugo Rocha has dozens of Copa del Rey class wins under his belt, not least in the Swan 45, Swan 42, and J/80 - all of which he has gone on to win the world championship as tactician in. Rocha called tactics on the Vigo team on Luis Bugallo's Kimpton Hotels/Les Roches to win the Sandberg Estates J70 class in which most contenders have been training and scoping out the race areas ahead of the world championships.
Rocha reported, "Actually it was a big fight for me to be here as I just finished the Baltic 600 four days ago and struggled to get here on time. But it has been such a nice week with such a nice team. Today in the first and second races we made very good starts and we are fast which makes my job as tactician quite easy."
Heaton of Empeira enthused, "It was a great week. It has been just a little bit too hot for us at times but it has been a super week. One day we did not have speed and we figured that out fairly quickly but the first-placed boat was super fast, so we had something to shoot for. That one day we had the rig too loose and the headstay too tight we were slow and that made tactics hard but after that, we have been good. But it has been great learning for the worlds, the club is great, the city is great and the whole area is great. We can't wait for the world in September."
Rounding out the top five were the Brazilians, Renato Cunha Faria's team on BRA 493, and David Janneti's USA 1513, in fourth and fifth places, respectively.
More information at www.regatacopadelrey.com