54th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by FERGUS - Day 1
by Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía 31 Mar 19:14 BST
28 March - 5 April 2025
iQFOiL fleet sailing in front of the iconic Palma Cathedral - 54th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by FERGUS day 1 © Sailing Energy / Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca
The beautiful Bay of Palma ushered in the new Olympic sailing quadrennial with sparkling, near perfect conditions - sunshine and 16-18kts winds - as the Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by FERGUS Hotels got under way for the 10 events which will contest the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Some Paris 2024 medallists may still be enjoying time away from competition, waiting to start their 2028 campaigns but for many of those who are among the huge armada that is nearly 800 strong it seemed to be a relatively seamless return to business on the first day of qualifying.
Both medallists in the giant ILCA 7 fleet, respectively widely recognised sporting heroes in their home countries, Cyprus' double silver winner Pavlos Kontides and his Peruvian bronze medal winning counterpart Stefano Peschiera opened with qualifying race wins. Australia's silver medallist Grae Morris leads the iQFOiL Men.
Featured class: Formula Kite
Without doubt the athletes who were first on today had the best of the conditions, mostly competing before the thermal sea breeze did its best to kill off the brisk NW'ly gradient wind resulting in an interlude of light, shifty winds.
Among those who relished the excellent, fast conditions where the Formula Kite racers. It is almost six months since the last time the kiteboarders came together as an international fleet, there were a few riders admitting to butterflies in the stomach as they lined up against each other on a busy start line for four back-to-back short course races.
There is an array of different equipment that the riders can select, and they have been hard at work over the winter testing the pros and cons of different brands of kite and foil. The fleet has never looked so colourful, with a kaleidoscope of colours flying across the Bay of Palma.
Whatever the Chinese women's squad have been doing over recent months is clearly working wonders. Si Wang holds the early lead ahead of teammates Wan Li and Jinguye Chen. Best of the rest is France's young and improving Lysa Caval in fourth, one place ahead of Ellie Aldridge, the reigning Olympic Champion from Great Britain. She has been taking time away from the kite since Paris 2024, discovering other parts of the high-speed end of the sport in the Women's America's Cup last autumn and more recently training up as part of the British SailGP crew.
Aldridge confirmed, "This is the only event I'm doing this year until the Worlds in September. My plan is mostly to train at home because I didn't want to be full-time with all the travel. My plan was to take a break for a year, but then I've had this opportunity come up with SailGP. So in the end I'm actually going to be travelling a lot and it is an amazing opportunity. But it's good to be here and see everyone again. I'm not focused on trying to be the best in the kite. It's more of a year to see what happens with the fleet, what happens with all the new kit."
Two familiar names at the front of the men's kites, with reigning World Champion Max Maeder winning his heats on his side of the qualifying draw. The 18-year-old from Singapore who took Olympic silver in Marseille holds the lead ahead of Austria's Olympic Champion Valentin Bontus, while Czech rider Vojtech Koska is holding his own with the big names to sit in third overall.
The winner of the overall Princesa Sofía Trophy in 2023 Maeder has started at his imperious best, putting four wins on the board from four starts, the kiters having completed their day before lunch was being served in the beachfront restaurants. Maeder smiled, "My heart rate was running really high, I could feel the nerves and the adrenalin running through me on the start line. So I was just taking everything, a step slower, a gear slower, just to make sure that I do it properly. I was probably running at about 85%, just taking my time to make sure I avoided any bad mistakes."
The round up
Bidding for a fourth title in a row in the ILCA 7, GBR's Micky Beckett started well enough with a 3,1: "It was lovely day sailing, 16-17kts, a bit more than we expected. I got into it pretty quickly, thew wind was going back and forwards a bit but it was so good to be back out there doing it all again. I made a couple of dumb mistakes - like not finding the leeward mark and sailed off in the wrong direction when I was winning - but I will try not to do that again!" said Beckett.
Kontides followed up his race win with a 15th as he sets into his sixth Olympic cycle, "I just love it. Most of all I love the fighting on the water. This is the first major championship after the Games and most people are here so I want to be here. The world championships are early this year and so most of us want to get good racing in before then to build confidence."
In the ILCA 6 fleet it is Belgium's 2021 World Champion Emma Plasschaert, 7th at Paris 2024, who leads after posting two wins: "I am pretty fresh. I had a eight months out of the boat, enjoying doing other things and so I am just off ten days training in Vilamoura before coming here. The second race was trickiest as the thermal effect meant it died completely and I was leading by a lot and then suddenly everyone was up with me and I only just got across the line to win!"
Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort, a disappointing 14th at Paris 2024, head the big German contingent in the Mixed 470 and lead overall after Day 1. The young French pair Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros top the 49er fleet after two races whilst in the FX Freya Black and Saskia Tidey made the best start also leading after two heats.
Australia's recently crowned Olympic silver medallist Grae Morris is top of the iQFOiL men whilst GBR's bronze winner Emma Wilson started characteristically strongly with two race wins in the Women. After three races China's Huangcheng Zhao and Su Sha lead the Nacra 17s which raced in the afternoon's lighter breezes.
The 54 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by FERGUS Hotels is jointly organised by the Club Nàutic S'Arenal, the Club Marítimo San Antonio de la Playa, the Real Club Náutico de Palma, the Real Federación Española de Vela and the Federación Balear de Vela, with the support of World Sailing, and is co-financed by the Govern de les Illes Balears' Sustainable Tourism Tax fund.
Provisional Results - Day 1
More information at www.trofeoprincesasofia.org
The event is part of the Sailing Grand Slam 2025, along with the Semaine Olympique Française, the Dutch Water Week, the Kieler Woche and the Long Beach Olympic Classes Regatta.
More information at www.sailinggrandslam.com