54th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by FERGUS - Day 3
by Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía 2 Apr 18:31 BST
28 March - 5 April 2025
470 Mixed fleet - Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by FERGUS day 3 © Sailing Energy / Trofeo Princesa Sofía
With classes moving into the Gold fleet phase today at the 54 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by FERGUS Hotels on Mallorca's Bay of Palma so the intensity stepped up and consistency became most important.
It is in the giant regatta's biggest class, the 175 strong Men's singlehanded ILCA 7, that the ultra regular Brit Micky Beckett is returning the most impressive set of scores to date. If the 2024 Paris Olympian had to move up a gear as the gold fleet contested their first two Finals races, it was scarcely noticeable in the 14-16kts SE'y breeze as he posted two clear race wins to stand 15 points clear of his GBR compatriot Elliot Hanson who lies second.
"Micky is still making us look stupid." Hanson chuckled admiringly. Third place Italian racer Lorenzo Chiavarini, whose Scots accent still belies the nation of his youth, concurs: "Micky has such a lot of consistency. He is happy here and is a very, very good sailor, so is Elliot. On our day in training we can catch Micky but he is just a wonderful sailor."
Beckett remains firmly on course to win the class for the fourth time in a row here and must be quietly wondering what he has to do to beat the magic formula which determines the winner of the Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía.
With the Brits holding the top two slots in the ILCA 7, their ILCA6 counterpart Daisy Collingridge - the Youth Worlds bronze medallist who missed Olympic selection, tops the standings by a single point. There are still three days of racing, culminating in Saturday's definitive medal races to go, but Collingridge points to improvements in her approach and execution prompted by time out in the world of investment as a contributory factor so far,
"I am happy to be leading. I took some time out until January and did some work as an intern with a Private Equity company and that gave me some breathing space and re-evaluate how I wanted to come back. And it is cool to see that having an impact on how I am doing things on the water. I think having been in the professional world just taught me what you can achieve in a day, and a lot of accountability. And so I have really looked at how I do things, really challenged myself, 'How can I do things better? How can I do things faster and more efficiently? I think that helped my push forward."
Featured classes 470 and Nacra 17
The 470 Mixed fleet is seeing new partnerships settling in to full race mode, learning to work best with each other. Again it's a division which sees none of the Paris 2024 medallists competing at this 54th Sofía but there is a great mix of successful sailors and up and coming talent.
One such new team in the 470 Mixed, Elena Berta and Giulio Calabro are finding their rhythm together very quickly. Berta went to Paris 2024 with a different crew last year but has now teamed up with Calabro who is back in the 470 after the past four years crewing in the faster 49er skiff.
The Italians took two second places from today's two races in shifty conditions. "We had the head outside the boat, a lot of looking around," said Calabro. "We had two good starts and the teamwork is going well."
2021 World Championship bronze medal winning helm Berta agreed. "The teamwork is very important and it works well. We are friends from a long time ago and we try to work on our roles and help each other in the boat. For now we are working to build up the team. My dream is to win a medal in the Olympic Games, and this is what I am trying to achieve with Giulio. But for now I am enjoying the journey and trusting in the process."
Spain's Olympic bronze medal winner and world champion Jordi Xammar is relishing the challenge of a new partnership, now sailing with Marta Cardona. They underlined their potential by winning the first Finals race today but slumped to a 21st in the second, "it's our first major regatta so it's good to see where we are versus the fleet. We have trained only 20 days together maybe even less, so I think we're doing a good job. There are points where we can improve but the conditions are quite tricky. It feels very good being racing again after the Games. I feel I'm a bit rusty especially in the racing and decision making. The Sofia is probably the best event in the whole year so we're very happy to be racing here with this competitive fleet. This is my fourth campaign. That means I'm starting to get old, especially comparing with the new guys coming from behind. The next generation always improves the old one, I can see this with Marta. The level in 470 is very high and I'm looking forward to keep pushing hard and improving myself."
Two points behind the Italian lead are the British duo Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris while Germany's young partnership, Theresa Löffler and Christopher Hoerr move up to third overall.
Nacra 17
Runners up here to their teammates double Olympic champions Ruggero Tia and Caterina Banti last year Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Guibilei seem set to carry on the Italians' golden legacy. The two times Worlds silver medallists are seven points clear of the impressive, improved Chinese duo Huangcheng Zhao and Su Sha. Britain's 2020 Olympic silver medallists John Gimson and Anna Burnett are third.
"Sailing in those conditions is very hard," smiled Giubilei through her obvious exhaustion. "You have to move a lot on the downwinds, adjusting the gennaker all the time, it's very stressful and you can never give up."
As to why the Chinese are doing so well, better than we've seen in the Nacra 17, Ugolini could only speculate. "They are sailing so well, they must have been training hard, so well done to them, it's great to see.""Sailing in those conditions is very hard," smiled Giubilei through her obvious exhaustion. "You have to move a lot on the downwinds, adjusting the gennaker all the time, it's very stressful and you can never give up."As to why the Chinese are doing so well, better than we've seen in the Nacra 17, Ugolini could only speculate. "They are sailing so well, they must have been training hard, so well done to them, it's great to see."
"Sailing in those conditions is very hard," smiled Giubilei through her obvious exhaustion. "You have to move a lot on the downwinds, adjusting the gennaker all the time, it's very stressful and you can never give up."
As to why the Chinese are doing so well, better than we've seen in the Nacra 17, Ugolini could only speculate. "They are sailing so well, they must have been training hard, so well done to them, it's great to see."
The round up
In the 49er men's skiff it was the first day of gold fleet racing for the top 25 teams, but the rise in quality did nothing to break the impressive stride of German crew Richard Schultheis and Fabian Rieger. They sailed a solid four heats in light to moderate and very shifty breeze, rounding off the afternoon with a race win before heading back to the beach in Arenal.
France's reigning world champions Erwan Fischer and Clement Péquin are in second place and six points off the German lead. "It was exhausting for the muscles and the brain out there," said Pequin. "The fleet was very tight so we needed to make good decisions.
"In the first race we started badly and rounded the top mark in about 15th. We did a lot of gybes on the downwind, maybe around six, and we were third or fourth at the bottom, so that was a really good moment for us."
GBR's Freya Black and Saskia Tidey lead the 49er FX Women's skiffs. In the Men's Kites (Formula Kite Men) Austria's recently crowned Olympic champion Valentin Bontus has the better of Singapore's defending Sofia champion Max Maeder by two points after the first four Finals races whilst in the Women's division (Formula Kite Women) it is France's Lysa Caval who is one point ahead. The iQFOiL Men see Nico Goyard of France two points clear in the lead whilst bronze medallist Emma Wilson of GBR still leads the iQFOiL Women's regatta.
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.
Full results 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. See www.sailinggrandslam.com