54th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by FERGUS - Day 4
by Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía 3 Apr 20:32 BST
28 March - 5 April 2025
iQFOiL Women's fleet - 54th Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by FERGUS, Day 4 © Sailing Energy / Trofeo Princesa Sofía
Coming as it does as the first major all-classes regatta after the Paris 2024 Olympics, the huge 54 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by FERGUS Hotels sailing regatta represents the perfect opportunity to rebuild dented confidence - and perhaps pride, even - to shake off the rust and get the competitive back. And the brisk, shifty offshore breezes today, up to 17kts on this fourth day of racing, were the perfect physical and cerebral challenge.
Among those who, after an altogether underwhelming home waters Olympics, have rediscovered their mojo again on the sun drenched, breezy Bay of Palma, are the normally cheery French duo Erwan Fischer and Clement Péquin. The duo came here last year with high hopes having just been crowned 49er World Champions, but a substandard Sofía was followed by a 12th in the fickle winds of Marseille at the Olympics.
But after just the kind of breezy, shifty day on the water that they like Fischer and Péquin stand 24 points cleat ahead at the top of the 49er standings.
It is already a good start to the season for the duo who spent their winter training not on Lanzarote or off Vilamoura but with their extensive young 49er squad on Brittany's beautiful but decidedly chilly Bay of Quiberon.
And as a reminder of what life away from sailing may hold if the Olympic medals don't come, crew Péquin spent time not practicing start line timing, but scheduling train departures and arrivals at his local station in La Rochelle as he fulfilled a commitment to a sponsor.
"We sailed really well today. We tried to keep sailing on the good shift and in the good pressure as well. If you just sailed the shift it was not enough to pass boats. It was very tricky today. But overall I think we are sailing well, we are sailing fast and working well together on the boat, it is nice to sail like this. I think we are in a good position now." Péquin explains,
"We have a big group and that means we improved a lot, doing a lot, a lot of laps, many many starts and we all improve together. It was very, very cold in Brittany in the winter but the youth squad are doing so well and profiting."
"We took five months off way from the 49er. We sailed the ETF multihull with Tim Mourniac and did some other sponsor sailing on Grand Surprises out of La Rochelle. It was all fun." He adds, "I started working as it is hard to live off just Olympic sailing and so I was working in the train station in La Rochelle, I have a contract with them, they help me a lot in our project and so I have to do 50 days a year with them. I am the manager of the guys who are doing the departures and arrivals of the trains, a world I knew nothing about!"
The French duo seem to have their programme back on the rails, on track here to win the class as they did in 2002, but are being pursued hard by the new German partnership 19 year old Richard Schultheis and Fabien Rieger in second. In the 49er FX the GBR duo Freya Black and Saskia Tidey still lead after a 6,7,3,9 today.
In the ILCA 7 class Brit Micky Beckett had his leading margin trimmed by his compatriot Elliot Hanson who was a little better in the 15-18kts NE'ly offshore wind. Beckett is on course for his fourth Palma win in a row, standing 11 points clear of Hanson. Top scorer in the ILCA 7 today was the Netherlands Duo Bos who won Race 7 whilst Cyprus double silver medallist Pavlos Kontides won the second race.
"It was windy and offshore. The gap has narrowed a bit to Elliot but I am really enjoying it, though my legs are tired. I like the sailing here, it always, always demands an ability to sail well in all conditions from the windy stuff to the light, erratic stuff and that suits me. I am good at everything rather than outstanding in one area." Was Beckett's evaluation today.
Like Beckett, Hungary's 2023 ILCA 6 World Champion Maria Erdi is at home on the Bay of Palma having also won the ILCA 6 class last year. She took the class lead today after winning the first race. So too Max Maeder, Singapore's Olympic bronze medallist, the defending Sofía champion in the Men's Formula Kite returned to the top of the rankings, counting three first places and a second to leave Austria's gold medallist Valentin Bontus in the shade, 19 points behind.
"I have been practicing my starts over the winter and that is helping, I look ahead at the course and try and judge where the wind is coming. I am no expert sailor at all so the good starts I have been practicing is helping, and good speed is helpful. I have been doing a lot of work on my technical set up and speed, and this is the time you put in in the gym, you have the gym work the equipment tuning the better starts, all these things are working right now." Said Maeder today.
In the Women's Formula Kite China's athletes remain very impressive in the breeze, holding all three top positions, Wan Li leading.
German 470 Olympians Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort are another duo who are bouncing back hard after a sub par Marseille performance. They pipped GBR's series leaders Martin Wrigley and Bettina Harris at the finish line to win the first breezy race today, sixth in the second race the Germans are pressing nine points behind the Brits with one more day of fleet racing to go.
"Conditions were great, Palma Bay, sunshine, 16kts, great for full ripping in the 470, it was a but tricky, big shifts and gusts. We have a short season now with the worlds in June, we only got back in the boat in February and so just got the system running again, we did some manoeuvres, some straight lines and here we are." Diesch said.
Italy's Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei have a five points margin at the head of the Nacra 17 fleet.
Featured Class iQFOiL
The iQFOiL windsurfing athletes have been getting to grips with their new, smaller rigs this season. The women are now using 7.3 square metre sails compared with 8.0 square metres in the Paris 2024 cycle.
British athlete Emma Wilson was already going fast on the older equipment, winding up a very successful Paris cycle with an Olympic bronze medal. But she's enjoying the smaller rig even more.
Stepping ashore in Portixol this afternoon after four breezy races on Palma Bay, the 25-year-old commented: "We had a decent offshore breeze, shifty, gusty, quite tricky and the windiest so far this week. I love racing with this new rig, the 7.3 suits me quite well." With scores of 2,2,1,1, Wilson further extends her lead in the competition. She sits on 19 points compared with China's Zheng Yan in second on 41 points, and New Zealand's Veerle Ten Have in third on 55 points.
Ten Have's position in the fleet is particularly impressive considering she's only been back on the board for less than a month after spending seven months taking a break from competition after Paris 2024. "It's really good to be back, this is a great competition to check in on the fleet and catch up with friends again," said the New Zealander. "There's a lot of new girls in the fleet which is great to see. I'm only 24 but I'm starting to feel like one of the old ones!"
As for the new equipment: "I'm really liking the new rig, and because it's smaller we're having to work a lot harder in the sub-10 knot winds. It's going to be much more demanding aerobically than what we experienced in the last cycle."
After taking quite a bit of time out since winning a silver medal last July at the Olympic Regatta 21-year-old Australian Grae Morris is happy to be back on the iQFOiL board again. "It's what I've done pretty much all my life, so it's my happy place," he said. Today in the strong breeze was certainly Morris's happy place as he surged to scores of 1,1,11,3 to take a 34-point lead over Italy's Nicola Renna in second place. Just a point behind Renna in third is Johan Søe from Norway.
Morris is enjoying getting back into the white heat of international competition. "It's been a while since the Games, so great to be back in Palma and discover the big fleet again. I've been up and down the bibs this week, started with yellow, then in the red, and back in yellow again after today. I've been feeling a bit rusty but been doing this my whole life so it's starting to come back to me again."
After racing the last cycle with a 9.0 square metre sail, the men are this time using 8.0 square metres, the same as the women were using for Paris 2024. "We've been buying some secondhand rigs off the girls now that they're on the new 7.3 square metre, but I'm not thinking too much about the change. I'm pretty much using the kit the same way as before."
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.
Event website: 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.