LIGHT, SHIFTY WINDS AFFECT THE OPENING DAY PROGRAMME AT 52 TROFEO PRINCESA SOFIA
03 Apr 2023No races for the 470 Mixed fleet.
After Mallorca had delivered more than two weeks of great winds and weather which were perfect for pre-regatta training, the 1259 athletes from 66 nations at the 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Olympic classes regatta had to endure an ultimately frustrating opening day of unsettled, changeable winds which badly affected the scheduled programme.
Racing was scheduled for the ILCA 6 and 7 fleets, the 470 Mixed and the Men’s and Women’s iQFOiL fleets. But only one part of the Men’s iQFOiL fleet managed to complete two races and the Men's ILCA 7 Yellow fleet finished one qualifying heat.
After an initial delay in the morning waiting until the offshore gradient breeze dissipated, the southerly winds did come in, puffing up to more than 12kts at times. It all looked very promising. But the thermal breeze could not sustain itself and the foiling windsurfers suffered a long, slow, semi-sunken drift back to Can Pastilla.
A period of rain during the mid-afternoon did all it could to dampen the enthusiasm at this huge, 2023 curtain-up gathering of all ten Olympic classes which will compete at the 2024 Olympic regatta in Marseille.
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Nonetheless this critical, highly competitive Olympic classes pointer is now under way. Tuesday should see the other fleets join the fray when the full magnitude of this record breaking entry should be evident with competition over all eight course areas.
The 52 Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía Mallorca by Iberostar is the first qualifying event for the Sailing World Cup 2023 and will be held from 29 March to 8 April under the joint organisation of 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 backing of World Sailing and the main Balearic public institutions. It is funded by the European Union Next Generation EU, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and the Balearic Islands Tourism Strategy Agency.
Results
Source: trofeoprincesasofia.org