The Sailing World Cup comes back to Spain with the Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia Mapfre

The 41 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofía Mapfre will welcome around 680 boats and 1,000 sailors from 40 nations in the bay of Palma. In this second year of the ISAF Sailing World Cup, the Sofía Mapfre opens the sailing season in Europe and will be the debut of the Women’s Match Racing as Olympic class on board Elliot 6m in Spain.

The event was presented today in Mapfre’s offices in Palma with the attendance, among others, of Diego González, delegate of Presidency of the Govern de les Illes Balears; Vicens Torres, general manager for Tourism promotion of the Govern de les Illes Balears; Mª Isabel González Sports councillor of Palma city council; Josefina Ramis delegate of Sports, Youth and Equality from the Consell de Mallorca; Ramón Socías, delegate of the Govern de les Illes Balears; Teófilo Domínguez manager of Mapfre Baleares and Jaume Carbonell, General manager of the Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofía Mapfre.

This edition will see the debut of the Women’s Match Racing on board the Elliott 6m. This new discipline joins the other Olympic classes, all of them present this year in the event: 470 men and women, RS:X men and women, Laser Standard, Laser Radial, Star, Finn and 49er. The fleet of 2.4mR Paralympics class is also back after their first participation last year as well as the Dragons, as invited class

The ISAF Sailing World Cup arrives in Europe with the 41 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofía Mapfre following the SWC events in Melbourne, December and Miami, in January and opening the European sailing season.

In this edition, the RS:X move from CMSAP to Club Nàutic S’Arenal that will be the venue of six Olympic classes with an impressive 15,000sqm area on the beach next to the Club.

In the presentation act, the event’s general manager, Jaume Carbonell, highlighted the increase in the number of entries and pointed out “the “countdown to the London 2012 Olympics starts now for many nations and the Princesa Sofia Mapfre is a selection event for many national Olympic teams so we are guaranteed a great sailing competition”.

The delegate of Presidency of the Govern de les Illes Balears, Diego González, congratulated the organisation for their effort and professional work and Mapfre for their support and assured that “the Govern wishes to reinforce such an important event for the islands so that the bay of Palma can be the point of reference of Olympic sailing”. On the other hand, the manager of Mapfre Baleares, Teófilo Domínguez, affirmed “we are very proud to sponsor for fifth consecutive year one the most important sailing events in the world. Sailing is Mapfre’s flagship and I am convinced it will be a full success thanks to the enthusiasm and work of the people in the organisation”.

The 41 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofía Mapfre will be held in Mallorca from 27 March to 2 April, organised by four clubs of the bay of Palma (Club Nàutic S’Arenal, Real Club Náutico de Palma, Club Marítimo San Antonio de la Playa and Escuela Nacional de Vela Calanova), as well as the Real Federación Española de Vela and the Federación Balear de Vela, together with the Govern de les Illes Balears, the Consell de Mallorca and Palma and Llucmajor city councils. The collaborators of the Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofía Mapfre are the Consejo Superior de Deportes, the Federación Española de Deportes de Personas con Discapacidad Física, the Ports Authority, Ports de les Illes Balears, the coastal department of the Ministry of Environment and companies Ultramar Express and Acciona.

2010 Trofeo Princesa Sofia MAPFRE – Women’s Match Racing Competitors

Skipper (Country), [ISAF Ranking as of 10-Feb-2010]:

Lucy MACGREGOR (GBR), [ISAF Rank = 1];
Claire LEROY (FRA), [2];
Nicky SOUTER (AUS), [3];
Katie SPITHILL (AUS), [4];
Silke HAHLBROCK (GER), [5];
Anne-claire LE BERRE (FRA), [6];
Julie BOSSARD (FRA), [7];
Anna TUNNICLIFFE (USA), [8];
Anna KJELLBERG (SWE), [9];
Lotte MELDGAARD (DEN), [10];
Renee GROENEVELD (NED), [14];
Sally BARKOW (USA), [16];
Ekaterina SKUDINA (RUS), [30];
Silvia ROCA (ESP), [32];
Susanne WARD (DEN), [34];
Margarita CAMESELLE (ESP), [43];
Mary ROOK (GBR), [45];
Ekaterina KUTOVAYA (RUS), [64];
Vesna DEKLEVA (SLO), [66];
Sofia BEKATOROU (GRE), [72];
Trine ABRAHAMSEN (DEN), [81];
Mandy MULDER (NED), [91];
Tamara ECHEGOYEN (ESP), [180];
Dorte JENSEN (DEN), [n/a].

For more information, visit the official event website: www.trofeoprincesasofia.org or the WIMRA regatta page: www.wimra.org/regatta_detail