Teatro del Soho Caixabank starts Copa del Rey sailing race in unbeatable fashion

The wind came right on opening day of Spain's annual Copa del Rey MAPFRE sailing race, which helped the Malaga boat Teatro del Soho Caixabank get off to a sweeping start.

The fleet took to the water with a forecast of medium breezes from noon onwards, and the first race of the day took place just a few minutes after midday. The wind intensity ranged from 10 to 15 knots, which allowed the six classes to return to the boxes of the Real Club Náutico de Palma: three of three scheduled partials for the Majorica ORC and two of two for the ClubSwan monotypes.

The first leaders of the 41st Copa del Rey MAPFRE were: Palibex-Elena Nova (ESP) in Majorica ORC 1, Teatro Soho Caixabank (ESP) in Majorica ORC 2, Scugnizza (ITA) in Majorica ORC 3, Just the Job (GBR) in Majorica ORC 4, Moonlight (MON) in ClubSwan 50 and Pez de Abril (ESP) in ClubSwan 42.

In Majorica ORC 1, the best of the day was Javier Sanz's Palibex-Elena Nova (1+2+2), which leads by the minimum to Giovanni di Vincenzo's Lisa R (2+3+1). El Aifos of the Spanish Navy, skippered by King Felipe, is fourth after scoring a 3.5 (by tiebreaker with From Now On).

In Majorica ORC 2, a perfect day for the defending champion, the Teatro Soho Caixabank armed by Javier Banderas from Malaga and skippered by Daniel Cuevas. After three wins out of a possible three, the 2022 champion returned to port with no less than nine points ahead of its pursuer, the Reve de Vie of the Italian Ermano Galeati Pedro Gil (4+2+6).

In Majorica ORC 3, Italian Vincenzo de Blasio's Scugnizza also started the defence of its 2022 title in the lead (1+1+2). It was only beaten by the Laplaza Assesors of Barcelona's Alexandre Laplaza in the last race of the day.

Malaga representation

The Majorica ORC 4 fleet returned to port with a tie between the Just the Job of the British Scott Beattie (1+1+3) and the Ybarra-Befesa of Arturo Montes from Seville (2+2+1). Both maintained an intense duel throughout the opening day, only interrupted by Gonzalo Calvo's Lassal in the last leg. In this category, the Malaga boat of the Real Club Mediterráneo, MC Actives - Elamar, with Jorge de Torres Perea and José Antonio Moral, also started their competition. However, they suffered complications: they did not finish the first leg and did not reach the starting line of the second, finishing seventh.

Close of second day

The Malaga boat Teatro del Soho Caixabank on the second day of racing this Tuesday, 1 August, remains on course to revalidate its title. At the close of the day for the Majorica ORC 2 class, the boat skippered by Javier Banderas and Pedro Cuevas continued to lead the classification. Banderas, said of the team: "We are very happy with the results so far and it is true that the conditions are perfect for racing. We have done very well with five victories in five regattas held, but, as they say in other sports, this is won game by game. The important thing is to be up there on Saturday." Although the man from Malaga is cautious, it should be noted that the gap with respect to the second-placed boat is wide at the moment (+20 points over Saring Sisters).