Palma has given us another year of challenging conditions. We have had a little of everything for racing conditions and the forecasts have been consistently wrong. In the first day of the qualifying series, each fleet was only able to get one race off. The women started off the racing in strong winds that were slowly dropping and increasingly gusty. Several women in both fleets were timed out. The second race for the yellow fleet was abandoned as the wind shut off. The women were sent in as the wind refused to settle and finally died. The men were sent out a few hours later as the breeze started to build. The breeze consistently built throughout the first race, culminating in a 40 knot gust that took out the majority of the men’s yellow fleet. Both fleets completed their races, but only eight men in the yellow fleet were able to finish the race.
The second day the fleets stayed the same as prescribed in the sailing instructions. The men had a long day on the water looking for wind, but eventually got their three races off. For the women, it was a late night. They were sent out at five and came back around seven thirty. The wind was onshore and the race committee was able to do a great job of firing off three races quickly so that we were back on schedule for day three.
The final series started on Wednesday splitting the fleet into gold and silver after never having changed the yellow and blue fleet assignments. We were forecasted to have light wind with some rain and then a new breeze to fill in, but instead we had offshore winds that gave us two more planing races.
Medal Races brought the 46th edition of the Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofia IBEROSTAR to the close on Saturday 4 April.
Kiran Badloe (NED) had been gnawing day after day at the points safety margin that separates him from leader Julien Bontemps (FRA). Today he inflicted the killer blow, winning the medal race and the title on equal points with the World Champion.
” I am very happy with the win. During the week, results were ok but the sailing is not perfect yet. I started poorly a few times. But with my speed and some smart sailing I could recover nicely. You have to realise the Polish and most of the French are not here including Dorian, so a number of tough competitors are missing. I am very happy with the progress we made last winter in New Zealand. Some of it is paying off now!”
1. Kiran Badloe (NED)
2. Julien Bontemps (FRA)
3. Sebastien Fleischer (DEN)
Female RS:X World Champion, Charline Picon (FRA) is securing yet another event victory and is continuing on her good form. Lilian de Geus (NED) conserves her earlier second place while Eugenie Ricard (FRA) climbs to third overall.
1. Charline Picon (FRA)
2. Lilian De Geus (NED)
3. Eugenie Ricard (FRA)
