For any yachting enthusiast Mallorca is the place to be during the ‘Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre’. Every year an impressive fleet travels to the Real Club Nautico de Palma to fight for ‘The King’s Cup’. With races in several exciting classes, the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre boasts an unrivalled weeklong programme filled with pure sailing action. It is a truly royal regatta.
The action kicked off today with two windward-leeward races in 10 knots of breeze which started just thirty minutes after schedule due to lack of wind. Bronenosec competes in a highly competitive IRC 1 Class including two well-established Swan yachts, Swan 60 Emma and Swan 601 @robas. Gazprom sponsored Bronenosec posted a 7th and 9th in the two races today respectively putting them in a respectable 7th overall.
Vladimir Liubomirov, Commodore, Saint Petersburg Yacht Club, talks about how on-shore team bonding has played a crucial part in forming a solid team unit that has seen the newly formed team progress since their debut at PalmaVela back in April:
“When I started skippering the Swan 60 in Maxi-regattas, I experienced a new excitement during the races. At first, it was strange working with such a big crew and understanding how their cohesiveness as a team defines the performance of the boat. Tommaso Chieffi, the crew and I have worked a lot on shore to create a good, strong team that operates the boat in an almost mechanical way. This motivates me, and I hope it motivates the crew too.”
He also commented on the attraction of coming to the island of Mallorca:
“Palma has ideal sailing conditions. You can have quite different winds during the week. I also enjoy the hospitality of Real Club Nautico de Palma; it’s a great yacht club.”
After the racing, Tommaso Chieffi, skipper on Bronenosec, commented:
“It was a good day especially in the first race where it was very close with Emma. We had a couple of close encounters with her which could have resulted in protests but we decided to keep it friendly. We had a great start in the 2nd race as we were first over the line. We pushed Emma over the line so she had to return but a wind shift evened the fleet out again and they had an eventual win over us. We are much more competitive compared to the first time we raced in Palma just a few months back which is good to see.”