A breath of fresh air for the Copa del Rey MAPFRE

The 42nd edition of the Real Club Náutico de Palma's regatta will include a number of new features including the dates and format of the competition, as well as the points system for classifications. In regard to the participating classes, the one design classes ClubSwan 50, ClubSwan 42, J70 and Women's Cup will continue as well as the four ORC categories in the handicap classes.

Five days of competition and one training regatta

The Copa del Rey MAPFRE will have a practice race on Monday 29th July and the following five days of competition. The regatta officially begins on Sunday 28th July with the registration and measurement checks, and will conclude on Saturday 3rd August. Racing will take place between Tuesday and Saturday for the ORC and ClubSwan classes, whilst the J70 and the Women's Cup, exclusively for women, will sail from Wednesday to Saturday. As was the case in last year's event, all the races will start from 12h00 onwards.

Coastal race for the ORC

As usual, all the classes will race in a windward—leeward format. In 2024 the organization will once again host the coastal race, as it was organized in the 41st edition in 2023. The ORC division is counting down to the 2025 European Championships, where it will have two days of coastal racing and three days with W/L races.

"We are fully evolving the format of the event as we head towards 2025," explained Manuel Fraga, director of the Copa del Rey MAPFRE, "so the ORC can become the living pulse of the regatta over the next few years."

Changes to the points system

The Copa del Rey MAPFRE will continue to have a Preliminary Series and a Final Series.

The Preliminary Series will be made up of six races that take place from Tuesday 30th to Thursday 1st August (31st July to 1st August for the J70 class). The Final Series will include four races for the ORC and ClubSwan one designs, and six for the J70s.

If by Thursday 1st August any one outstanding class has not completed a minimum of four races, the Preliminary Series will be extended to Friday 2nd August. If by 2nd August, the mínimum of four races has still not been completed, there will not be Final Series.

The total points calculated for each boat, will be the sum of the total number of points, except where there have been four or more races, where each team's points will be the total number of all points, and allow the discard of the worst result. The races in the Final Series will not have the discard option and will have a coefficient of 1.5.

Therefore, the new feature of this year's edition of the event, in comparison to previous years, is that when beginning the Final Series, the total points of each boat will not be the position which they start with (i.e, first place with one point, second two points, third place, three points etc.) but the total sum of all points accumulated in the Preliminary Series including one race discarded.

The forerunner to the J70 World Championships

The Copa del Rey MAPFRE will offer further motivation for the world's fastest growing one design class, the J70, from whom the event expects important registration numbers; just one month ahead of the first of the World Championship events.

"The regatta continues to be multiclass and includes three extremely competitive classes: the two ClubSwan 42 and 50 ft, as well as the J70s that have the event as a precursor to the World Championships, to be held at the club in mid-September.", Manuel Fraga points out.

The Notice of Race for the 42nd edition of the Copa del Rey MAPFRE will be published today and will include the aforementioned changes.

The 42nd Copa del Rey MAPFRE is organised by the Real Club Náutico de Palma (RCNP) and the Real Federación Española de Vela (RFEV, lit. Spanish Royal Sailing Federation), and sponsored by MAPFRE, with the institutional sponsorship of the Govern de les Illes Balears (Balearic Islands government), the Hon. Ayuntamiento de Palma (Palma Town Hall), and the collaboration of the Autoritat Portuaria de Balears (Balearic Islands Port Authority) and the Federación Balear de Vela (Balearic Islands Sailing Federation).