The third day of action on the Bay of Palma proved that life is becoming no more straightforward for the 1,100 athletes competing at the 55th Trofeo Princesa Sofía.
“Heads out of the boat” is a well-worn cliché in competitive sailing, yet it was the phrase on everyone’s lips after a mind-bending and chaotic day on the Mallorcan waters.
With a new race format being trialed for the first time, the sailors have entered an elimination series where points are compressed. This move to single points means the competition remains wide open; with as many as six races still potentially to be sailed, there is effectively half a regatta left to play for.
No one has yet mastered the vagaries of the bay in the ILCA 7 fleet, but Bermuda’s Sebastian Kempe made significant progress during the afternoon.
Kempe climbed four places in the overall standings to sit in 28th position with 56 points. His ascent came courtesy of two demanding races, recovering from a 31st-place finish in the opening heat to cross the line 24th in the second.
In the ILCA 6 single-hander, Ireland’s Eve McMahon holds the lead, but it was a more turbulent day for Adriana Penruddocke.
The Bermudian experienced the extreme highs and lows of the Mallorcan winds:
- Race 1: A spectacular second-place finish.
- Race 2: A difficult 36th-place crossing.
Those mixed results caused Penruddocke to fall 15 places on the leaderboard, ending the day in 17th position with 38 net points. With the new format in play, she remains firmly in the hunt as the regatta enters its decisive phase.
