For many sailors on the Olympic campaign trail towards Los Angeles 2028, the Bay of Palma is where the international competition begins. All 10 Olympic disciplines are represented at the 54th edition of the Trofeo Princesa Sofia, ranging from the traditional dinghies, through the skiffs and foiling catamaran, to the foiling board fleets in windsurfing and kiteboarding.
As Afloat reported earlier, an Irish team made up of 49er, and ILCA Olympic veterans, plus some new campaigns, will be competing.
Some are very familiar with this regatta, having competed many times before, while for other new faces the sight of more than 800 fellow competitors might be a little overwhelming. The newcomers will have to remind themselves that however intimidating it might feel, the fundamental skills of sailboat racing are still what matter the most. Looking at the weather forecast for the coming week, it seems likely that the Bay of Palma will throw a big range of challenges at the sailors: light winds and strong, flat water and big waves. The competition for the ten classes will start on Monday, 31 March, the first session of a five-day qualification programme to define the grid for the final series in which the Sofía 2025 champions will be decided on Saturday, 5 April.
Here’s a quick look at each of the 10 fleets and some of the interantional ones to watch...
470 Mixed
After stepping on every major podium in the lead-up to the Olympic Regatta, Jordi Xammar was favourite for gold at Paris 2024. However a disastrous medal race meant no reward for Xammar, although plenty of motivation for the Tokyo bronze medallist to get back on the campaign trail. Now he’s racing with new crew Marta Cardona, so the Spanish crew will be looking to see how their training has set them up against the more established teams such as Germany’s Olympic representatives Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort.
49er Men’s Skiff
The 2008 Olympic Champion Jonas Warrer just can’t stay away from 49er skiff racing. Having celebrated his 46th birthday earlier this month, the Dane is back out of retirement and competing this week with Mathias Sletten doing the hard work at the front of the boat. Reigning World Champions from France, Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin, are blisteringly quick once they stretch their legs, and it will be interesting to see how two other well-known French sailors are getting on with their new challenge. Former ILCA 7 World Champion and five-time Olympic representative in the hiking singlehander, Jean Baptiste Bernaz is now working hard to develop the necessary teamwork and high-speed boathandling on a 49er with another Olympian, Jeremie Mion, hopping out of the 470 and into the front of the skiff. Uruguay’s Hernan Umpierre and Fernando Diz are reigning European Champions and very hard to beat in the light winds.
49erFX Women’s Skiff
Jana Germani won here last year before taking third place at the 49erFX World Championship with former crew Giorgia Bertuzzi. Now she has teamed up with a 470 sailor, Bianca Caruso, so this Italian partnership will be working hard to finesse their teamwork and communications. Australia’s Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot were fifth at last year’s Worlds and are among the favourites to win this week, although top of the pile are probably the reigning European Champions from Belgium, Isaura Maenhauts and Anouk Geurts.
ILCA 7 training in the Bay of Palma ahead of the 54th edition of the Trofeo Princesa Sofia in Mallorca
ILCA 7 Men
Micky Beckett (GBR) has shown incredible mastery on the Bay of Palma in recent years, winning the title for three successive years. Can he make it a fourth this week? Narrowly missing out on a medal at Paris 2024, Beckett has a point to prove as he takes on a world-class fleet which includes double Olympic silver medallist Pavlos Kontides (CYP) - now embarking on his sixth Olympic cycle - and South American hero Stefano Peschiera who brought home a bronze for Peru at Paris 2024.
ILCA 6 Women
Following the retirement of Olympic Champion Marit Bouwmeester, Maxime Van Der Werken - Jonker has the pedigree to continue Dutch success in the women’s singlehander. Among her toughest opposition will be Line Flem Høst, Norway’s winner of an Olympic bronze last summer.
Formula Kite Men
Max Maeder has triumphed in almost everything in Formula Kite, the reigning World Champion having also won at the past two editions of the Trofeo Princesa Sofia, as well as being crowned outright winner in Palma two years ago. While the Olympic title was one of the few things to have eluded the Singaporean 18-year-old, Maeder will start as favourite against a hot fleet that includes the reigning Olympic Champion from Austria, Valentin Bontus. There’s also a strong entry from China including Olympic representative Qibin Huang.
Formula Kite Women
Since winning the Olympic title in women’s kiteboarding last summer, Ellie Aldridge has been mixing at the top of the grand prix racing world - being part of Great Britain’s entry into the Women’s America’s Cup and more recently training as a reserve sailor for the British SailGP crew. Now Aldridge is back on her board and ready to take on a competitive fleet that includes plenty of podium talent including Olympic bronze medallist Annelous Lammerts.
iQFOiL Men
All three Olympic medallists from Paris 2024 are back for more high-speed racing on the iQFOiL windsurfer: Tom Reuveny (ISR, gold) Grae Morris (AUS, silver) and Luc Van Opzeeland (NED, bronze).
iQFOiL Women
Olympic Champion Marta Maggetti is competing for Italy this week, although she knows that Olympic bronze medallist Emma Wilson (GBR) continues to show phenomenally consistent form in the women’s windsurfing.
Nacra 17: The foiling catamaran
After living in the shadow of Italy’s double Olympic Champions (Ruggero Tita and Catarina Banti) for so long, Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei will be keen to continue their country’s strong showing in this most technical of classes, the Nacra 17. John Gimson and Anna Burnet got married just a few weeks after so narrowly missing out on a medal at Paris 2024, and now the British couple are back on the campaign trail again, keen to improve on that Olympic silver from Tokyo 2020. Another medallist from Tokyo, but in the Finn singlehander, has moved into the Nacra 17 catamaran, Joan Cardona now sailing with Nicole van der Velden. Just last weekend these two were part of the winning Spanish crew at the SailGP event in San Francisco, competing on a giant F50 foiling catamaran. While the Nacra 17 isn’t as fast as an F50, it’s still a handful and it’s unlikely that Cardona and Van der Velden will be able to keep up with the pace setters quite so early in their partnership.
The event is part of the Sailing Grand Slam 2025, along with the Semaine Olympique Française, the Dutch Water Week, the Kieler Woche and the Long Beach Olympic Classes Regatta.
More information here
