Record participation numbers and a new format for the Women's Cup in the Copa del Rey MAPFRE
by Copa del Rey MAPFRE 26 Jul 02:57 PDT
27 July - 3 August 2024
Women's Cup in the Copa del Rey MAPFRE © María Muiña / Copa del Rey MAPFRE
Sailing the One Design Blusail 24, supplied by the organization, and with a 'Round Robin' format, this year's all-female class at the Copa del Rey MAPFRE has beaten its own participation record with 14 crews entered.
This year's Copa del Rey MAPFRE celebrates five editions of the Women's Cup, a special feature added to the event in 2019. The all-female class organized as part of the Real Club Náutico de Palma's regatta became an important part of the competition, clearly vouching for women's sailing, and in 2024, the 42nd edition of the Mediterranean's prime event, it comes with a new competitive format.
As announced in February's Notice of Race, the One Design Blusail 24 is the One Design boat provided by the organization for the competition, a decision which has significantly reduced expenses and facilitated logistics for the female crews. Likewise, it is no coincidence that for the new edition of the Women's Cup, they have beaten their own participation numbers.
14 teams and four intense days of 'Round Robin' racing
Monday 29th and Tuesday 30th July will be reserved as registration and training days for the teams, whilst the first race will take place on Wednesday 31st July. Many of the teams who have participated in the previous editions of the race will be back to fight for trophy honours.
Among the 14 crews entered in this year's event, Nuria Sánchez's "Clínicas Dorsia," the winners of the Copa del Rey MAPFRE in 2021 and Patricia Suárez's "Citanias," second place in the last two editions will be back to race alongside the most recent winners, María Bover's "Team Balearia RCNP."
"We are really looking forward to this year's competition and are particularly excited as it will be completely different to previous years," explained Bover, who having claimed the title in the last two events is the clear favourite for the Copa title.
"The level is extremely high, so as always, we are really motivated and enthusiastic to be back."
The competition format will also be different for this new Women's Cup. The teams will be fighting for the title in a 'Round Robin' format, racing amongst each other as a fleet, and with an eliminatory method until the Final.
"The format means that the races are shorter and much more intense. Very often the winners are not decided until the very last race, and that makes all the races really exciting. The Round Robin format is made up of six boats per race, so the points will be very close," affirmed the skipper from Mallorca.
Four days of competition will decide the new winners of the Copa del Rey MAPFRE.
The 42nd edition of the Copa del Rey MAPFRE is organized by the Real Club Náutico de Palma (RCNP) under the delegation of the Real Federación Española de Vela (RFEV) (lit. Spanish Royal Sailing Federation). The event is sponsored by MAPFRE and receives the institutional sponsorship of the Govern de les Illes Balears (lit. Balearic Islands government), the Ayuntamiento de Palma (lit. Palm Town Hall) and with the collaboration of the Autoritat Portuaria de Balears (lit. Balearic Islands Port Authority) and the Federación Balear de Vela (lit. Balearic Islands Sailing Federation).