The ORC European Championship kicked off on Monday in Palma de Mallorca as part of the 43rd Copa del Rey Mapfre with large fields. The light and changeable wind conditions made for close racing and intense tactical duels in all four ORC divisions. In the only race of the day, a significant wind shift required a course adjustment during the race. Later in the afternoon, a light drizzle brought the breeze to a standstill, forcing the race committee to cancel the planned second race.
Early Bird leads the ORC-C group
In the ORC C group (32 starters), the Cape 31 "Early Bird" of ClubSwan 50 world champion Hendrik Brandis lived up to its name on the 6.19 nautical mile course and secured the first victory of the European Championship in this group with a calculated time of 58:58 minutes.
"We had the right conditions for the Cape 31 today - as soon as there is enough wind, we can really take off on the downwind course," said Hendrik Brandis. "It's hard for heavier boats to keep up when we start planing at around 11 knots. Our crew is a well-coordinated group, mainly from our ClubSwan 50 programme, and we sailed with Cape 31s in Cape Town earlier this year, so we came here with a good foundation - and that clearly paid off today."
Second place went to Otto Pohlmann's "Meerblick", also a Cape 31, while "Jp Financial De", a Salona 37 with Jorge Martinez Doreste at the helm, took third place. With less than a minute separating second and fifth place, Class C is already shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable and fiercely contested divisions of the week.
There are three other German crews in this group, but they had to line up at the back of the pack at the start. Lothar Fichtner finished in 28th place with his LA 28 "La Luna", Bastian Majewski in 30th place with the First 34.7 "Likedeeler" and Jens Lichtblau in 31st place with the C&C 30 OD "Cleyne Keyser".
Close decision in the ORC 0 group
The opening race in the ORC 0 group (17 starters) delivered an exciting finale between the leading TP52 yachts on a 7.18 nautical mile course. "Blue", the TP52 of Bonfiglio Mariotti and skippered by Fabrizio Boromei, secured victory with a calculated time of 56:55 minutes.
Just seven seconds behind them, Mauro Gestri's "Vudu" and owner and helmsman Tomas Gasset's "Urbania" finished the race just 11 seconds behind in terms of calculated time, which emphasises the wafer-thin gaps in this elite fleet. "Spirit Of Malouen Xi" and "Vesper" followed closely behind, with just 16 seconds separating the top five boats. Despite a strong real-time performance, "Aifos", with Spain's King Felipe at the helm, finished in ninth place in the calculated time, just under two minutes behind the leaders.
The three German starters finished 8th (Sönke Meier-Sawatzki, ClubSwan 50 "Niramo"), 12th (Mark Bezner, ClubSwan 50 "Olymp") and 13th (Michael Berghorn, Mills 45 "Halbtrocken").
3rd place in the ClubSwan 42 fleet
In the ORC-A group (34 starters), only seconds separated the top contenders on the 7.34 nautical mile course. "Morgan V", the ClubSwan 42 of Nicola De Gemmis, took the win with a calculated time of 1:07:50. "Pez De Abril" of José María Meseguer finished just five seconds behind, while "Elena Nova" of Christian Plump followed a few seconds later in third place.
Other German starters here are Johannes Wackerhagen with the Knierim 49 "Desna" (18th place), Jan Oplander with the Swan 45 "Katima" (24th) and Heyden Seven with the Knierim 49 "Caro" (26th)
Narrow also in group ORC-B
In the ORC-B class (34 starters), "Guardamago", an Italia Yachts 11.98 skippered by Massimo Romeo Piparo, secured a convincing victory in the opening race, completing the 5.71 nautical mile course in a calculated time of 1:00:06. Just 22 seconds behind was "Bamak", a modified Sinergia 40 skippered by Rodrigo Vargas, in second place, while "Syone Panther", a Sinergia 40 skippered by Nuno Neves, came third, just 41 seconds behind the leader. The only German starter here is Finis Pit with the First 44 Performance "Alegria", which took 27th place in the first race.
