ORC European Championship: "Earlybirds" take European Championship silver in the Cape after World Championship Swan gold

At the 43. The ORC European Championship came to an end this weekend in the most beautiful sailing conditions at the 6th Copa del Rey Mapfre. GER boats won two silver medals out of 117 boats in four divisions. The best sailing conditions made for a beautiful finale in the bay of Palma. Three titles were decided in the last race.

For the second time in a row, a non-European yacht has won an ORC European Championship in the largest Class 0: David Team's Botin-TP52 "Vesper" - once TP52 world champion as "Quantum Racing" - confidently took the gold with just 16.50 points under the US flag. Experienced tactician Morgan Larson was partly responsible for this success. After finishing fifth at the start, the boat with sail number USA 52007 only took first, second or third place in a total of nine races.

ORC European Championship off Palma: "We are here to sail"

The winner, David Team, was correspondingly enthusiastic, raving after the final: "This is my first time here. It's my first race this season in the Mediterranean after La Giraglia. This is great! We've been racing in the USA for five or six years, in Newport, Rhode Island, on the West Coast and in Florida. We decided to try something new and gain some nice experience in Europe."

The current winning luck at the ORC European Championship as part of the 43rd Copa del Rey Mapfre is certainly one of them. David Team explained: "We went out today and just sailed as if everyone was equal on points - and secured the win. We thought about not doing the second race so as not to affect anyone, but I said: 'We're here to sail'. It's fantastic to win here."

David Team also had warm words for the regatta itself: "It's such a prestigious regatta and the field is fantastic with the number of boats, much better than in the USA. The race management and atmosphere were really first class. And I think we're going to meet the king tonight, which will be cool. We'll definitely be back, maybe not next year, maybe not with this boat, but we'll be back."

TP52 superiority in ORC 0

A total of nine TP52 rockets made it into the top ten. They barely gave the other designs a chance at these European title fights. The Italian TP52 "Blue" (30.50 points) by Fabrizio Boromel and the French TP52 "Paprec" (32 points) by Stephane Neve sailed into second place at the European Championships, well behind the winner. The Spanish TP52 "Aifos", designed in 2005, sailed to fifth place with the Spanish King Felipe VI.

The only non-TP52 among the top ten ORC 0 boats was Tomas Gasset's Soto 52 "Urbania". The two German ClubSwan 50 Swans - Sönke Meier-Swatzki's "Niramo" and Mark Bezner's "Olymp" - were unable to really stand up to the TPs in Class 0 in the given conditions, finishing the ORC European Championship in 11th and 14th place, with Michael Berghorn's Mills 45 "Halbtrocken 4.5" in between.

However, two German boats made it onto the podium at the ORC European Championship in the Bay of Palma. Christian Plump's ClubSwan 42 "Elena Nova" catapulted itself into second place behind the Spanish DK 46 "Estrella Damm Sailing Team" with skipper and Olympic champion Luis Martinez Doreste after a strong start and a weak final day in the final of ORC class A with third place and a win on the day. The "Elena Nova" team finished one point ahead of the other DK 46 "Hydra-HM Hospitales" in bronze.

"Earlybirds" win silver at the ORC European Championships

The other seven places in the top ten of the ORC A fleet were taken by five ClubSwan 42s and two Swan 45s. Jan Opländer's Swan 45 "Katima" was the second best German boat in 18th place, followed by Johannes Wackerhagen's Knierim 49 "Desna" in 23rd place and Tim Ross' second Knierim 49 "Caro" in 27th place.

In ORC B, Pit Finis' First 44 "Alegria" was the only German yacht in the ORC European Championship, sailing to 27th place. The European Championship title was secured by Mati Sepp's crew on the Estonian X-41 "Technonicol" ahead of the Italian class sister "Sideracordis" and their compatriots on the Italia 11.98 ""Guardamago". Ott Kikka's often successful Italia 11.98 "Sugar 3" missed the ORC European Championship podium in Division B by one point this time.

With the second German silver medal, Hendrik Brandis and his crew showed how successful downsizing works. They have just won the ClubSwan 50 World Championship. Now they have added silver with the Cape 31 at the ORC European Championship. Out of 32 ORC-C boats, only Antonio Porres' Vrolijk 37 with the Nunoto Cafiver Sailing Team from Spain was better. Piero Biasi's Italia 9.98 "Sarchiapone Fuoriserie" won bronze in the smallest division.

The results for all four classes of the ORC European Championship can be found here. The 44th Copa del Rey Mapfre will take place from 1 to 8 August 2026.