As the 34th Princess Sofia Trophy concluded, RYA Team GBR left Palma with four silver and two gold medals from the first major international Olympic classes regatta of the year.

After recent success at the Barcelona regatta, Olympic champion Shirley Robertson, sailing with Inga Leask and Sarah Ayton, continued her good form and won the regatta by six points from the Danish trio of Jensen/Jespersen/Kiel with worlds silver medallists Schuemann/Buell/Lippert of Germany finishing in third place.

Gold also went to Team GBR Mistral sailor Nick Dempsey who sailed an excellent series scoring four first places, and only two results outside the top five, to win by three points from worlds bronze medallist Julien Bontemps of France. Team Mate Dom Tidey finished in eleventh place overall.

World and European champion Ben Ainslie enjoyed a close battle with Sebastien Godefroid of Belgium all week in the Finn class, finishing in second place overall and thirteen points in front of Mateusz Kusznierewicz of Poland in third.

The top places in the Laser class continued to change throughout the week with Team GBR sailor and worlds bronze medallist Paul Goodison leading going into the final day. In the light 5-7 knot conditions Daniel Birgmark of Sweden showed good speed and finished the day two points in front of Goodison to take gold. Points were close with world silver medallist Karl Suneson from Sweden finishing three points behind to take the bronze.

In the 24 boat Star class, World champions and Team GBR sailors Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell put in a good performance to score four first places throughout the week, but European champions Fredrik Loof/Anders Ekstrom from Sweden bettered it by scoring only two results out of the top three winning gold with Percy and Mitchell taking the silver medal.

With 56 boats in the Tornado class the competition was tough but after five days it was world champion Darren Bundock sailing with Glen Ashby who took the gold with the British pairing of Hugh Styles and Adam May sailing well to finish in second place overall. Worlds bronze medallist Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen from the Netherlands finished in third place. Fellow British sailors Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley finished in sixth place overall.

Other good Team GBR performances were put in by Paul Brotherton sailing with Mark Asquith in the 49er class who finished fourth with team mates Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks finishing two places behind in sixth. Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield finishes sixth in the 470 class and Bryony Shaw matched this to finish sixth in the women’s Mistral class.

RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park commented, “I am very pleased for Shirley and her team who consolidated their success from last week. This regatta didn’t all go her way as she had a problem with the main halyard, which meant that the mainsail came down twice during racing, but she managed to keep a steady head and sailed well on the final day of the regatta.” He continued, “Nick Dempsey has remained very focused and is very clear about his goal – improving his light airs sailing. This result is very well deserved.”

The next regatta for the Olympic class sailors is Hyeres Regatta, France, which takes place from 27 April to 2 May.

Overall Results

470 Men – 66

1, Matthew Belcher/Dan Belcher, AUS (3,5,(10),8,3,1,1,5,6) 32 pts

2, Benjamin Bonnaud/Romain Bonnaud, FRA ((10),2,7,1,5,2,8,6,2) 33 pts

3, Alvaro Marinho/Miguel Nunes, POR (6,2,7,1,5,(DNF),3,1,9) 34 pts

GBR

6, Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield (14,1,1,7,6,4,10,10,(22)) 53 pts

10, Graham Vials/Bevis Field (6,9,9,2,1,13,10,11,(20)) 61 pts

19, Mark Plummer/Oliver Hawkley (20,17,3,5,8,8,7,(29),12) 80 pts

33, John Pink/John Gimson (27,31,18,13,11,15,11,(32),28) 154 pts

37, Nick Asher/Elliot Willis (18,11,24,20,18,19,(DNC),1,3) 114 pts

470 Women – 37

1, Jenny Armstrong /Belinda Stowell, AUS ((19),2,2,7,2,1,3,5,7) 29 pts

2, Natalia Via-Dufresne/Sandra Azón, ESP (1,(16),5,2,3,7,2,4,5) 29 pts

3, Therese Torgersson/Vendela Zachrisson, SWE (2,4,4,10,10,11,4,6,(19)) 51 pts

GBR

9, Josie Gibson/Saskia Clark (8,15,10,(25),11,21,11,8,3) 87 pts

10, Christina Bassadone/Katherine Hopson (3,24,7,6,(DSQ),8,13,15,18) 94 pts

18, Helena Lucas/Jenny Heeley (12,3,18,9,27,23,22,20,21) 128 pts

34, Libby Greenhalgh/Rachel Larmen (27,30,29,33,31,31,29,31,28) 236 pts

49er – 60

1, Santiago Lopez-Vazquez/Javier de la Plaza, ESP (1,3,1,5,4,4,(18),16,2,2) 38 pts

2, Iker Martinez de Lizarduy Lizarribar/Xabier Fernandez, ESP (16,1,2,6,3,10,4,3,23,4) 49 pts

3, Rodion Luka/George Leonchuk, UKR (2,5,2,3,RDG,10,9,7,(20),7) 49.4 pts

GBR

4, Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith (11,4,10,3,13,2,(16),6,1,3) 53 pts

6, Chris Draper/Simon Hiscocks (4,15,4,1,(16),6,22,2,16,9) 73 pts

14, Stevie Morrison/Ben Rhodes (5,1,10,10,10,(20),11,19,10,17) 93 pts

41, Alister Richardson/Peter Greenhalgh (13,19,20,21,14,9,20,11,5) 116 pts

49, Ben McGrane/Jonathan Clegg ((28),8,16,24,22,22,24,19,19) 154 pts

Europe – 120

1, Sari Multala, FIN (17,1,3,1,2,3,1,37,2,3) 33 pts

2, Carolijn Brouwer, NED (10,15,1,1,2,1,4,2,5,10) 36 pts

3, Siren Sundby, NOR (12,1,5,6,4,2,12,5,4,1) 40 pts

GBR

23, Laura Baldwin (24,16,6,3,10,19,8,44,(OCS),14) 144 pts

27, Andrea Brewster (15,(OCS),17,12,4,32,20,32,16,9) 157 pts

40, Kirsty Bonar (4,6,17,14,10,24,12,(DNC),DNC,DNC) 209 pts

54, Nicky Muller (42,17,21,18,23,18,30,41,41,44) 251 pts

Finn – 62

1, Sebastien Godefroid, BEL ((25),RDG,1,5,4,3,5,1) 25.3 pts

2, Ben Ainslie, GBR (7,1,2,3,8,1,(12),10) 32 pts

3, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, POL (6,2,5,8,7,8,(9),9) 45 pts

Other GBR

19, Charlie Cumbley (28,4,7,31,(38),36,15,25) 146 pts

20, Andrew Simpson ((34),10,22,20,12,22,26,32) 149 pts

24, Chris Brittle (44,22,(45),17,22,14,18,18) 155 pts

35, Matt Howard ((46),RDG,33,35,27,23,28,34) 212.3 pts

36, Edward Greig ((47),13,28,38,26,27,44,51) 223 pts

37, David Mellor (37,35,9,29,28,(OCS),47,55) 240 pts

45, Adam Cowling ((48),27,32,41,47,46,40,38) 271 pts

Laser – 81

1, Daniel Birgmark, SWE (3,2,6,4,8,6,(20),1,1) 31 pts

2, Paul Goodison, GBR (2,(7),3,1,3,5,6,7,6) 33 pts

3, Karl Suneson, SWE (4,11,1,6,4,2,(16),6,2) 36 pts

Other GBR

15, Mark Howard (17,5,11,3,9,11,33,8,(BFD)) 97 pts

31, Tim Hulse (21,14,16,18,24,7,21,17,(BFD) 138 pts

33, Daniel Holman (20,12,7,10,14,16,36,29,(BFD)) 144 pts

37, James Gray (24,10,19,15,21,13,22,27,(BFD)) 151 pts

38, Mark Powell (14,16,10,16,12,9,38,38,(BFD)) 153 pts

Mistral Men – 91

1, Nick Dempsey, GBR (2,(13),3,1,1,3,1,6,1) 18 pts

2, Julien Bontemps, FRA ((9),1,4,2,1,3,1,3,6) 21 pts

3, Joao Rodrigues, POR (4,(20),6,2,5,4,3,2,2) 28 pts

Other GBR

11, Dom Tidey (3,5,8,7,13,13,6,(37),7) 62 pts

27, Leo McCallin ((26),7,11,17,20,22,9,23,19) 128 pts

54, Toby Monk (18,11,28,22,29,28,(30),9,18) 163 pts

60, Gavin Rogers (29,23,24,14,25,33,(DNF),20,35) 203 pts

67, Dan Binney (33,(OCS),37,29,36,36,32,6,23) 232 pts

Mistral Women – 40

1, Lee Lai Shan, HKG (1,1,5,1,7,1,1,(OCS),1) 18 pts

2, Alessandra Sensini, ITA (3,4,1,7,1,8,3,7,3) 29 pts

3, Faustine Merret, FRA (6,(16),4,4,2,2,4,4,4) 30 pts

GBR

6, Bryony Shaw (12,5,(31),11,9,7,9,3,14) 70 pts

Star – 24

1, Fredrik Loof/Anders Ekstrom, SWE (1,6,1,2,1,2,3,2,(15),2) 20 pts

2, Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell, GBR (10,1,6,1,4,1,11,14,(19),1) 49 pts

3, Philippe Presti Saliou/Jean Philippe, FRA (3,8,(16),3,7,3,9,4,2,11) 50 pts

Tornado – 56

1, Darren Bundock/Glen Ashby, AUS ((BFD),1,6,1,3,3,3,1) 18 pts

2, Hugh Styles/Adam May, GBR ((14),6,2,6,8,11,1,2) 36 pts

3, Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen, NED (6,2,4,2,2,24,(31),5) 45 pts

Other GBR

6, Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley (13,3,8,3,10,19,15,(27)) 71 pts

17, Rob Wilson/Matt Eeles (21,5,18,(DNC),13,12,34,35) 138 pts

24, Ian Barker/Dan Newman (9,33,34,27,(DNC),27,20,13) 163 pts

27, James Smith/Ian Jamison (31,42,29,(DNC),22,2,36,15) 177 pts

45, Leo Farrow/Tristan Lamb (35,41,39,35,35,51,50,46) 282 pts

46, Simon Matthews/Marcus Lynch (37,32,32,31,(DNC),53,51,48) 284 pts

Yngling – 28

1, Shirley Robertson/Sarah Ayton/Inga Leask, GBR ((11),11,1,3,3,8,4,5,2,18) 48 pts

2, Dorte O. Jensen/Helle Jespersen/Rachel Kiel, DEN (2,1,3,7,9,1,15,4,12,(24)) 54 pts

3, Ulrike Schuemann /Wibke Buell/Winnie Lippert, GER (1,8,7,5,7,12,2,(OCS),16,1) 59 pts

Other GBR

21, Cathy Foster/Annie Lush/Jane Norris (21,15,14,18,22,13,14,15,11,17) 138 pts

24, Dominica Lyndsey/Alison Sutherland/Vicky Symmers (24,10,17,21,17,17,24,23,18,20) 167 pts