Winning crews crowned at 44 Copa del Rey Mapfre
7 August 2026 - Palma, Spain - Finishing with a second place just behind Hispania, the Spanish Navy’s ORC 52 skippered by King Felipe, Mauro Gestri’s Italian team on Vudu laid to rest a full year of hurt when they clinched the Abanca ORC 0 title today after missing out 12 months ago due to a disqualification. The class wins remained unfinished business for the team for whom home is Tuscany. Today they chased the runaway Hispania in the light sea breeze but knew that a second or third would be more than enough to win.
Michele Regolo, the Vudu tactician was clearly emotional, “Today, even if we had a good points lead, we had a little bit of pressure. We did not want to give away too much and so our start was OK, maybe not in the perfect spot. The wind went left and right and we ended up with a tacking duel with Caballo Loco but we led the battle and it was enough. And so for me today there is a lot of emotion, more than I thought, we were fourth last year after that disqualification. All of August last year we did not sleep well! Actually I was the one who protested a year ago and so I have felt guilty. After one year it is like a weight off our shoulders.”
The largest and most international class Uber ORC B started the final day with a clear favourite to win, Teatro del Soho San Miguel, which headed into the finale with a 14.5-point lead. Javier Banderas’s new XR-41 only needed to finish third to secure the ninth Copa del Rey of the owner’s 30 appearances. And they did so on a very special date: the 42nd anniversary of the day Luis Doreste, the crew’s tactician, won an historic first 470 gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics alongside Roberto Molina. Second place went to Katara, skippered by Argentine Julián Somodi, the reigning world champion, and third place to L’Immens, skippered by Uruguayan Nicolás González.
Javier Banderas was visibly moved: “Of all the Copa del Rey titles I’ve won, this is without a doubt the one I’m most excited about—a major undertaking, a challenge, and the result of a lot of hard work. It’s been a change in the team, a new boat, and an impressive effort, starting with our sports director, Piti Estébanez, the Medina family, and everyone else. We want to dedicate this victory to three people who are no longer with us: Llopis, who was part of this great family during the Tau Cerámica era; Javier Vallejo—“Mazinger”—our ‘gentleman’; and Noluco Doreste, who also sailed with us. I’d like to highlight our great Luis Doreste, Noluco’s brother, who—after his brother’s passing just a few days before he started here—has given his all, and that speaks volumes about the kind of person he is. We salute them.”
Sail Racing ORC A saw an enthralling showdown between Niklas Zennström’s Rán and his good friends, fellow successful Baltic tech entrepreneurs, Taavet Hinrikus and Margus Uudam, racing the Estonian-flagged Nola.
This time overall victory went to the Nola crew, which has Portuguese Olympic bronze medallist Hugo Rocha calling tactics along with navigator Aksel Magdahl. The Estonian crew were winners of Spring’s Sandberg Estates PalmaVela on these same Bay of Palma waters when the Carkeek 40 was new to them. The Nola team win the overall Copa del Rey trophy.
Dripping wet after his team’s victory swim in the RCNP dock, Margus Uudam, co-owner of Nola said, “It feels so incredible, so intense. Every day was a new race starting. The points were so, so close. It was never easy. We had a good start, and we just had to do our best tactically and technically in very light conditions to take all puffs. It all went well, the team did so well. We are very proud. This is our first big race win, a significant milestone for us and it gives us hope and promise for the future.”
He explained, “We started in 2021 in Estonia with a purely amateur team and we now changed the boat and are now professionals and amateurs and would like to keep it that way, working in one team with a high ambition. Last year we had a MAT 1220 on which we did the Admiral’s Cup; now we are preparing for next year and giving our absolute best.”
Completing his fourth major class win at Copa del Rey, Hugo Rocha said, “It is such a great team. It has been so intense this week and all going down to this race with Rán, a little match racing. And we have improved at the Sardinia Cup and now here and it is all good as we work towards the Admiral’s Cup next year.”
Azulmarino ORC C went to the wire, and it was the German-flagged crew of Niramo which secured the title thanks to a calculated gamble on the first upwind from which they built their decisive final race win. Owner-driver Sonke Meier has campaigned at Copa del Rey many times, most recently with his ClubSwan 50 but to finally win his class was clearly such an important moment for him.
The Kiel owner-helm said, “For me this the biggest win ever at the most important event. We already won Kiel Week my home regatta and now this. But this is so important for us. I think this is my tenth time at Copa del Rey and we have had a second and a third so we are so happy. I love this boat. It is a more intensive than the ClubSwan 50 which I still have and this Cape 31 maybe makes you sharper. Tovar (Mirsky) and Bouwe are a great team together.”
After a week of pure sailing spectacle in the Bay of Palma, the champions of the 44 Copa del Rey Mapfre were Spain's Teatro del Soho San Miguel in Uber ORC B class, Nadir in ClubSwan 42 and Baleària Team RCNP in the Baleària Women's Cup; Italy's Vudu in Abanca ORC 0; Germany's Niramo in Azulmarino ORC C; and Estonia's Nola in Sail Racing ORC A.
The combined results of all ORC classes crowned Taavet Hinrikus's Nola, helmed by Margus Uudam and with tactics by Portuguese Olympic medallist Hugo Rocha, as overall champion of the 44 Copa del Rey Mapfre on corrected time. In crew of Nola were sailing Margus Uudam, Taavet Hinrikus, Aksel Magdahl, Hugo Rocha, Joan Navarro Guiu, Piotr Przybylski, Karlo Hmeljak, Juuso Roihu, Silvia Fantauzzi, Tiina-Liina Uudam, Arkadiusz Krzysztof Fedusio, Mark Roth, Mia Marin Lilienthal.
Champion awards in the Corinthian division (for all-amateur crews) also went to L'Immens in Uber ORC B and Germany's Meerblick of Gabrielle Pohlmann in Azulmarino ORC C.
King Felipe presides over the trophy presentation ceremony for the 44th Copa del Rey Mapfre. The champions, together with the second- and third-placed teams in each class, received their trophies from King Felipe. Among the prize winners was Hispania of the Spanish Navy Sailing Commission, runner-up in the highly competitive Abanca ORC 0 class. King Felipe, skipper of the team for much of the week, presented the trophy to Admiral Jaime Rodríguez-Toubes.
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