Alfa Romeo III still leads Copa del Rey but suffers in light winds

Little wind today in the bay of Palma. The sea breeze -known as Embat in the region- which has been blowing during the last few days reaching 20 knots, dropped and hardly reached 10 knots today. That made "Alfa Romeo" suffer and finish both windward-leeward races in third and fourth place respectively. This shows the difficulties that Neville Crichton's 70 footer goes through with lighter winds, where she can't gain the time she needs to give in compensation.

After several days crossing the finish line just a few seconds after "Alfa Romeo", American "Bella Mente" managed to win both today's races. This doesn't put "Alfa Romeo's" final victory at risk, but helps "Bella Mente" open a gap from third qualified, Marcus Wieser's "Container". 18 points separate British "Allegre" from "Container", with 24 and 38 points respectively. Andy Soriano's Mini Maxi has managed to kick "CAM" out of fourth place. The reason for that was probably the two bad starts of the Spanish IRC Optimized TP52 skippered by H.R.M. The Prince of Asturias. The boat owned by Olympic champions Fernando León and Kiko Sánchez Luna will try to get fourth position back tomorrow.

Highlights from the 5th day of the Copa del Rey. Palma, 7 August 2009. Video copyright Copa del Rey