Gary Cooper starred in ‘Alone in the Face of Danger’ and in the 52nd Sofia Princess Trophy Mallorca by Iberostar is living, bridging a lot of distances, a kind of ‘remake’. The current one is being the most international edition of all time and is that the bay of Palma welcomes this year 1,259 sailors of 66 nationalities supported by 438 coaches. So far everything has been going smoothly, but it is that of these 66 countries, there are 15 countries that are in Mallorca with a single representative. These are Antigua, Bahamas, Bahrain, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Salvador, Guatemala, Saint Lucia, Monaco, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and Uruguay.
Joshua Higgins, who is in the ILCA 7th fleet representing the Bahamas, is part of the pVianna Sailing program, which provides high-level training and support to people mainly from small countries. She is in her second SofÃa and “I am looking forward to it because I compare myself with the best. I did a lot of strength training over the winter, a lot of cycling as I’m getting big for the boat, but my ambition this week is to get into the gold fleet, although I’ll be happy even with the silver. I have improved a lot in light winds and in strong winds, I feel much better than before. To get to the Olympic Games, the first qualification is in The Hague (World Cup), where the 16 best nations will go, and then we have qualifications in the Pan American Games, so I want to get home soon so I can train and qualify.” Joshua Higgins is ‘alone in the face of danger’, but he is sailing at a good level and enjoying the bay of Palma.
Of course, these 15 countries with a single representative contrast with, for example, with Spain, the host country, because it has 89 crews and has the largest representation in this Princesa SofÃa. It is followed by France, which is making a big push towards the 2024 Paris Olympics, with 80 teams competing, Italy and Great Britain have fielded 52, China 51 and Australia 36. Javier Zaynoun, director of the 52nd Princess Sofia Trophy, spoke about how the organization deals with this plurinationality and multiculturalism and “we are very aware of the effort that sailors make to come to Mallorca, and every day we strive to give them the best service so that feel at home. We are not just talking about countries and continents, but about cultures, customs,… There are more than 1,200 people, each with their own needs and circumstances. It’s a huge effort, but it pays off.”
On the other hand, representing Puerto Rico is Pedro Fernández, who also competes in ILCA 7. Sails for Club Náutico de San Juan and this is his fifth visit to the Mallorca regatta. In 2022 he finished 67th out of a fleet of 165 boats; in 2019 it was 61 of 187; in 2018 it was 131 of 183; and in 2017 it was 75 of 134. “It is my first Olympic campaign and my aspiration is to reach the Games and be among the first classified here. It is a very big challenge because there are the strongest and most powerful countries economicallyquite a challenge for an island that does not have so much tradition. I am the only one from my federation who has qualified for all the testsFernandez commented.