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July 30, 2025 \u2013 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE, Palma de Mallorca.<\/p>\nEverything is now set in Mallorca for the 44th edition of the Copa del Rey Mapfre, which will take place August 1\u20138 in the Bay of Palma. One of the event\u2019s main figures will undoubtedly be Felipe VI, who is entering a new era in his sporting career. After twenty years at the helm of the Aifos, the monarch will take the helm of the Hispania, a state-of-the-art monohull that the Spanish Navy acquired last March.<\/p>\n
Built in 2008, throughout its career it has competed first under the name Quantum Racing and later under the name Vesper as part of the U.S. team David Team, based in Newport Beach, California.<\/p>\n
Converted to the GL52 class, it made the leap to the Mediterranean circuit in 2025 and, under the name Vesper, was crowned the overall winner of the Copa del Rey Mapfre itself. That same year, the Aifos\u2014with Felipe VI at the helm\u2014had to settle for sixth place, hampered by the technical wear and tear of a boat with more than two decades of competition under its belt.<\/p>\n
July 30, 2025 \u2013 43rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE, Palma de Mallorca.<\/p>\n
The sailboat belongs to the demanding TP52 class, one of the most competitive on the international scene. Its main specifications include a length of 15.43 meters, a beam of 4.43 meters, and a draft of 3.80 meters. It has a sail area of 445 square meters and a carbon-fiber hull, and its purchase price was around one million euros.<\/p>\n
The hull combines shades of blue and gray that blend in with the sea, along with the maritime coat of arms and the colors of the Spanish flag. The interior, featuring white control seats, displays the name of its owner (the Spanish Navy Regatta Commission) alongside the corresponding coats of arms.<\/p>\n
The transaction was finalized through a public bidding process awarded to the Catalan company David Mas Yacht Equipment S.L., based in El Masnou (Barcelona). After its incorporation into the Navy, the ship was renamed Hispania, a name steeped in historical and nautical symbolism that also pays tribute to a vessel once championed by Admiral Marcial S\u00e1nchez-Barc\u00e1iztegui, a figure closely linked to both King Emeritus Juan Carlos I and King Felipe VI himself.<\/p>\n
The Hispania has been sailing for weeks, and its debut has been more than promising. In its official debut, it secured a narrow victory over Vithas-Urbania in the Conde de God\u00f3 Trophy, and this weekend it once again faced off against several of its future rivals in the Copa del Rey during the S.M. La Reina Trophy, one more test before the summer\u2019s main event.<\/p>\n
Manu Fraga, CEO of the Real Club N\u00e1utico de Palma and the Copa del Rey Mapfre, highlights the significance of this addition: \u201cThe arrival of the Hispania is great news for the 44th Copa del Rey Mapfre. Seeing a Spanish Navy training vessel competing in the highly competitive Abanca ORC 0 class against some of the best international TP52s raises the level and prestige of our regatta even further.\u201d Fraga also points out that the boat arrives \u201chaving won here last year as the Vesper,\u201d which is generating \u201cspecial anticipation among both the teams and the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Intermittent Presence of Felipe VI<\/p>\n
Although its primary mission will be the advanced training of Navy officers\u2014in conjunction with the Naval Academy in Mar\u00edn, Pontevedra\u2014the Hispania will compete in the demanding Abanca ORC 0 class, which features some of the best TP52s on the international circuit. The boat will remain docked at the Porto Pi naval base, in the refurbished hangar that was once occupied by the now-defunct yacht Fortuna.<\/p>\n
Felipe VI will begin to familiarize himself with the new boat during training sessions on August 1 and 2, before the official competition begins on the 3rd. His participation will be briefly interrupted on August 7, when he travels to Colombia for the new president\u2019s inauguration, although he plans to return to Mallorca in time for the awards ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everything is now set in Mallorca for the 44th edition of the Copa del Rey Mapfre, which will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[3474,25250,167,25251],"class_list":["post-62940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mapfre","tag-felipe-vi","tag-felipe-vi-pays-his-respects","tag-mapfre","tag-mapfre-copa-del-rey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}