[Source: Soto 40 European Championship] It is very close to the start of the Soto 40 European Championship, landmark Soto 40 class in Europe and that this season will be held in such prominent locations such as Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Porto Cervo, Sotogrande and Valencia forming one of the most important and competitive nautical events of the year.

The first event of the Soto 40 European Championship will be Trofeo Conde de Godo organized by Real Club Nautico de Barcelona from May 24th to 27th. This regatta will be the starting point and the first chance for teams to measure their true potential in this Championship.

The second meeting of the Soto 40 European Championship will be framed in the prestigious Sardinia Cup (Offshore nations teams World Championship) organized by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo, from June 11th to 16th , where Soto 40 boats will compete together with the TP52/IRC 52 class.


In July comes the great event of the Mediterranean, the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre. This year, in order to avoid clashing with the London Olympics, the Royal event will be held from July 18th to 21st in the Bay of Palma, a date with all the usual attractions of the Palma regatta.

In mid-August, the Soto 40 fleet will move to Sotogrande to celebrate the fourth round of the Soto 40 European Championship, during the Sotogrande Cup, held from August the 10th to 13th, coinciding with the prestigious Polo tournament.


The Finals of the Soto 40 European Championship will be in Valencia, more specifically in the Port America’s Cup from September 19th to 22nd in which every race will score double points. The event should decide the Soto 40 European Champion and Soto 40 European Owner Driver Champion.

The Iberdrola Team headed by Agustin Zulueta and skippered by double J80 world champion “Pichu” Torcida, current winner of the Audi MedCup last year and PalmaVela trophy last April, is the Soto 40 to beat.

Other teams with experience in Soto 40 class who will compete in the Conde de Godo are the British boat Ngoni skipered by his passionate owner-driver Tony Buckingham, who won las year one event in MedCup.

Román Turro from Barcelona participated in the final race of the 2011 Audi MedCup on board “visitmalta.com” where he discovered the versatility and easy handling of the one dessign. Apart from this, Román replaces at his father Jesús the owner of the prestigious series of “Soletes” very competitive boats on corrected time as ORC or RI.

Luis Martín Cabiedes boat Noticia IV who managed to secure second place at last year circuit, its skipered with the world champion Iñaki Castañer other of the teams to beat.
With less experience in the class, but not less competitive we can find four different teams; one of this boats is the new Alegre, Andy Soriano´s Soto 40, run by a very experienced international team which just finished second in mid-April in the PalmaVela trophy. Andy is widely recognized as one of the best Owner Drivers in the world thanks to his campaigns onboard his Mills 68 “Alegre” which has garnered numerous victories in the IRC circuit and in the MiniMaxi class.


The Portuguese Pedro Mendonca is the father of the series “Bigamist” the most prestigious and competitive of Portugal. During the last few seasons Pedro has participated in TP 52 through minor categories such as ORC or Platu 25. In the 2011 season he decided to give a try to the Soto 40 in the Cascais and Barcelona 2011 MedCup events and he has now taken thefinal step by joining the class in 2012 with his new boat POR30.

The German Stefan Jenztsch with Black Pearl is the latest owner to join the Soto 40 class encouraged by the competitiveness of these boats; Stefan has put together a very competitive international crew aiming at all, but like Turro, Soriano and Buckingham, he will steer his boat to fight for the Owner Driver Trophy that rewards the first owner at the helm of his boat.

Finaly Spanish XXII that in this occasion will be sailed by the “local hero team” Gunter representing Real Club Náutico of Barcelona.

Soto 40 European Championship Calendar

Trofeo Conde de Godo – 24 to 27 May (Barcelona)

Sardinia Cup – 11 to 16 June (Porto Cervo)

Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre – 18 to 21 July (Palma de Mallorca)

Copa Sotogrande – 10 to 13 August (Sotogrande)

Soto Final 40 European Championship – 19 to 22 September (Valencia)



Participating teams:

ESP02 Geseme / Gramona – Román Turro (Spain)

ESP19 Iberdrola Team – Agustín Zulueta (Spain)

GBR20 Ngoni – Tony Buckingham (United Kingdom)

ESP21 Noticia IV – Luis Martín (Spain)

ESP22 XXII – In Yachts (Spain)
GER27
Black Pearl – Jenztsch Stefan (Germany)

POR30 Bigamist – Pedro Mendonça (Portugal)
 Not in Barcelona
BVI33 Alegre – Andy Soriano (BVI)


[Source: Soto 40 Class] Although not part of the European Championship, PalmaVela is traditionally the opening event of the Mediterranean racing season and this year, for the very first time at this event, Palma Bay welcomed the European Soto 40 fleet.

It was no surprise Iberdrola was the winner of the event with an impressive string of bullets (6 in 7 races): the team lead by Agustin Zulueta and skippered by the double J80 World Champion “Pichu” Torcida dominated comfortably the fleet in 2011 and also showed quite strong on her first appearance on the 2012 stage.

But numbers do not show fairly that Iberdrola´s victories were hardly worked against a fleet that has raised her level even more from last year and where the Owner Driver component was so strong that all the boats, except for the green one, where steered by her owners.

Newcomer (to the class) Andy Soriano steering his Alegre won the very first race of the season by just one second to a surprised Iberdrola and had an impressive lead during the second race when a maneuver mistake forced them to give two places away, and despite of their efforts had to accept crossing the finishing line just 5 seconds behind Tony Buckinham´s Ngoni, who was also chasing Iberdrola that finished only 4 seconds ahead of them…really close and not too bad for two owner drivers. Alegre had an OCS in the third regatta but managed to climb back to third position, once again behind Iberdrola and Ngoni, showing they had the strength to finish second at their very first racing with the Soto 40.

Ngoni also showed very strong moments during PalmaVela thanks to the good steering of Buckinham and the good calls from his long time tactician Kevin Sproul: it seems very clear the team has not lost the punch that allowed them to win one event of the 2011 MedCup circuit and they are here to threat Iberdrola dominance and to secure the Owners Driver Trophy, for sure a hard one to get this year!

Stefan Jentzsch did also enjoyed his first racing at the helm of his brand new Soto 40 Black Pearl, and while it took the team a couple of regattas to understand the boat, their progression was pretty impressive to end the event by almost stealing the third place away from Ngoni at the final race, where the British team crossed the finishing line just one second ahead of the German Black Pearl…impressive.

So, it seem the new teams are getting very quickly up to speed and that the very first event of the European Championship, the 39th Trofeo Conde de Godó that will be held in Barcelona next May, will be a highly contested one. Looking forward to it!

Final Results Mapfre Palmavela 2012 – Soto 40

1 – Iberdrola Team (SPA) J M Torcida, RCMA / RSC (2)+1+1+1+1+1+1= 6 points
2 – Alegre (BVI) Andy Soriano, Y.C.M. 1+(3)+3+2+2+2+2= 12
3 – Ngoni (GBR) Tony Buckinham, Royal Thames Y.C. 4+2+2+(5)+3+3+3= 17
4 – Black Pearl (GER), Stefan Jentzsch, RORC 3+(5)+5+3+4+4+4= 23
5 – Gramona (SPA) Román Turró, R.C.N.Barcelona (5)+4+4+4+5+5+5= 27
6 – XXII (GER) Konstantin Jakoby R.C.N.P (6)+6+6+6+6+6+6= 36

[Source: Soto 40 Class] It is very close to the start of the Soto 40 European Championship, landmark Soto 40 class in Europe and that this season will be held in such prominent locations such as Barcelona, ​​Palma de Mallorca, Porto Cervo, Sotogrande and Valencia forming one of the most important and competitive nautical events of the year.

Looking at 2012 circuit, four new owners will compete on board these feet One Designs: spanish Jesus Turro, Philipine based in New York Andy Soriano, German and Portuguese Stefan Jenztsch and Pedro Mendonça, which brings to eight the number of boats participating in the circuit and to five the number of nations represented in the competition.

Jesus Turro from Barcelona participated in the final race of the 2011 Audi MedCup on board “visitmalta.com” where he discovered the versatility and easy handling of the one dessign. Apart from this, Jesus has been the owner of the prestigious series of “Soletes” very competitive boats on corrected time as ORC or RI

Andy Soriano is widely recognized as one of the best Owner Drivers in the world thanks to his campaigns onboard his Mills 68 “Alegre” which has garnered numerous victories in the IRC circuit and in the MiniMaxi class.

The Portuguese Pedro Mendonca is the father of the series “Bigamist” the most prestigious and competitive of Portugal. During the last few seasons Pedro has participated in TP 52 through minor categories such as ORC or Platu 25. In the 2011 season he decided to give a try to the Soto 40 in the Cascais and Barcelona 2011 MedCup events and he has now taken thefinal step by joining the class in 2012 with his new boat POR30.

The German Stefan Jenztsch is the latest owner to join the Soto 40 class encouraged by the competitiveness of these boats; Stefan has put together a very competitive international crew aiming at all, but like Turro, Soriano and Buckingham, he will steer his boat to fight for the Owner Driver Trophy that rewards the first owner at the helm of his boat.

On the other hand, the German owner Konstantin Jacoby has also been tempted by the Soto 40 Class and has chartered “XXII” to race her at PalmaVela and Trofeo Conde de Godo in Barcelona.

PalmaVela, First Appointment
PalmaVela marks the first date of the calendar, although not scoring for the Soto 40 European Championship, which will be held between April the 20th and the 22nd will see six Soto 40´s in the starting line, which will serve as a testing ground facing the European Circuit.

Soto 40 European Championship Calendar
Trofeo Conde de Godo – 24 to 27 May (Barcelona)
Sardinia Cup – 11 to 16 June (Porto Cervo)
Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre – 18 to 21 July (Palma de Mallorca)
Copa Sotogrande – 10 to 13 August (Sotogrande)
Soto Final 40 European Championship – 19 to 22 September (Valencia)

Participating teams:
ESP02 Solete- Jesus Turro (Spain)
ESP19 Iberdrola Team- Agustín Zulueta (Spain)
GBR20 Ngoni – Tony Buckingham (United Kingdom)
ESP21 News – Luis Martín (Spain)
ESP22 XXII – In Yachts (Spain)
GER27 Black Pearl – Jenztsch Stefan (Germany)
POR30 Bigamist – Pedro Mendonça (Portugal)
BVI33 Alegre – Andy Soriano (BVI)

[Source: Soto 40 European Association] The activity continues in the Soto 40 European Association, this time featuring the new European circuit for the class: the Soto 40 European Championship.

The competition will consist of five events that will crown an overall European champion and the winner of the Owner Driver Trophy.

The first event of the Soto 40 European Championship will be Trofeo Conde de Godo organized by Real Club Nautico de Barcelona from May 24th to 27th. This regatta will be the starting point and the first chance for teams to measure their true potential in this Championship.

The second meeting of the Soto 40 European Championship will be framed in the prestigious Sardinia Cup (Offshore nations teams World Championship) organized by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo, from June 11th to 16th , where Soto 40 boats will compete together with the TP52/IRC 52 class.

In July comes the great event of the Mediterranean, the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre. This year, in order to avoid clashing with the London Olympics, the Royal event will be held from July 18th to 21st in the Bay of Palma, a date with all the usual attractions of the Palma regatta.

In mid-August, the Soto 40 fleet will move to Sotogrande to celebrate the fourth round of the Soto 40 European Championship, during the Sotogrande Cup, held from August the 10th to 13th, coinciding with the prestigious Polo tournament.

The Finals of the Soto 40 European Championship will be in Valencia, more specifically in the Port America’s Cup from September 19th to 22nd in which every race will score double points. The event should decide the Soto 40 European Champion and Soto 40 European Owner Driver Champion.

Although not included within the Soto 40 European Championship, the fleet has agreed on going to PalmaVela Mapfre, regatta organized by Real Club Nautico de Palma between April 19th and 22nd, so this regatta will be a test event for the Mediterranean Soto 40 Class, in what some define as “official training” for the Soto 40 European Championship.

Soto 40 European Championship Calendar
Trofeo Conde de Godo – May 24th to 27th (Barcelona)
Sardinia Cup – June 11th to 16th (Porto Cervo)
Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre – July 18th to 21st (Palma de Mallorca)
Copa Sotogrande – August 10th to 13th (Sotogrande)
Soto 40 European Championship Finals – September 19th to 22nd (Valencia)