After a long, hot, but very exciting Saturday of racing on the Bay of Palma, Harm Müller-Spreer’s 2023 circuit champions Platoon Aviation go into tomorrow’s decisive last two races of the Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week with a three points lead over both the world champions Gladiator and Quantum Racing powered by American Magic who are both locked on the same aggregate.
It is the first time this season that the German flagged team has led into the last day, reflecting an upturn in the performance of the crew with their new 2024 boat. But for all that, they arrived back at Puerto Portals Marina somewhat disappointed with their day, reflecting on what could have been after getting not one but two successive penalties in consecutive races, both resulting in weighty ninth place finishes.
With 13 boats competing – all very evenly-matched on a race track which most often yielded a benefit on the left side -consistency was elusive. Whilst Platoon Aviation went 9,9,6 for the day and Tony Langley’s Gladiator 2,6,10 it was Quantum Racing powered by American Magic which put together the strongest scoreline, staying out of trouble for a 3,3,5 to set up Doug DeVos’ crew with a good chance of finally landing what would be the first regatta title as Quantum Racing powered by American Magic.
“We are feeling really good after today. We need to try not to push for doing something special and just look to execute a couple of good races. At the end of the day we have to perform to come out on top.” Smiled Quantum Racing powered by American Magic’s helm Harry Melges IV of their quest to avoid the last day mistakes – usually on the start lines – which have seen them lose out several times to different teams.
Platoon Aviation’s Víctor Mariño acknowledged that today they had not been able to replicate the harmony and concentration of the previous days which had seen them aggregate just 12 points over the first five races: “It has simply been a complicated day, very complicated. A day of mistakes and nerves, bad starts and bad decisions. In a fleet as large and competitive as this one, mistakes are very costly. Now it’s time to analyse what we did wrong and why, and try to get back to the level we showed on the first three days of this event. The strategy for tomorrow will be to do our own race and not forget that these are also points for the circuit”.
After a second and sixth it looked likely that it would be Gladiator which would lead into Sunday but they were caught up in a finish line drama which lost them three places within the final 100 metres to the line.
Guille Parada the Gladiator helm was philosophical, “It was a tricky day on the water. We did some good things and some less good. I think we sailed a pretty clean first race and held our nerves for a good second place, second one I messed up the start and in the third one I did not have a very good start, we climbed our way up the positions and then we had a gear failure downwind and then we lost three positions on the last run, that hurts. But what can we do? We clear our minds, reset and come back strong tomorrow.”
Jean Luc Petithuguenin’s Paprec won the first race of the day – their first victory of the season which was gained by executing the best pin end start of the fleet. In the second race it was Takashi Okura’s Sled which built the biggest winning margin of the week so far and the third race went to Shawn and Tina Kang’s Alpha Plus.
And while there are just three points between Platoon Aviation and the second and third placed Gladiator and Quantum Racing Powered by American Magic, between fourth positioned Paprec and 10th placed Interlodge there are just six points.
Sunday promises the most exciting finale of a season which has not been short of last race, last day dramas. The first warning signal is scheduled for 1230hrs local time. Live coverage starts 15 minutes before the warning signal.
PUERTO PORTALS 52 SUPER SERIES SAILING WEEK STANDINGS
1. PLATOON AVIATION (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 1+2+4+1+3+9+9+6 = 35
2. GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 3+1+10+5+1+2+6+10 = 38
3. QUANTUM RACING POWERED BY AMERICAN MAGIC (USA), Doug DeVos, 4+6+3+12+2+3+3+5 = 38
4. PAPREC (FRA), Jean-Luc Pethuguenin, 6+8+2+4+8+1+12+11 = 52
5. PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso & Tina Plattner, 11+7+1+6+9+6+5+7 = 52
6. ALPHA+ (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 12+4+7+13+7+5+8+1 = 57
7. SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 5+9+8+11+10+10+1+4 = 58
8. PROVEZZA (TUR), Ergin Imre, 7+13+12+2+6+13+2+3 = 58
9. ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 10+10+5+8+12+4+7+2 = 58
10. INTERLODGE (USA), Austin & Gwen Fragomen, 8+3+9+3+4+7+11+13 = 58
11. CRIOULA (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 2+12+13+7+13+8+4+8 = 67
12. VAYU (THA), Whitcraft Family, 9+5+11+9+5+12+10+9 = 70
13. TEASING MACHINE (FRA), Eric De Turckheim, 13+11+6+10+11+11+13+12 = 87
