52 Super Series: Breakthrough for "Platoon Aviation" - "We know the boat better now"

Harm Müller-Spreer's "Platoon Aviation" crew seems to be back on the road to success in the 52 Super Series. The new Botin design confidently leads the increased fleet of 13 boats after two days of racing in the bay of Palma. They are followed by the new world champions on "Gladiator" and the French "Paprec". The three-time world champion and his crew have impressively demonstrated their upward trend so far with two daily victories, a second and a fourth place. Hasso and Tina Plattner's "Phoenix" was in fifth place after four races.

Weak start to the season, steep rise

"Platoon Aviation" leads the field with just eight points in the Puerto Portals account. Tony Langley's world champions on "Gladiator" have already collected 19 points. Up to this point, the consistency of the crew on the German TP52 has paid off handsomely. Everything indicates that Harm Müller-Spreer's crew with Italian tactician Vasco Vascotto and Spanish strategist Jordi Calafat have got to grips with the new boat.

The 2023 world champions and season winners had a weak start to the season in seventh place at the Palmavela. This was followed by a seventh place in the XS 52 Super Series in Newport and world championship bronze in the same area. The upward trend was clearly visible, but the success-hungry owner Harm Müller-Spreer was far from satisfied. Now the three-time world champion from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein in Hamburg and his ambitious crew seem to be back on the road to success they had hoped for.

Jordi Calafat also believes that the initial successes at the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week are a sign that the crew on "Platoon Aviation" have got their act together: "I think we're finally getting into our stride. It took us three events. The last two events in Newport weren't bad, but the first regatta of the season at Palmavela was terrible. If everything goes a bit better now and we have a bit of luck on the regatta course, hopefully we can continue like this and fight for something at the end."

"Platoon Aviation" gets off to a strong start

Looking back on the team's 52 Super Series season so far, Jordi Calafat said: "I think we started the season very rusty and had problems with some of the systems on the boat. It was a big change for us from a Vrolijk design to a Botin. That is certainly more difficult than switching from a Botin to a new Botin or a Vrolijk to a new Vrolijk."

Jordi Calafat continued: "It was a big change, but to be honest we didn't sail well, we didn't find good courses and there was stress everywhere. We are learning with the boat. It's a completely different animal compared to our old boat. We are now finding good courses here and know the boat better. That makes all the difference."

While "Platoon Aviation" was no worse than fourth in four races, the big rivals on "Gladiator" and the strong US team Quantum Racing powered by American Magic had to put up with setbacks. Tony Langley's newly crowned world champions fell further behind as the first pursuers of "Platoon Aviation" with tenth and fifth places on day two of the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week. Quantum Racing felt the full brunt of the mistakes in the larger fleet of 13 boats as they finished twelfth in the second race and dropped to sixth.

Daily victory for Hasso and Tina Plattner's "Phoenix"

Tina and Hasso Plattner's "Phoenix" took a comfortable victory in race 3 on the second day of the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week. After finishing 11th, 7th, 1st and 6th, the team sailed towards the halfway point on day three with good contact with the leading group. The crew on the Turkish "Provezza XI", on the other hand, will obviously have to take a back seat in the ongoing learning process with the new Judel/Vrolijk design, just as the team on "Platoon Aviation" did at the start of the season.

Palma-based "Provezza" navigator Nacho Postigo said after mixed results so far, but also second place in race four: "The truth is that we didn't expect to come so close to a race win in this first regatta with the new boat. There is still a lot to do, a lot to learn, but the boat is already performing well. It behaved very well in these conditions; after the start of the second race (editor's note: on day two) we were very, very fast."

The Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week will continue until 1 September. The races will be broadcast live. The presenter is Andi Robertson, his co-reporter on the water is Hamburg 470 World Champion Luise Wanser. Click here to go directly to the broadcast on Friday, 30 August. It starts at 12.45 pm.

Click here for the results of the 52 Super Series.