Five regattas make up the 52 Super Series 2025: the season opener at Saint-Tropez Sailing Week (29 April to 4 May) will be followed by the showdown at the Baiona Royal Cup (2 to 7 June), the eagerly awaited Rolex TP52 World Championship in Cascais (1 to 6 July), which is often windy, the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week (18 to 23 August) and the season showdown at Porto Cervo Sailing Week (22 to 27 September).
"Platoon Aviation": What will follow bronze and silver in 2024?
Last year, the team led by Hamburg-based owner and helmsman Harm Müller-Spreer started the high-calibre professional series with a new "Platoon Aviation". After a somewhat bumpy familiarisation phase, things went increasingly well with the Botin design over the course of the season.
In a strong final sprint, the three-time TP52 world champion from the North German Regatta Club and his international crew with Italian tactician Vasco Vascotto took second place in the season championship. They had previously won bronze at the World Championship off Newport in the US off Rhode Island. Click here for the results of 13 season championships in the 52 Super Series to date.
This was a good performance overall, even if the team was unable to repeat its outstanding "double" from 2023 with the season championship and world championship gold with the new design. However, Harm Müller-Spreer and his team were able to finish the last regatta of 2024 with a victory off Valencia and go into the winter break with the good feeling that they now have the boat much better under control.
We feel ready to start the season with the confidence that we are in the best possible shape." Harm Müller-Spreer
Team Platoon Aviation is also one of the teams that carried out an appendage update during the winter months. Harm Müller-Spreer is now optimistic: "After making changes to our setup during the winter, we have now been able to confirm our decisions during an excellent week on the water. The boat felt really good in all the conditions we encountered."
Training with eight teams from the 52 Super Series
The German co-owner of the racing series draws this knowledge from the training week that has just ended, which eight teams from the 52 fleet completed off Valencia. They benefited from good wind conditions in the former Spanish America's Cup area, where the racing teams were allowed to be guests at the Victory Challenge and King Marine facilities.
After initial coordination and speed tests between individual boats and groups of boats, three days of unofficial racing took place under the direction of Maria Torrijo, who is known as a confident race officer in the 52 Super Series. The Spaniard comes from the Ocean Race capital of Alicante and has already proven her skills as a race officer in various positions at four Olympic Games between 2008 and 2021. The Vakaros start line monitoring system was also tested during training off Valencia.
The 2024 season champions were not yet present: American Magic Quantum Racing trained away from the competition in the bay of Palma de Mallorca during a similar period. However, it is already known that Terry Hutchinson will return to the successful 52 Super Series US team as tactician for this season after the 2024 America's Cup off Barcelona.
The highlights of 2024 and the outlook for the new 52 Super Series season:
