52 Super Series: Peute saves "Sled" victory, silver for "Platoon Aviation"

A big crowd at the start of the 52 Super Series season: with 14 TPs, the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Race Week delivered what it promised: thrilling sailing at a very high level. Right in the middle of it all under the German flag: Harm Müller-Spreer's crew on "Platoon Aviation". The three-time TP52 world champion from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein in Hamburg and his team recently won the Won the season championship in 2023is regularly one of the top performers in the leading monohull series.

52 Super Series: the little sister of the America's Cup

After a less favoured fifth place in the 2025 season championship, Harm Müller-Spreer, tactician Vasco Vascotto, strategist Jordi Calafat, navigator Juan Vila and the crew want to fight for the championship title again this year in the series, which is also known as the "little sister of the America's Cup" due to its high-tech demands and the quality of its sailors.

Team Platoon Aviation laid a good foundation for these title ambitions at the season opener off Puerto Portals. The challenge was great in the bay of Palma, because instead of ten, 14 powerful TP52 racing yachts and their hungry crews turned up for the first showdown of the season. Even though the subscription winners from the US team Quantum Racing American Magic are no longer there, the quality of the field has nevertheless increased.

Ergin Imre and his select crew of helmsman John Cutler, tactician Hamish Pepper and navigator Nacho Postigo learnt just how difficult it can be to prevail here on the final day. Having started the final day as front runners and Puerto Portals favourites with their fast Judel/Vrolijk-TP from 2024, they fell off the podium after the last two races on Saturday afternoon.

"Provezza" misses out on podium at the start of the 52 Super Series

A heavy right-hand spin, which the competition on "Sled" escaped in time, threw "Provezza" back to 14th and last place in the ninth and final race. Because no race result can be cancelled in the merciless top series, the "Provezza" crew with Cole Parada and Nacra 17 Olympic champion Santi Lange as strategists dropped off the podium and into fourth place in the overall Puerto Portals standings.

The "Sled" team had a different experience on the final day. Weighed down by a 13th place the day before, the crew led by helmsman and owner Takashi Okura turned up the heat with a race win and third place. That was worth the victory at the season opener in the Balearic Islands.

However, the "Sled" team had to fight hard for this triumph during a technical mishap when the lock-strop of their mainsail suddenly broke during the changeover between the two final races on Saturday. The crew then used the spinnaker halyard to hoist the mainsail before Ivan Peute, who had climbed into the mast, was able to secure it there. Peute thus played a decisive role in securing the victory for the New York Yacht Club's Botin design, which ultimately won by 42 points and a nine-point margin.

Our player of the day is our forward." Francesco Bruni

Loud chants could be heard as the crew entered the harbour: "Ivan, Ivan, Ian!" "Sled" tactician Francesco Bruni told us rousingly: "We were so happy! This is a team victory! Ivan solved our problem between the races. It was a huge problem! We should have sailed without a mainsail. He deserves all our credit. And the whole team did a fantastic job too."

"Platoon Aviation" opens the season on the Silberwelle

Harm Müller-Spreer and the team on "Platoon Aviation" came a beaming second. After two penalties on the final day, they took third and fourth place on the final day with consistency and elegance. In powerful winds, the German Botin-TP52 was on top form. With 51 points, one point ahead of Pieter Heerema's "No Way Back" (52 points) was enough for Puerto Portals silver. Click here for the Puerto Portals results and the first interim results in the 52 Super Series 2026.

"We were travelling at 27 knots at the top today," enthused helmsman Harm Müller-Spreer after the final. His team also felt the increased field. "The difference between nine, ten or eleven boats and 14, 15 or 16 boats, which we will have at the end of the season, is that crew quality and consistency are even more crucial," said Harm Müller-Spreer.

His team has made an ambitious start to the new season. "As always, we want to fight for the world title and the season championship. That's clear," said Harm Müller-Spreer in an interview with YACHT online. To this end, the Hamburg entrepreneur's racing team has also made some technical improvements during the winter break. "Our boat wasn't good enough last year, it had weaknesses," Harm Müller-Spreer recalls the difficult times.

Success with Artemis Technologies

The only German team in the series has developed "another completely new keel", not with the "Platoon Aviation" design studio Botin, but with Artemis Technolgogies. "We have revised all the profiles, several new rudder blades, a new fin and a new bomb," says Harm Müller-Spreer. The boat was completely scanned before three months of calculations were carried out in the Artemis offices. "We had one or two different solutions and then we built it. Now we're trying to make the best of it," says the owner.

He is still not completely satisfied and has the feeling that the keel is still "three millimetres out of alignment". Another complete scan with a high-precision scanner is planned. At the same time, the Platoon Aviation team is still struggling to find the ideal mainsail. "That remains a difficult challenge," admits Müller-Spreer. The crew has been slightly rejuvenated. However, the three German-speaking sailors have remained alongside other key sailors: Harm Müller-Spreer himself, Michael Müller from Kiel as pitman and the Austrian grinder Gerd Habermüller.

The third place of the Dutch team in Puerto Portals, who celebrated their regatta premiere in the 52 Super Series, is also remarkable. However, the crew on "No Way Back" was not as new as the boss: Pieter Heerema had taken over many top sailors from the outstanding Quantum Racing Team, which had won both the season championship and the TP52 World Championship in 2025, when forming his new team.

"No Way Back": first event, first podium finish

As a former Dragon Gold Cup winner and RC44 sailor, Pieter Heerema is one of the most experienced owners at the helm of a TP52. The navigator on "No Way Back" is Michele Ivaldi. Morgan Larson was the strategist at the first event. Lucas Calabrese will take over his role at the other four regattas in the series.

The series continues with one of the highlights of the season: The Rolex TP52 World Championship will take place from 15 to 20 June off Porto Cervo on the Costa Smeralda. What the first regatta in Puerto Portals has already shown will remain the programme for the rest of the season: The 52 Super Series performance class will be tight.

"There are hardly any overtaking lanes when you're at the back. Then you get shaved and are suddenly 14th, like today on the final day 'Provezza', even though you have such a fast boat," explained Tim Kröger, who co-commented on the races of the 52 Super Series in the Puerto Portals area alongside well-known presenter Andi Robertson.

The showdown at the start of the 52 Super Series in Puerto Portals: