Sixth place is generally not the ideal goal for three-time world champion Harm Müller-Spreer in regattas of the 52 Super Series. The crew of the Hamburg-based "Platoon Aviation" owner and helmsman finished the fourth regatta of the racing series off Puerto Portals with this result. After a mixed start and a crash in the first half, it was a conciliatory and encouraging result in the end.
52 Super Series: "Platoon Aviation" on top on the final day
Especially because "Platoon Aviation" was the best of all twelve TP52 racing yachts that turned up off Mallorca for the penultimate showdown of the high-calibre series on the final day with 2nd and 1st place. The team will take this knowledge with them to the season finale in Porto Cervo, where they will be racing one last time this year from 22 to 27 September. Click here for the interim results of the 52 Super Series season championship.
A crash with "Alegre" on Thursday, when the British opponents jibed unexpectedly and "Platoon Aviation" sailed into them, three penalty points and a total of four high results had repeatedly slowed "Platoon Aviation" down over the course of the regatta. On the plus side, however, Harm Müller-Spreer's latest realisation after intensive efforts on the Botin-TP: "We have changed the entire configuration of the boat three times. At the moment the boat is running."
In a total of ten races, "Platoon Aviation" collected 45 points in the first half of the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week and only 16 points in the second half. That was fewer points than the regatta winners from Team American Magic Quantum Racing collected in half-time two. However, the Americans did not have to put up with such setbacks in the first half of the race and once again performed consistently.
American Magic back on course for season title
Sailing under the US flag, Doug DeVos' team won their third title in a row after victories in Baiona (Spain) and at the Rolex TP52 World Championship in Cascais (Portugal) last month. With just one regatta to go, the league giants from Team American Magic Quantum Racing are well on their way to defending the season championship title they won last year in Valencia.
In the second half of the ten-race series, the "magical Americans" won three out of four starts before securing the 52 Super Series Portals title with a sixth and a fifth place on the final day in ten to twelve knots of wind. The US team finished twelve points ahead of Takashi Okura's "Sled". Shawn and Tina Kang's "Alpha +" (Hong Kong) sailed to the podium off Puerto Portals for the first time since the team joined the series in Saint Tropez at the start of 2023, taking third place.
Led by tactician Terry Hutchinson, young helmsman Harry Melges IV and navigator Sara Stone, the American Magic Quantum Racing team finished the regatta off Puerto Portals not brilliantly, but with aplomb. After an early start in the second race, the Americans fought their way up to seventh place. The lead they had previously achieved easily compensated for this.
The interim results before the season finale
The second-placed "Sled" team, led by Francesco Bruni and Murray Jones, won the first race on Saturday and finished fourth in the tenth and final race, securing their third podium finish of the season with Portals silver.
Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week, final result:
- American Magic Quantum Racing, USA, Doug DeVos, 5+3+2+8+1+6+1+1+6+5 = 38
- Sled, USA, Takashi Okura, 7+1+10+4+6+3+4+10+1+4 = 50
- Alpha+, HKG, Shawn & Tina Kang, 3+8+4+3+2+11+12+2+7+2 = 54
- Alkedo, ITA, Andrea Lacorte, 6+10+1+5+11+4+3+7+5+7 = 59
- Vayu, THA, Whitcraft Family, 2+11+8+2+8+8+5+11+3+3 = 61
- Platoon Aviation, GER, Harm Müller-Spreer, 10+6+9+13(+3)+7+1+9+3+2+1 = 64
- Alegre, GBR, Andy Soriano, 1+2+6+9+10+2+10+6+12+8 = 66
- Provezza, TUR, Ergin Imre, 4+7+5+7+5+10+2+12+8+10 = 70
- Paprec, FRA, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 12+5+3+6+9+7+6+5+11+6 = 70
- Crioula, BRA, Eduardo & Renato Plass, 8+4+7+11+3+5+7+4+10+12 = 71
- Gladiator, GBR, Tony Langley, 9+9+11+1+4(+1)+9+11+9+4+11 = 79
- Teasing Machine, FRA, Eric de Turckheim, 11+13+12+10+12+12+8+8+9+9 = 104
52 Super Series 2025, interim results after four of five regattas
- American Magic Quantum Racing, USA, Doug DeVos, 18+23+42+38 = 131
- Sled, USA, Takashi Okura, 13+58+51+50 = 172
- Alkedo, ITA, Andrea Lacorte, 28+49+61+59 = 197
- Paprec, FRA, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 23.5+ 63+43+70 = 199.5
- Platoon Aviation, GER, Harm Müller-Spreer, 36+44+63+64 = 207
- Alpha+, HKG, Shawn & Tina Kang, 21.5+68+71+54 = 214.5
- Vayu, THA, Whitcraft Family, 27+68+65+61 = 221
- Alegre, GBR, Andy Soriano, 30+71+62+66 = 229
- Provezza, TUR, Ergin Imre, 30+64+81+70 = 245
- Gladiator, GBR, Tony Langley, 12+120+63+79 = 274
- Phoenix, RSA, Tina & Hasso Plattner, 48+69+60+130 = 307
- Crioula, BRA, Eduardo & Renato Plass, 28+120+120+71 = 339
- Teasing Machine, FRA, Eric de Turckheim, 48+73+120+104 = 345
Replay! The final day of the Puerto Portals 52 Super Series Sailing Week in the replay:
