52 Super Series: World Cup ahead - "Platoon Aviation" crew ready for title defence
Tatjana Pokorny
· 15.07.2024
Final preparations are underway in Newport for the TP52 World Championship, which also marks the third of five events in the twelfth season of the 52 Super Series 2024. The high-calibre title series kicks off on Tuesday. On Monday, the World Championship crews completed their final warm-up test laps in the prominent US circuit. "Platoon Aviation" helmsman Harm Müller-Spreer, his Italian tactician Vasco Vascotto, strategist Jordi Calafat and the crew with Michael Müller from Kiel and Gerd Habermüller from Austria also took to the water.
52 Super Series: multiple world champion in the game
Ten teams from seven countries will compete in a monohull power game at the highest level. After the Thai Whitcraft family from Team Vayu won the XS 52 Super Newport Trophy three weeks ago at the same venue, hopes of winning the World Championship are running high across the entire fleet. Three teams have already won the world title at least once, but none have emerged as dominant favourites so far in this still young season. Neither Doug DeVos' Team Quantum Racing Powered by American Magic (USA) nor Harm Müller-Spreer's "Platoon Aviation" or Takashi Okura's "Sled" can be sure of a podium finish.
We will definitely be competing to defend our title" (Harm Müller-Spreer)
This does not mean that all three teams and other teams in the 52 Super Series are not hungry for titles and medals at the World Championship. Three-time TP52 world champion Harm Müller-Spreer said without hesitation in an interview with YACHT online on Monday: "We will definitely be competing to defend our title." The team has replaced the rudder of the "Platoon Aviation", which broke a few weeks ago off Newport in a collision with an unknown underwater object ("UFO"), with a new one and made a few other changes to the new Botin design, which they want to keep to themselves for the time being.
Harm Müller-Spreer said in Newport: "I am very positive. We have a real fighting spirit in this platoon aviation team. We've been sailing together for so long that we know what it takes to win. And I firmly believe that we will win here. It has taken us some time to get to know the new boat. In Newport last month we had the feeling that we were really there when we damaged the rudder. But now we are there. We are fighters and confident. That's so important in sport, including at this World Championship."
New "Platoon Aviation" on course for the World Cup
According to the Hamburg entrepreneur from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, his team approaches every race with the aim of winning it. His crew and he himself first had to get to grips with the new boat with the somewhat bulkier bow. Harm Müller-Spreer said: "It behaves very differently to the old boat. You have to get used to it first. You have to learn to sail the boat. It has to be optimised, because in this class even minimal differences are decisive in the war." The new "Platoon Aviation", for example, has "a little more righting moment at eight or nine knots in the wind and is perhaps a little more stable", says Harm Müller-Spreer.
Tony Langley's "Gladiator" is one of the 52 Super Series teams on the verge of winning a regatta - in this case the World Championship. Sailing under the British flag, the crew led by Argentinian helmsman and three-time TP52 world champion Guillermo Parada came just two points short of victory at the XS 52 Super Series Newport Trophy last month.
At the moment we are winning races, but we haven't had the perfect week yet" (Guillermo Parada)
Parada is also convinced that his crew has what it takes to win the world title, saying with a smile: "Why not? We like the venue, but we need to be a little more consistent throughout the week. That's what we're still missing. Hopefully we can do that now at the right time. How big that chance is depends on how well we do our job. I think Team Vayu has shown us all that the fleet is so close now that most of us have a good chance of winning an event in a good week. We need to focus on being consistent. At the moment we are winning races, but we haven't had the perfect week yet. We need to stop making the avoidable mistakes."
Hasso and Tina Plattner with "Phoenix" in Newport
The multiple winners from the host New York Yacht Club, on the other hand, faltered in the first Newport regatta on their home turf. Doug DeVos' US team Quantum Racing powered by American Magic weakened at the wrong moment. After being in the lead all week and only needing a solid final day to win the regatta, the favourites messed up the last two races thoroughly. Not only did they give up 19 points, but also the trophy they already had a hand on.
Nevertheless, the Americans remain a strong force in the 52 Super Series. They have won more pots and medals than any other team in the 52 Super Series. Since winning their first World Championship title off Lanzarote in 2008, Doug DeVos' sailors have won six more, most recently in Cascais in 2022. "We've realised that we've really struggled on the final day of the last two regattas. We probably tried too hard to be perfect in the excitement of winning as youngsters. We have revised this and will be more disciplined. If we are in this privileged position again, we will stick to the procedures that obviously work," said skipper and tactician Victor Diaz de Leon.
The first regatta off Newport was already considered a success by many participants and observers. The regatta area chosen by the 52 Super Series is new to the fleet and proved to be very open, with many different features to be included in the strategic game. These include not least the currents and the pressure changes when the wind changes to sea breeze. Tina Plattner also tested the conditions in the practice races at the helm of the "Phoenix" on Monday. Hasso and Tina Plattner and their team, led by three-time TP52 world champion Ed Baird, are competing in the world championship. The title series ends on 20 July.
470 champ Luise Wanser is co-commentator
For the first time, 470 World Champion Luise Wanser will be working as a co-commentator this World Championship week off Newport. The 27-year-old from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein will be out on the water alongside well-known chief commentator Andi Robertson as an observer and roving live reporter, reporting directly from the action on the course.
A look back at the XS 52 Super Series Newport Trophy last month - the same venue will now be the venue for the World Championship from 16 to 20 July:
