Platoon Aviation top Puerto Portals leaderboard
With a nicely put together victory in the first race and an equally accomplished second position on the first day of the Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week, Harm Müller Spreer’s 2023 overall champions on Platoon Aviation today looked much more like the team which has won three TP52 World titles.
The German flagged team, led by Italian tactician Vasco Vascotto, have been struggling to get the best so far from their new TP52 this season and suffered a setback in Newport when they lost their rudder at the first of the two events there. But today, back in the modest 8-10 knots sea breezes of the familiar Bay of Palma, they looked for all the world like the title winning Platoon of old as they pieced two really solid results together to lead Tony Langley’s recently crowned Rolex TP52 World Champions Gladiator by a single point.
In the 13 boat fleet, which represents nine nations, clean, fast starting was more important than ever. But in fact Vascotto and strategist Jordi Calafat did the best job of reading the first upwind best after a moderate start. They worked the middle right and found a nice shift to lead the Brasilian Crioula Team around the top mark. While Platoon Aviation extended slightly there was an excellent second place for the Crioula crew in their very first race on the 52 SUPER SERIES. Gladiator did well to get to third after being slowed off the line by Vayu which was over the start early.
Pin sharp
A sharp time on distance start at the pin end of the start line, such as has become the recent hallmark of the Gladiator team, saw the world champions leading Platoon around the windward mark of the second race with Austin and Gwen Fragomen’s Interlodge in third. Platoon Aviation got right back into Gladiator on the second beat, on port tack they elected to duck the leaders on the final approach to the top mark rather than risk a penalty. But Langley’s team, with Guille Parada steering, increased their lead going on to win.
For so many years brothers-in-arms at the back of overall title winners Azzurra, now the rivalry between Platoon Aviation’s Vascotto and Gladiator’s Parada is intense on the water but delightfully uplifting and good humoured ashore. “Speak to the luckiest guy out there today……’ Parada ribbed Vascotto on the dock congratulating the Italian a huge bear hug. In truth Parada is nearly as pleased to see his friend now up giving Gladiator a run for their money as Vascotto is.
“I think we sail better with the boat now.” Vascotto smiled, “ We are starting to learn now. We were not zeroes before and we are not heroes now. This boat has a different volume so the trim is very important and you need to pay attention to it. Also how to set up the mast and things like that, so we are making progress for sure. And the rivalry with Guille is great, he is doing such a great job it is great to see and what he is doing is not easy. It is very difficult to fight with them at the starts, he is always where he wants to be on the line – that does not mean it is where you need to be – but they start well. Right now he has a very high percentage and they deserve to be leading the circuit. And for us on Platoon Aviation it is a matter of trying to be nearer or in the top group. I think now we are. But we need to recover a lot of points we won in the season now. There is plenty of racing left this season I am old enough to know in this fantastic huge fleet we have now that there are a lot of points on the table so everything is open.”
Parada won’t be drawn on the subject but on a day like this they are opening more points all the time on Quantum Racing Powered by American Magic which lies third with a ten points aggregate for the day.
For the new teams – Crioula Team and Eric De Turckheim’s Teasing Machine – their first day in the fleet was one of mixed fortunes, as you might expect. The Brasilian crew started with a second but finished 12th in the second race to lie fifth overall whilst the French showed great moments in the second race lying fourth on the first circuit before dropping to 11th.
PUERTO PORTALS 52 SUPER SERIES SAILING WEEK Standings after Day 1
1. PLATOON AVIATION (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 1+2 = 3
2. GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 3+1 = 4
3. QUANTUM RACING POWERED BY AMERICAN MAGIC (USA), Doug DeVos, 4+6 = 10
4. INTERLODGE (USA), Austin & Gwen Fragomen, 8+3 = 11
5. CRIOULA (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 2+12 = 14
6. VAYU (THA), Whitcraft Family, 9+5 = 14
7. SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 5+9 = 14
8. PAPREC (FRA), Jean-Luc Pethuguenin, 6+8 = 14
9. ALPHA+ (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 12+4 = 16
10. PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso y Tina Plattner, 11+7 = 18
11. PROVEZZA (TUR), Ergin Imre, 7+13 = 20
12. ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 10+10 = 20
13. TEASING MACHINE (FRA), Eric De Turckheim, 13+11 = 24
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