Valencia 52 Super Series Royal Cup – Day 1
by 52 Super Series 24 Sep 10:31 PDT
23-28 September 2024
Ergin Imre’s crew, sailing their newly launched Provezza, topped the Valencia 52 SUPER SERIES Royal Cup standings after two races of the season’s final event. The racing took place in challenging, shifty light to moderate offshore SW winds that kept the afterguards on their toes throughout the afternoon off Malvarrosa Beach.
Provezza, launched in August, secured a fourth and a second in the 13-boat fleet, which represents nine nations. This positioned them just ahead of Andy Soriano’s Alegre by a single point, with Platoon Aviation in third place, making the top three all boats launched in 2024 built by this week’s host, King Marine.
Tina Plattner helmed her Phoenix to victory in the first race of the event, with tactician Ed Baird and strategist Cam Dunn excelling at spotting gains on the right side of the first upwind leg. By the windward mark, they were comfortably in the lead and faced no challenges, with Alegre finishing second and Eric de Turckheim’s Teasing Machine in third. Phoenix started early in the next race and had to restart.
Following a brief delay, the second race saw increased wind, making the right side less advantageous. The wind peaked at 13-14 knots, allowing Alegre to lead at the top mark. However, they lost ground on the second upwind when both Provezza and Platoon Aviation gained significantly, with Müller-Spreer’s German team winning ahead of Provezza and the French team Paprec in third.
Provezza’s strategist Cole Parada stated, “The offshore breeze was complicated, but we achieved two strong results, which boosts our team morale. We’re satisfied with our performance so far. Today, we had to sail towards the pressure and navigate the shifts, which was tricky. It was a contest between the gradient and the sea breeze attempting to establish dominance. Many times, we weren’t sure which would prevail, but thankfully we made the right calls and earned two solid results.”
He added, “Our new boat is performing well now. In the last event, we were still adjusting and it showed. But now we feel more confident and capable, and we hope to maintain this momentum.”
There’s still much to learn on this journey. We’re continuously refining and understanding what the boat requires—small adjustments to sails, rigging, and electronics. Missing the two events in Newport left the crew a bit out of practice.”
Alegre’s Will Ryan shared, “It was an encouraging day for us. As usual, you can’t win a regatta on the first day, but you can lose it. Coming away with two solid finishes is always the aim for Day 1, and we accomplished that. The TP52s are so competitive that finishing in the top five is a success. We’re facing unusual conditions; the wind is from the SW, with significant variations between 220 and 250 and notable pressure changes. The discussions about sail choices were ongoing throughout the morning, and it didn’t get easier on the race course. We made some right choices and a few wrong ones. On the last race during the final upwind, we miscalculated a little bit, but we had already established a good position to hold on. This week is about minimizing poor scores. We have some new crew members who bring fresh energy, which is a positive sign for our future.”
For the two main contenders for the 2024 circuit title, Tony Langley’s Gladiator and Doug DeVos’s Quantum Racing powered by American Magic, it was not an ideal beginning in terms of scoring. Gladiator started at the pin for the first race and at the committee boat in the second, neither yielding positive results. They finished 12th, followed by a more promising fourth, culminating in a 16-point total for the day. Quantum’s finishes of 11 and 6 didn’t severely affect their chances of securing the 2024 title this Saturday, but both teams will need to enhance their performance in the days ahead, especially since Platoon managed to gain nine points on their 20-point deficit to second overall today.
Platoon Aviation’s Galician ace Victor Mariño remarked, “It was a complex day filled with numerous wind shifts and pressure changes, making predictability difficult. You have to go out, play your race, leverage your options, and rely a bit on luck to get ahead. We performed well in the second race, though not in the first. Finishing a day with a first and an eighth keeps us competitive.”
Mariño opined that the podium results from this first day hold limited significance, “Today was about strategy, not boat speed. While the three new boats performed well, conditions will shift in the coming days with stronger winds. That’s when the faster boat and the crew adept at handling those conditions will outshine.”
Day 1 Standings for the Valencia 52 Super Series Royal Cup (two races):
1. PROVEZZA (TUR), Ergin Imre, 4+2 = 6pts
2. ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 2+5 = 7pts
3. PLATOON AVIATION (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 8+1 = 9pts
4. PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso & Tina Plattner, 1+11 = 12pts
5. PAPREC (FRA), Jean-Luc Pethuguenin, 9+3 = 12pts
6. CRIOULA (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 6+8 = 14pts
7. TEASING MACHINE (FRA), Eric De Turckheim, 3+13 = 16pts
8. GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 12+4 = 16pts
9. INTERLODGE (USA), Austin & Gwen Fragomen, 7+9 = 16pts
10. VAYU (THA), Whitcraft FAMILY, 5+12 = 17pts
11. QUANTUM RACING POWERED BY AMERICAN MAGIC (USA), Doug DeVos, 11+6 = 17pts
12. SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 13+7 = 20
13. ALPHA+ (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 10+10 = 20pts
