Ergin Imre’s team with their newly launched Provezza lead the Valencia 52 Super Series Royal Cup after the first two races of the final event of the 2024 season were sailed in a testing, shifty light to moderate offshore SW’ly wind which really had the afterguards on their toes through the afternoon racing off the Malvarrosa Beach.

Provezza, launched August, sailed to a fourth and a second in the 13 boat fleet which represents nine nations to lead Andy Soriano’s Alegre by a single point whilst third place is held by Platoon Aviation meaning the top three are all 2024 launched boats built at this week’s regatta hosts King Marine.

Tina Plattner steered her Phoenix to win the first race of the event, tactician Ed Baird and strategist Cam Dunn doing the best job of recognising the potential gain to be found on the right side of the first upwind. By the windward mark they were comfortably ahead and never challenged with Alegre taking second and Eric de Turckheim’s Teasing Machine third. Phoenix were over the start line early on the next race and had to restart.

After a short delay there was more breeze for the second race and this time the right was not so preferable. With the wind peaking at 13-14kts Alegre led at the top mark but lost out on the second upwind when both Provezza and Platoon Aviation made good gains, Harm Müller-Spreer’s German flagged team taking the win ahead of Provezza with the French team on Paprec getting a well deserved third.

Provezza’s strategist Cole Parada noted, “In the offshore breeze it was complicated but we got two good results which is good for the team morale and we are happy with how things are going so far. Today you had to sail in the pressure and use the shifts, in this offshore breeze it was tricky. It was a fight between the gradient and the sea breeze which was trying to kick in. Many times we were not sure which would prevail but fortunately we manged to pick the right ones, and we got two good results.”

He added, “The new boat is gong well now. In the last event we were raw and quite green. But now we feel better and are going better, hopefully it keeps going.
And there is still a long way to go on the learning curve. But we are chipping away, we are tweaking and learning all the time what the boat needs, little tweaks with the sails, the rig and the electronics. And having missed the two events in Newport the crew were a bit rusty as well.”

And Alegre’s Will Ryan explained, “ It was such a positive day for the Alegre, as ever you cannot win the regatta on the first day but you can lose it and so to come away with two keepers is always the goal on Day 1, and we achieved that. The TP52’s are so close that every race with a finish in the top five is a keeper. So typically we are here and it is not the normal conditions, the wind is from the SW and we are getting big variations between 220 and 250 and big changes in pressure and shifts and so everyone was discussing what sails we should have up all the way through the morning and then it was no easier when we were actually on the race course. We got some right and got a few wrong. On that last race on the last upwind we got it a little bit wrong but we were already in a good spot to consolidate and hold on to that. That is what this week is going to be about, avoiding the really deep scores. We have some new guys on board who are bringing some new energy and for us that is a little about looking at the season ahead, there are positive first signs already at this event and hopefully we can carry that right into next season.”

For the two top contenders for the 2024 circuit title Tony Langley’s Gladiator and Doug DeVos’s Quantum Racing powered by American Magic it was a less profitable day in terms of good scores. Gladiator started off the pin on the first race and the committee boat on the second and neither worked very well for them. Their 12th was followed by a more useful fourth meaning a 16 points aggregate for the first day. With Quantum finishing 11, 6 neither did their chances of landing the 2024 title this coming Saturday any significant harm but both will want to step up their game in the
coming days considering Platoon clawed back nine points of their 20 points deficit to second on the overall today.

Platoon Aviation’s Galician ace Victor Mariño’highlighted, “A complicated day, with many wind shifts, changes in pressure and where you can’t foresee anything: you have to go out, play your race, play your options and play a bit of luck that puts you in front. We were right in the second race, but not in the first but finishing a day like today with a first and an eighth at least keeps you alive.”

In Mariño’s opinion, this first day podium means little, “Today wasn’t a day of boat speed, but of gambling and getting it right. Today it was the three new boats, yes, but the conditions are going to change over the next few days, with stronger winds, and that’s where the boat that is better in the wind and the crew that can handle these conditions will do better.”

VALENCIA 52 SUPER SERIES ROYAL CUP STANDINGS AFTER TWO RACES
1. PROVEZZA (TUR), Ergin Imre, 4+2 = 6  
2. ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 2+5 = 7     
3. PLATOON AVIATION (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 8+1 = 9     
4. PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso & Tina Plattner, 1+11 = 12 
5. PAPREC (FRA), Jean-Luc Pethuguenin, 9+3 = 12 
6. CRIOULA (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 6+8 = 14 
7. TEASING MACHINE (FRA), Eric De Turckheim, 3+13 = 16
8. GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 12+4 = 16  
9. INTERLODGE (USA), Austin & Gwen Fragomen, 7+9 = 16 
10. VAYU (THA), Whitcraft FAMILY, 5+12 = 17  
11. QUANTUM RACING POWERED BY AMERICAN MAGIC (USA), Doug DeVos, 11+6 = 17
12. SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 13+7 = 20      13. ALPHA+ (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 10+10 = 20