Gladiator lead into final World Championship Showdown

Takashi Okura’s Sled, the 2021 world champions representing the hosts, the New York Yacht Club, scored best today at the Rolex TP52 World Championship in Newport, RI. Their first and second places sees them going into Saturday’s finale just one single point behind championship leaders Tony Langley’s British flagged Gladiator.

With up to three races planned for the final day it mighg prove to be more than a two cornered fight between Sled and Gladiator. For sure it will take steely nerves and focus, backed up by perfect risk management to lift the 2024 world title from such an evenly matched ten strong fleet of TP52s.

While Sled’s three points daily aggregate, and four points today for Hasso and Tina Plattner’s South African flagged Phoenix – third with Hasso steering, the win for daughter Tina – reflects top drawer consistency in the light 7-11kts of SW’ly winds, sadly that was not the case for Andy Soriano’s Alegre which slipped from contention.

Alegre were second going into today a point behind Gladiator but their tenth and ninth from Races 6 and 7 drops them to fourth and is a timely reminder of what can happen to even the best of the top teams, just as we saw with seven times world champions Quantum Racing powered by American Magic on the last day of last month’s XS 52 SUPER SERIES Newport Trophy.

Meanwhile Harm Müeller-Spreer’s 2023 World Champions Platoon Aviation are on the up with two fourth places today. The German team look now to be in good enough shape to finish on the podium.

Sled won the first race of the day beating Gladiator into second and then they chased Phoenix across the finish line in the second race.  Gladiator steered by Guillermo Parada, came ashore ruing a point lost in the second race. They have great speed this week and the confidence to back themselves, whilst always minimising any losses before they become too big.  

Gladiator owner Tony Langley summed up “It really is so tight. We did not have a bad day but we did not have the best day. I gave away a point on that second race which I am annoyed about right now. I made a bad decision. But we go into the last day the same as every other day. We press the reset button and what has gone before means nothing.”

The Sled crew who won the world title in 2021 with Murray Jones steering when the owner could not travel, would really love to thank Mr Okura for their support over that special year by tomorrow helping deliver the 2024 world championship with the passionate owner steering on their home waters. This year they have three times world title winner Adrian Stead as tactician working with Jones as strategist. They led after Day 1 and are hungry for success:

Sled’s Kiwi mainsheet trimmer and project manager Don Cowie enthused, “It is nice to go into the last day with a chance of winning the overall trophy. I think we sailed conservatively today but took our opportunities when they came up. The guys at the back of the boat did a nice job, the boat is going really nicely. We made a change at half time with a change in the mainsail department when the breeze came up and so that made a difference. We have worked hard at our light airs trim as we felt we were a big sticky here last month, so we feel really comfortable whatever comes our way. Three races will be tough to get in as it is such a slow build breeze, today was slow build with the sea breeze and the forecast is much the same for tomorrow. But we will take each race as it comes. Gladiator are starting well, that is a pro driver thing, and the boat is going really well. They are strong team and so we are up against a strong bunch of guys. But is far from a two cornered fight, this is about staying consistent and we have not always done that.”

ROLEX TP52 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2024 OVERALL AFTER SEVEN RACES
1. GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 9+1+1+1+5+2+5 = 24      
2. SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 2+2+9+6+3+1+2 = 25     
3. PLATOON AVIATION (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 7+3+4+9+1+4+4 = 32      
4. ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 3+4+6+3+2+10+9 = 37       
5. PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso & Tina Plattner, 10+6+7+4+7+3+1 = 38   
6. QUANTUM RACING POWERED BY AMERICAN MAGIC (USA), Doug DeVos, 6+10+3+2+8+7+3 = 39     
7. ALPHA+ (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 5+5+5+7+6+9+7 = 44 
8. VAYU (THA), Familia Whitcraft, 1+7+2+8+10+8+10 = 46 
9. PAPREC (FRA), Jean-Luc Pethuguenin, 4+8+8+5+9+5+8 = 47    
10. INTERLODGE (USA), Austin & Gwen Fragomen, 8+9+11(DNS)+11(DNS)+4+6+6 = 55