Platoon Aviation poised for first regatta win since Royal Cup 2024, Sled damage compromises season challenge

With a first and a fourth from the breeziest day of racing so far at the Puerto Calero Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Royal Cup, Germany’s three times World Champions Platoon Aviation have staked a strong claim to their fourth Royal Cup as they carry a 16 points lead into the final day.

While Harm Müller-Spreer’s team have remained super consistent over the eight races sailed so far, following up their four points tally on Thursday with five points today, their main rivals have not managed to match them.

And there was huge disappointment for Takashi Okura’s Sled team, world champions. After a modest, high scoring few races they were on a sharp upwards trajectory and seemed ready to challenge for the regatta podium when their forestay ram spear suddenly broke during the second race. They acted quickly to support the mast but could not finish and collected 13 points.

Sled led the circuit standings by 17 points before this Royal Cup regatta started on Tuesday but the pendulum has swung and now Platoon Aviation have a ten points lead.

Sled’s Don Cowie explained, “The forestay ram spear broke, which is a very unusual failure. It went with a pretty loud bang. So, obviously we couldn’t finish the race. We wanted to try and do just for the one point. But we’ve got a good squad here and they’ll try their best to fix it for us for tomorrow. It’s a hydraulic ram on the forestay, and the rod that goes up and down inside the ram broke. The spear’s not repairable, but we’ve got Jim and Felix here from Gorilla Foils and they’re hydraulic experts, so they’re going to try and rebuild it for us tonight. I am disappointed as we’re only a couple of points off fourth and nine points off third for the regatta. So we’ve just got to keep chipping away and maybe be the stalker in Valencia instead of the stalked, which is sometimes quite nice.”

Platoon Aviation won the first race comfortably, accelerating away from the first upwind mark and staying clear of the pack to deliver their most impressive race since the fleet came to Lanzarote last month. Winners last month Paprec, Jean Luc Petithugeunin’s French team, took the first gun ahead of Gladiator in the next race. Third through the line, after leading at the top mark first time up, Eduardo and Renato Plass Crioula move up to third overall, the best position this season so far for the Brazilian team.

Eduardo Plass, the Crioula helm smiled, “We’re very happy that after a very tough week, very tough days, and the team is very concentrated and we could have a very good day with a fourth and a third. We’re doing all the same things as before. We never give up. The first couple of days we were really in a bad situation at the starts, but we could recover at the end of the races because we never give up. The team are very well trained and we’re very happy with the team. We just keep practising and trying to go ahead. It helps a lot because we always have the same crew and we change very little, and having another TP52 in Brazil helps us a lot, and we have good competition there, so we’re happy to come here and be very well trained, and nobody gets hurt and they get good results. That’s the idea. We are not really concerned about being on the podium right now. We hope we can just stay in the middle of whatever happens, you know. It’s just having fun with the team and this is what we have. If we win, then we’ll be more happy. We Just love it.”

For Saturday’s showdown winds are set to be lighter, Platoon seeming to have a relatively straightforward task to close out their first regatta title, ironically since they last won the Royal Cup in Valencia in 2024 when Crioula missed the podium by two points in their first season on the circuit.

Juan Vila, Platoon Aviation’s navigator summed up: “We are very happy with how the boat’s performing now and with the result. But we are just chipping away. Obviously it’s a shame to see the problems on our main competitor for the season. We know that feeling.
Vasco and Jordi are doing a very good job and also all the crew work. As you can imagine with a breezy day downwind, the strength of the crew is important, the maneuvers, so we have been together now for a while, and now we can see the results of us keeping the same team for all this season. The boat is faster than what it was. We did some work on the speed, and now we’re happy with the package we’ve got as it seems to be quite all round, so that’s the advantage. But it’s never finished till it’s finished. It just takes a little bit of bad luck and we see how it goes. Boats that seem strong one day can be weaker the next day. So I think we need to concentrate on how we’re doing things and keep the momentum up. Tomorrow’s forecast is a little bit lighter than today.”

Puerto Calero Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Royal Cup after eight of 10 races

1. Platoon Aviation (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 6+2+6+1+2+2+1+4 = 24 
2. Provezza (TUR), Ergin Imre, 1+7+2+5+1+10+5+9 = 40  
3. Crioula (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 7+4+4+6+11+4+4+3 = 43 
4. Trinity Racing (SWE), Joakim Sundberg, 10+6+3+7+6+3+10+5 = 50
5. Sled, Takashi Okura, 4+10+5+11+5+1+2+13(DNF) = 51     
6. Vayu (THA), Whitcraft Family, 2+3+9+3+8+8+11+10 = 54 
7. Paprec (FRA), Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 9+11+1+4+9+12+8+1 = 55
8. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 3+12+7+8+10+7+6+2 = 55    
9. No Way Back (NED), Pieter Heerema, 8+5+12+2+12+11+3+6 = 59    
10. Alegre (GBR), Andy Soriano, 5+8+11+9+4+5+9+8 = 59 
11. Alpha + (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 11+1+8+10+7+6+12+7 = 62   
12. Alkedo Cetilar (ITA), Andrea Lacorte, 12+9+10+12+3+9+7+11 = 73  
13. Teasing Machine (FRA), Eric de Turckheim, 14(DNS)+14(DNS)+14(DNS)+14(DNS)+14(DNS)+14(DNS)+14(DNS)+13(DNS) = 111  

52 SUPER SERIES 2026 after 8 races in Puerto Calero
1. Platoon Aviation (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 51+53+33+24 = 161 
2. Sled, Takashi Okura, 42+47+31+51 = 171
3. Paprec (FRA), Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 72+61+24+55 = 212
4. Alkedo Cetilar (ITA), Andrea Lacorte, 58+56+26+73 = 213 
5. Trinity Racing (SWE), Joakim Sundberg, 73+49+46+50 = 218
6. No Way Back (NED), Pieter Heerema, 52+69+44+59 = 224
7. Provezza (TUR), Ergin Imre, 56+71+62+40 = 229
8. Alpha + (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 67+55+48+62 = 232
9. Crioula (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 59+76+66+43 = 244
10. Vayu (THA), Whitcraft Family, 86+73+55+54 = 268
11. Alegre (GBR), Andy Soriano, 90+72+50+59 = 271
12. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 59+88+90+55 = 292
13. Teasing Machine (FRA), Eric de Turckheim, 83+82+70+111 = 346