Sled claims 2026 52 Super Series opener after mast-top rescue with minutes to spare

Ivan Peute was somewhere near the top of Sled's mast when most crews were already locked into their pre-start routines. The mainsail halyard had come undone with twelve minutes left before the gun for the final race of Puerto Portals Sailing Week, and the Dutch bowman had no option but to climb up, lash the sail head in place, and get himself back down to the deck. He cleared it with less than two minutes to spare. Sled crossed the finish line third in that race, and third was enough. Takashi Okura's American entry claimed the opening title of the 2026 52 SUPER SERIES season by nine points from three-times world champions Platoon Aviation of Germany, with debutant Dutch team No Way Back rounding out the podium a single point further back.

The regatta ran from May 5 to 9 in the Bay of Palma off Mallorca, Spain, and drew a record fleet of 14 TP52s representing 11 nations. Three of those teams were stepping into 52 SUPER SERIES competition for the first time: No Way Back, Swedish newcomers Trinity Racing, and Brazilian entry Caballo Loco.

Nobody would have predicted the opening-day leaderboard. On May 5, light and shifty breezes of seven to ten knots put a premium on tactical patience, and it was the Thai-flagged Vayu, owned and steered by Don Whitcraft, that led Race 1 from the top mark all the way to the finish. The Whitcraft family's boat headed the overall standings at the close of play, with tactician Many Weiller quick to credit discipline and shift reading for the result. Weiller, who openly acknowledges his team's underdog status, offered a clear-eyed account of what had worked.

"You really notice the increase in the fleet size to 14 at the start," Weiller said. "The key today was to be patient, wait for the shift that worked in your favour, and try to join the main group."

Race 2 produced a story just as unlikely. Trinity Racing's rookie owner-helmsman Joakim Sundberg took the gun on a Botin-designed boat launched only a month before the regatta. The Swedes had spent their winter training on a Cape 31 in Palma waters and had won the Trofeo Princesa Sofia a month earlier, but Puerto Portals was their first proper outing in the 52 SUPER SERIES. Sundberg's days at the helm of a TP52 could be counted on two hands, and he had first stepped aboard any racing boat of any kind less than two years previously. The intensity of crossing the line first was evident when he spoke afterwards.

"At the finish of the race I was just laser focused, locked in getting over the finish line. My heart rate was really high. The first day could not have gone better," he said.

Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week

Day 1 results — Races 1 & 2

Bay of Palma, Mallorca • May 5, 2026

A very different bay greeted competitors on May 6. Sunshine and a strengthening sea breeze peaking at 16 knots set up fast racing, though approaching thunderclouds eventually killed the thermal and forced the second race to be shortened at the second windward mark. Alkedo Vitamina made the most of the conditions, sweeping both races under tactician Cameron Appleton in a sharp turnaround from the pair of ninth places they had posted the previous day. Appleton pointed to pin-end starts and a new keel fitted over the winter as the foundations of the reversal.

"It does not happen very often in this fleet," Appleton said. "We put a new keel on in the winter and that gives us more weight in the bulb. Today the boat did the work."

Even so, the overall lead did not go to Alkedo Vitamina. Ergin Imre's Provezza, guided by the Argentinian afterguard pairing of Cole Parada and Santi Lange, had placed inside the top five in every race to that point, and that consistency was enough to carry the Turkish-flagged entry to the head of the standings with a six-point buffer heading into day three.

Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week

Day 2 results — Races 3 & 4

Bay of Palma, Mallorca • May 6, 2026

Shifting offshore winds on May 7 scrambled the standings considerably. Provezza, which had looked so composed through the opening two days, fell to 13th in Race 5 and surrendered the overall lead to Sled. The American boat had posted a third and a second across the day's two races, and its pace in 12 to 16 knots was drawing praise from afterguard members Murray Jones and Francesco Bruni.

"We are very impressed by how the team is managing the pressure," Bruni said. "Today we had two very good starts, starts have been the highlight of the week."

The two race wins on day three went to Teasing Machine in Race 5 and Crioula in Race 6. For the Plass brothers' Brazilian entry, that victory was their first since the final regatta of the 2024 season in Valencia. Alkedo Vitamina, so dominant the day before, suffered a painful reversal, collecting 20 points across the two races.

Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week

Day 3 results — Races 5 & 6

Bay of Palma, Mallorca • May 7, 2026

Stormy cells swept through on May 8, breaking up the gradient breeze and pushing the start back to nearly 4pm. With time for only a single race, Provezza made it count. Backing in from the pin end and working the left side of the bay, the Turkish entry led from start to finish to claim their first race win of the week. The result carried added weight because the team's onboard computers had been knocked out by the rain, leaving navigator Nacho Postigo to call laylines by eye alone. Parada, who had stepped into the tactician's role at the final regatta of the 2025 season, described it with some relish.

"It was manual, like the old days," he said, noting it was his first win in the role.

Sled had a difficult afternoon, picking up two consecutive penalties and finishing 13th to slip back to second overall. Platoon Aviation fared worse still, with Harm Müller-Spreer's crew taking two penalties in rapid succession, first for crossing too close to No Way Back and then for fouling Alegre while attempting to take the first penalty. Among those to benefit was No Way Back, which moved to third overall after Pieter Heerema grabbed third place on the finish line from Caballo Loco.

Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week

Day 4 results — Race 7

Bay of Palma, Mallorca • May 8, 2026

When racing resumed on May 9, Sled and Provezza were separated by only a handful of points and the title remained genuinely open. Sled won Race 8 to strengthen their position, but then the halyard came undone and Ivan Peute went up the rig. He secured the sail and made it back to the deck with less than two minutes before the final start. The crew raced to third in Race 9, and the championship was theirs.

The week ended in frustration for Provezza. After leading for so much of the event, the team found themselves on the wrong side of the first upwind leg in the final race and finished 14th. For Platoon Aviation, second overall at least represented their best result since finishing runners-up in Baiona the previous June.

No Way Back completed a strong debut by finishing third overall. Heerema was campaigning the boat that had won both the 2025 Worlds and the season title under the name American Magic Quantum Racing, retaining 75 per cent of that champion crew, among them tactician Terry Hutchinson and strategist Morgan Larson.

Back at the dock, chants of "Ivan, Ivan, Ivan!" rang around the marina as Sled's crew celebrated. Bruni left no doubt about how close the title had come to slipping away.

"We are so happy. This is a team win. Our player of the day is Ivan our bowman. He is our MVP. He fixed our problem between the races. It was a huge problem. We would have had to race without a mainsail."

Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week

Final day results — Races 8 & 9

Bay of Palma, Mallorca • May 9, 2026

The circuit moves next to Porto Cervo, Sardinia, where the Rolex TP52 World Championship takes place from June 15 to 20.