Four races into the Rolex TP52 World Championship at Porto Cervo, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin's French crew aboard Paprec have taken a firm grip on the 15-boat fleet. A race win and a third place in light, settled conditions have opened up a two-point buffer at the top of the standings, their sharpest performance of the 2026 season to date. In champagne breezes, where a single error is brutally difficult to recover from, consistency carries enormous value.
The day's most compelling story may have belonged to Alpha Plus, the Hong Kong boat steered by Nick Egnot-Johnson. The young helm strung together back-to-back bullets, a first and a second, to vault into contention. The afterguard supporting him is formidable: Ado Stead and Ian Moore, both former TP52 world champions, alongside Craig Monk, a double America's Cup winner. Project manager Luke Van Der Kamp explained the team's progress. "We came in to the season with a little bit less time on the water than other teams, so it took a little bit to get caught up," he said. "But today we feel like we're dialled in. The team talk was to go out and be solid and unspectacular." Steering clear of the previous day's risks paid off, landing them fifth overall.
The second race showed how quickly the picture can change. Paprec led at the first top mark, but a rightward shift in the breeze reshuffled things and Alpha Plus found a way through. That same shift proved a lifeline for Pieter Heerema's No Way Back, crewed by nine members of last year's champion American Magic Quantum Racing, who clawed back from 15th to eighth. Day one leader Sled, meanwhile, suffered through a 12-point fourth race and dropped to third overall.
Loïck Peyron, the ocean racing legend central to Paprec's campaign, was visibly lifted by the day's results. "We had a good first race after a good start," he said, grinning. "The second one wasn't so good at the beginning, but we're sailing well. I felt very aware today, in tune with what was going on." Anyone who followed Paprec through last year's World Championship in Cascais, where they finished second before losing the title on the final day, will recognise that same poise. "There's such a big fight and I still love it," Peyron added, a line that captures the raw intensity of TP52 racing, where clear wind is currency and tactical patience separates the winners from the rest.
No Way Back sits two points adrift in second, with Sled a further step back in third. The championship continues in conditions that suit the smoothest operators, crews who can thread the needle between aggression and restraint.
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