Four races in, and Vayu simply will not stop finding the front of the fleet.
The Thai-flagged Whitcraft family boat continued its understated form off Malvarrosa Beach, holding the overall lead at the 52 SUPER SERIES Valencia Sailing Week despite nothing spectacular in the way of individual results. Scores of 8, 2, 5 and 2 don't look like a dominant campaign on paper. On the water, in shifty offshore breeze, they've been enough.
Behind them, the title fight remains exactly that. A fight.
Harm Müller-Spreer's Platoon Aviation were top scorers of the day, posting a first and a fifth in 9-12 knot offshore winds. Yet that only nets them a single point against Takashi Okura's Sled since the regatta began, and the German team's championship cushion sits at 12 points with three days of the season still to sail. Tactician Vasco Vascotto was not satisfied.
"Especially in this kind of breeze you have to sail with personality and I think I failed in the second race," Vascotto said. "We started very well and are leading and then maybe I watched Sled too much. In the shifty breeze you need to sail your own race and we lost three of four places, and that is a pity. One and five, boat of the day is not a bad result at all but as I always say I like to sail well and the result is always a consequence of how you sail, good or bad. Today I think we could have sailed a little better."
Sled, for their part, are sailing smartly and starting well, and sit just a point adrift of Vayu overall. Only two points cover the top four boats at this regatta, with Alkedo Cetilar and Sled locked together on 19, Vayu on 17 and Platoon on 18.
Vayu's Mallorca-based tactician Manu Weiller put the team's week down to clean starts and reading the shifts early.
"Yesterday was a great day, today was even better. We are getting good starts and getting in phase with the wind shifts early. We stay out of trouble and have made good first mark roundings. We are very good on the first days but now we seem to be good on the second days too, let's hope we can keep it up."
Italian entry Alkedo Cetilar won the second race comfortably, backing up Tuesday's win and tightening its grip on third overall. Andrea Lacorte's team now lead fourth and fifth, Trinity and Paprec, by 16 points. For Lacorte, racing on his birthday, the timing could hardly have been better.
"What a perfect way to celebrate your birthday, doing well in this biggest ever 16 boat fleet in the top level of monohull sailing in the world!" he said. "I am more than happy, not easy races and recovering both times. We are confident in ourselves, we are confident in the boat but anything can happen."
In the 2026 circuit standings, Platoon Aviation lead on 189 points, Sled sit second on 201, Alkedo Cetilar third on 236, and Trinity Racing and Paprec are tied for fourth on 252.
Racing resumes Thursday, with a start scheduled around 1400hrs local time in Valencia. With three days of competition left and barely two points separating the top four boats, this regatta is still there for the taking.
