Sixteen TP52s lined up at the base of Valencia's Veles e Vents building today, the biggest fleet the 52 SUPER SERIES has ever assembled.
Brazilian crews Caballo Loco and Crioula set the tone in official practice racing ahead of Tuesday's opening races of the Valencia Sailing Week, the final event of the 2026 season. In a breeze that built to 11 knots, the pair sailed cleanly to finish out front of the record turnout.
None of it counts in the standings, as everybody at the dock was quick to point out.
"It is only the training day when it counts for nothing," Crioula's owner-driver Eduardo Plass said back at the dock, smiling wryly. "But we are sailing the boat well I feel and if we get some good wind I think we can do well again. Caballo Loco sailed well too, they are just getting used to the circuit."
The season has already thrown up three different regatta winners. Takashi Okura's Sled took Puerto Portals and Porto Cervo, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin's Paprec won at Marina Rubicon in Lanzarote, and Harm Müller-Spreer's Platoon Aviation claimed Puerto Calero. With the Brazilians, relative newcomers to this level, leading the way on day one in Valencia, this week looks capable of going to almost anyone.
With almost every boat near the top of its game, there is less room for error. A small mistake that might once have cost a place or two could now prove far more expensive.
"If we got what we did today, a fourth and a fifth, most days of the regatta we would be very happy in this fleet," said Cole Parada, tactician on Provezza, which arrives off the back of a third place, its first podium of the season. The team also welcomes back three-time Olympic medallist Santi Lange to the coach boat.
"If you could keep every result in the top seven in this fleet you'd do very well at the end of the week," Parada said. "We had good events in Puerto Portals and in Puerto Calero and we sail the boat well, these conditions here suit our boat better than the heavy breeze. We are going better in these conditions, we were quick today but made a couple of mistakes. And having Santi back is another boost, he is another very good set of eyes and has good input to our strategy before the start."
Around the dock, technical containers are stacked in rows, shore crews move everywhere, and bunting is strung between masts. Many here reckon this circuit has become the pinnacle of monohull racing anywhere in the world.
Alegre's Italian navigator Francesco Mongelli put it plainly. "Sailing in this fleet, I am maybe getting a little bored of some other sailing maybe, but now sailing against 15 other boats this is so good, so nice, it is proper sport. I love it. Maybe for some of us, this is why we fell in love with sailing."
He added: "The America's Cup is not representative of traditional sailing and this is. This is about teamwork, it is about technology, not at the same level as the Cup, but if you want to keep making the boat better there are always small gains. And that technical gain might be just enough to get you across another boat on port tack. That is important and worth fighting for."
Racing proper starts Tuesday.
