A record fleet of 15 boats drawn from 11 nations is heading to Porto Cervo for the 2026 Rolex TP52 World Championship, and the contest shapes up as perhaps the most genuinely open the class has produced. More than half the field can mount a credible challenge for the title, and the difference between lifting the trophy and finishing fifth is widely expected to hinge on maintaining a clean scorecard throughout the series rather than producing any single spectacular performance.
Simon Fry, who trims aboard Gladiator and was crowned world champion in 2024, understands precisely what that demands. "Banking the thirds, fourths, fifths and sixths is going to be so important in a fleet of this size now. You cannot drop a 12th or 13th on your scorecard. Realistically there are only three or four boats you would discount from an overall win," he says. That reality informs every call made on the water, from conservative starts to carefully measured risk-taking when the racing gets intense.
Three former world champions are chasing a return to the top step. Takashi Okura's Sled claimed the title in 2021 and arrives carrying real momentum, having won at Porto Cervo last season before adding another victory at Puerto Portals just last month. Harm Müller-Spreer's Platoon Aviation has accumulated three world championships dating back to 2017, while Tony Langley's Gladiator took the title in Newport two years ago. Pedigree counts for something in a fleet this competitive, but it is no substitute for the kind of sustained consistency that a full regatta week demands.
Sled's tactician Francesco Bruni is measured about what the path to victory looks like. "Our boat is going well but it is more how we sail the boat. With more boats the risk management is a key factor. You have to deal with the bad moments. We have a great team around us, and that makes a big difference. You work with a lot less pressure and can trust your instincts a lot more," Bruni explains.
Platoon Aviation finished runners-up in Mallorca last month, and their strategist Jordi Calafat, an Olympic gold medallist, is disarmingly frank about the ground still to cover. "We don't have the fastest boat out there so we still have a little bit of work to do. But there are conditions where we are fast, and with more boats, if you start well and sail well that gives you chances."
Gladiator arrives with the programme that delivered the world title on American shores, though owner Langley's injury kept him off the water at Puerto Portals, and that disruption has carried costs. New strategist Victor Diaz de Leon, who won the 2025 world championship with American Magic Quantum Racing, has not yet accumulated the race time needed to build genuine working chemistry with skipper Guille Parada. Fry is pragmatic about where things stand. "We have a chance to win. The level is so impressive."
Andrea Lacorte's Alkedo Vitamina has attracted notice as one of the quickest hulls in the fleet, the only boat to record two race wins at the Mallorca event. Ergin Imre's Provezza led the overall standings after the opening regatta of the season, and Pieter Heerema's No Way Back comes in with a crew that draws heavily on former American Magic/Quantum Racing experience, with roughly 75 per cent of the team carrying that background. The boat also welcomes back Lucas Calabrese, a 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, stepping into the strategist role for Porto Cervo.
The venue itself adds another dimension to proceedings. Porto Cervo last hosted the world championship in 2014, when Ed Baird's Quantum Racing edged Azzurra by just two points. Conditions there are famously unpredictable, capable of swinging from powerful Mistral winds one day to near-glassy calm the next, with a sea breeze that can complicate matters further. Crews that adapt rapidly to those shifts tend to find themselves ahead; those that commit too firmly to a single approach tend to pay for it.
One boat adds a fresh storyline to the week by making its 52 Super Series debut. Vudu, campaigned by Italian owner-driver Mauro Gestri, was relaunched from its former life as Azzurra and recently finished second at the ORC World Championships. Giovanni Sanfelice, the team's downwind trimmer, is candid about where the programme sits. "Our owner is still relatively new, this is our second season together and his second season ever racing. We are looking to learn as much as we can," he says.
Racing begins on Tuesday following Monday's practice day. With as many as eight different boats capable of claiming individual race wins and overall margins likely to be counted in single-digit points, Porto Cervo is set to deliver a world championship that is genuinely wide open.
