A record 52 SUPER SERIES fleet opens the season finale in Valencia, with Platoon Aviation carrying an 11-point lead over Sled into five days of racing.
The 52 SUPER SERIES season comes down to one week in Valencia. Sixteen TP52 teams from eleven nations, the largest fleet the circuit has ever assembled, are based at Marina de València beneath the Veles e Vents building for Valencia Sailing Week, the final regatta of 2026. Scoring races run from Tuesday to Saturday, with up to ten races planned, and when the last one is sailed the season champion will be crowned.
Monday’s official practice day gave the fleet a first look at the race area, with the breeze building to 11 knots. Two Brazilian teams set the pace. Caballo Loco and Crioula led the field in practice, though Crioula’s owner-driver Eduardo Plass was quick to put the result in perspective. “It is only the training day when it counts for nothing,” he said.
The size of the fleet changes the calculation for everyone. Cole Parada, tactician on Provezza, summed it up after practice: “If you could keep every result in the top seven in this fleet you’d do very well at the end of the week.”
At the top of the standings the title fight is between two teams. Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon Aviation lead the season on 171 points, with Takashi Okura’s Sled 11 points behind on 182. Behind them the battle for the podium is just as tight. Andrea Lacorte’s Alkedo Cetilar sit third on 217, with PAPREC on 228 and Trinity on 229, separated by a single point.
It has been a season of different winners. Sled, PAPREC and Platoon Aviation have all won regattas in 2026, and no team arrives in Valencia with the title secure.
The TP52 is a 52-foot grand prix monohull built for close inshore racing at the highest level of the sport, sailed by crews of around a dozen. In a fleet of sixteen, small mistakes are expensive, and the scoring across ten races leaves little room to recover from a bad day.
Season standings before Valencia:
- Platoon Aviation (GER), 171 points
- Sled, 182 points
- Alkedo Cetilar (ITA), 217 points
- PAPREC (FRA), 228 points
- Trinity (SWE), 229 points
Organisers have said racing will be streamed live on the official 52 SUPER SERIES YouTube channel, with commentary in English and Spanish. Sailing Times will carry the official stream on its homepage throughout the week.
