2025 GL52 Southern Series wrap-up
by GL52 Series 23 Apr 16:15 UTC
2025 GL52 Southern Showdown at Pensacola - Final day © Anna Suslova
As promised Pensacola rolled out a blue carpet reception for the GL52 fleet's 2025 Southern Series. The City of Pensacola and the GL52 Fleet share overlapping missions to establish a world-class yacht racing destination while promoting and developing American sailing talent.
On the eve of the inaugural GL52 Pensacola Cup (March 20-23) the fleet was welcomed by City officials, community leaders and local businesses at an event hosted by Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves. This set the stage for what would become the first of two fantastic weeks of top-level yacht racing on Pensacola Bay. The second regatta, was the recently-completed 2025 GL52 Southern Showdown held from April 10-13. These two regattas comprised the 2025 GL52 Southern Series.
The Pensacola Bay race course with its expanse of flat water and reliable, if sometimes shifty wind effectively levels the playing field, allowing the teams to focus on performance and strategy. In this sailing arena, crews perfect their maneuvers in tightly-run windward-leeward races, while playing the shifts provides the ultimate sail racing challenge for members of the afterguard. Combining these idyllic conditions, on-water umpiring, multiple data-collection systems and drone footage, the GL Fleet's Coaching and Rules teams present morning briefings sharing insights revealed by analysis of the previous day's data. This detailed understanding of performance among the equally matched boats and talented crews makes for very high-level competition which was on full display at both events of the Series.
Breeze on: On Day 1 of the GL52 Pensacola Cup, three races were sailed in 15-18 knots of breeze. After two days of racing, Victor Wild's FOX topped the leaderboard with just 8 points, John Huhn's KATANA had 17.0 and Doug DeVos' WINDQUEST had 19.0 points. On Day 3 the FOX hunt was on. In the first race (7th of the series), David Team's VESPER 52 decisively lead the pack to finish more than 1 minute ahead of Peter Askew's WIZARD in second place. VESPER 52's momentum continued as they racked up a second win of the day. In the third race (9th of the series), Peter Askew's WIZARD squeezed out VESPER 52 for first place by 14 seconds denying David Team's boat a daily hat-trick; third, fourth and fifth place finishers were just 3 seconds apart. Collectively the fleet heaped 11 points onto FOX's low score lead.
As has become typical of this fleet, all podium positions were still up for grabs going into the Day 4 of the regatta where two races were run in 10-13 knots. Holding off the fleet, Victor Wild's FOX scored a first and a second in Races 10 and 11 to become the first winner of the GL52 Pensacola Cup. Peter Askew's WIZARD and Doug DeVos' WINDQUEST swapped third and fourth place finishes on Sunday leaving them tied with 35 points—second place was awarded to WIZARD on the tie-breaker. After a stellar day on Saturday, David Team's VESPER 52 finished just one point off of the podium with 36 points and John Huhn's KATANA took first place in the last race of the event bringing their total to 37 points.
The GL52 fleet is committed to expanding the sport of sailing through community outreach. Partnering with the PYC Satori Foundation and Ascension Autism, the GL52 teams welcomed children to a morning on the dock where they met the sailors, took an up-close look at the racing boats and even had a chance to control the robotic mark-set-bots.
On Day 1 of the 2025 Southern Showdown, 14-21 knots of wind and flat water was the winning combination for Peter Askew's WIZARD who won the first and third races which included the race 3 photo finish. Andrew Berdon's SUMMER STORM joined the GL52 fleet for the first time at this event, but unfortunately due to a mechanical breakdowns they were not able to complete race 2 or start race 3; little did anyone know that they would be the come-back story of the regatta. On Day 2, WIZARD continued their winning ways leading the pack around the track in shifty conditions with 11-17 knots of wind, they won Race 4. It looked like a 2-bullet day for Askew's team until the final weather mark of Race 5 where FOX rounded just ahead and sailed the final downwind leg to 1st place.
On Day 3, three races on flat water with shifty 6-14 knots set the stage for SUMMER STORM's redemption. After two disappointing days of breakdowns, Andrew Berdon's SUMMER STORM started the day with force, they were first at the start, first around every mark and first to finish. In the second race, Berdon's team was in last place at the last windward mark but SUMMER STORM glided down the left side of the course and across the fleet to finish first. In the last race of the day (8th of the regatta), it was DeVos' WINDQUEST that led the fleet around the course from start to finish. Only 0.5 points separated first and second places going into the last day of the Showdown; Peter Askew's WIZARD sat precariously at the top of the leaderboard with 21 points, Victor Wild's FOX had 21.5 points and Doug DeVos' WINDQUEST had moved up to third place overall with 26 points. "Spoilers" SUMMER STORM (now in fifth place) and John Huhn's KATANA closely contested every race today and as a result dramatically reset the standings. Mathematically, was still any boat's regatta...
After David Team's VESPER walked away with the first race of the day (9th of the regatta), it was still all to play for in the final race of the series. Going into race 10 just 2 points separated the top three teams— Peter Askew's WIZARD had 26 points, Victor Wild's FOX had 27.5 points and Doug DeVos' WINDQUEST had a score of 28. The fleet of six GL52s nailed the start in near military precision. FOX was the first to round the weather mark, followed by Andrew Berdon's SUMMER STORM, WIZARD, John Huhn's KATANA, VESPER and WINDQUEST. FOX protected and increased their lead throughout; the first downwind run featured a picture-perfect parade of equally-spaced GL52s. On the final upwind leg the fleet consolidated, playing the middle of the course except for KATANA, who's split from the pack rewarded them with a third place finish. Huhn's 3-point score meant 4,5- and 6-point scores for podium hopefuls WIZARD, VESPER and WINDQUEST. FOX's final bullet secured Wild's team first place overall with 28.5 points; with a 10-race score of 30 points, Peter Askew's WIZARD grabbed second place and Doug DeVos' WINDQUEST team took third place with 34.0 points.
As revealed by the scoring, each of the teams won at least one race, showing that on any given day in the GL52 fleet, any boat can win. In both regattas, and for the Series, the winners were determined by the last leg of the last race of each—the elite level competition is undeniable. Whether watching on the water, on TracTrac or the GL52 YouTube channel, the fleet's expertly run, closely-contested racing is exciting to watch.