Galicia 52 Super Series Royal Cup at Monte Real Club de Yates - Overall
by 52 Super Series 7 Jun 2025 11:39 PDT
2-7 June 2025
Delivering an impressively consistent series across 10 races sailed in broad range of weather conditions Doug DeVos's US flagged crew of American Magic Quantum Racing won the second regatta of the 2025 season to lift the prestigious Royal Cup for the fifth time since 2012.
Although as Quantum Racing powered by American Magic they won the 2024 overall 52 SUPER SERIES season title, the young crew never quite managed to close out an event victory through 2023 and 2024. But the return on board this season of Terry Hutchinson - who was fully occupied leading the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup challenge in Barcelona - seems to have brought back the winning edge, an important and valuable learning for the future development of the US flagged squad. With Harry Melges IV steering, Victor Diaz de Leon sailed as strategist and Sara Stone navigator alongside Hutchinson who has led the team to many successes since 2008
With a 13 points cushion going into today's final two races of the GALICIA 52 SUPER SERIES ROYAL CUP, American Magic Quantum Racing sailed to a fourth to clinch the historic cup with a race to spare. They concluded the regatta with a fifth place to win the regatta by 11 points ahead of Harm Müller Spreer's German flagged Platoon Aviation which finished with a flourish under the Galician sunshine. Two conclusive race wins today marked the 2023 champions redemption after a lacklustre last place last month in Saint-Tropez when they finished last.
Terry Hutchinson winning skipper enthused "The team had a good cushion coming into today and we did not want to rest on that, we wanted to really make sure we had it done and dusted before the last race was sailed to take the pressure off. We sailed a good race and wrapped it up. The guys did a good job last season winning the championship and in my mind we are defending that, yet we know that as we head to Cascais which is a new venue to the team which can be windy, we were good here but sometimes we were not s good, so we have continue shaving off the edges and all the time getting more consistent. All in all we have to be happy with how we started this week and it is great to see the growth in Harry as a helmsman and as a team mate and so I am happy to be part of his and other members of the team's first win."
Doug De Vos team repeat their success of the last time the 52 SUPER SERIES was in Baiona, winning in then in 2022 ahead of Platoon and they lift the Royal Cup for the fifth time after successes in 2022 and 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Vasco Vascotto, Platoon Aviation's tactician reflected, "I think second here shows that we can do it and that is very important for our self confidence and I want to thank Harm for giving us this chance and to Jordi Calafat who could not be with us this week. All our team put in a big effort to prepare the boat properly and to solve some problems which we still have. I think we sailed better here but we are working all the time here and after the regatta to understand the mistakes we are making and we are old enough to know that if you are making mistakes they represent a big opportunity to improve."
Andrea Lacorte's Alkedo Vitamina slipped one place down the podium today largely due to Platoon Aviation's double bullet Saturday finale, but the new Italian owner-driver was delighted to finish third overall at just his second ever regatta on the world's leading Grand Prix Monohull circuit.
"I could feel better. Third is a great result." Larcorte smiled. " We can do better as yesterday was better than today, but these two teams are all professional, they are so good and so to be close to them is a great achievement."
With its warm hospitality and beautiful race arenas Baiona again proved a popular venue with the 11 teams from nine different nations which raced this week. From raw Atlantic breezes of over 20 knots with rolling swells peppered by drizzly squalls and clawing mist to today's warm summer sunshine and gentle 6-9 knots winds the five day 10 race regatta was the perfect counterpoint to last month's curtain raiser in Saint-Tropez where only four races could be sailed over two days of competition. Six of the eleven teams won at least one race and going into today six teams harboured realistic podium hopes.
Heading down the Atlantic Coast now to Cascais, Portugal for the Rolex TP52 World Championships in early July, it is American Magic Quantum Racing which leads the circuit standings by 20 points ahead of Takashi Okura's Sled in second with Lacorte's Alkedo six points behind in third.
GALICIA 52 SUPER SERIES ROYAL CUP Final Results after 10 of 10 races
1. American Magic Quantum Racing, USA, Doug DeVos, 2+2+4+1+1+4+7+3+4+5 = 33
2. Platoon Aviation, GER, Harm Müller-Spreer, 4+10+9+4+2+1+8+4++1+1 = 44
3. Alkedo, ITA, Andrea Lacorte, 5+1+8+3+7+10+1+2+6+6 = 49
4. Sled, USA, Takashi Okura, 10+7+5+7+3+5+2+5+5+9 = 58
5. Paprec, FRA, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 7+3+7+2+6+8+4+7+8+11 = 63
6. Provezza, TUR, Ergin Imre, 3+5+10+10+8+3+3+1+11+10 = 64
7. Vayu, THA, Whitcraft Family, 6+6+6+6+9+11+6+8+2+8 = 68
8. Alpha+, HKG, Shawn & Tina Kang, 11+8+2+5+10+9+5+11+3+4 = 68
9. Phoenix, RSA, Tina & Hasso Plattner, 9+9+3+8+4+7+9+10+7+3 = 69
10. Alegre, GBR, Andy Soriano, 1+4+11+9+5+6+10+9+9+7 = 71
11. Teasing Machine, FRA, Eric de Turckheim, 8+11+1+11+11+2+11+6+10+2 = 73
52 SUPER SERIES 2025 Intermediate Leaderboard after two events
1. American Magic Quantum Racing, USA,, 18+23 = 51
2. Sled, USA, 13+58 = 71
3. Alkedo Vitamina, ITA, 28+49 = 77
4. Platoon Aviation, GER, 36+44 = 80
5. Paprec, FRA, 23,5+ 63 = 86,5
6. Alpha+, HKG, 21,5+68 = 89,5
7. Provezza, TUR, 30+64 = 94
8. Vayu, THA, 27+68 = 95
9. Alegre, GBR, 30+71 = 101
10. Phoenix, RSA, 48+69 = 117
11. Teasing Machine, FRA, 48+73 = 121
12. Gladiator, GBR, 12+120 = 132
13. Crioula, BRA, 28+120 = 148