Rolex TP52 World Championship in Cascais - Day 1
by 52 Super Series 2 Jul 2025 14:08 PDT
1-6 July 2025
After seemingly being starved of boisterous top end conditions for some years now Okura's Sled crew have been relishing a return to big breezes and big waves.
The American flagged international crew, 2021 circuit and world champions, once more underlined their skill and strength in the 'big stuff' on the Atlantic waters off Cascais, Portugal today when they won the first race in style and then took a third to lead the 2025 Rolex TP52 World Championship by a single point ahead of Jean-Luc Petithugeunin's Paprec. The French team won the second race, getting the better of the six times world champions American Magic on a breezy, fast final run, to lead Doug DeVos' crew on countback.
After the fleet were blasted by strong winds overnight at the dock it seemed almost incongruous that there would be any delay waiting for a sustained, settled wind on one useable race arena. but when it is did pump in, it was classic Cascais conditions, exactly what the world's leading grand prix monohull circuit returned to Portugal in search of.
Skifftastic...
Sled have their coach Adam Beashel steering this week, a renowned Aussie skiff sailor and America's Cup strategist who sailed three America's Cups with Team New Zealand. The immaculate all white boat made a smart start which allowed Francesco Bruni and Murray Jones to work their special blend of alchemy up the first beat. After leading around the top turn Sled literally took off downwind and were uncatchable with the best, most solid boat handling in the fleet. Andy Soriano's Alegre, which has Italian Michele Ivaldi as tactician this week, took second in the first race while American Magic finished third. Three times world champions Platoon Aviation finished 11th with no spinnaker after losing their bowman overboard. He was rescued quickly and taken for routine medical checks later.
American Magic and Paprec started best in the second race which again had around 18-20 knots of wind on the start line. There was significantly more wind offshore, to the left of the upwind, but a positive beneficial shift on the right which sometimes created a quandary. The American Magic afterguard, Terry Hutchinson, Victor Diaz de Leon and Sara Stone made a good job of getting the best of the first upwind to lead at the first upwind. But on the final run the French team led by Loick Peyron were on fire, getting a couple of better waves and gusts which allowed them to get right down inside the Americans. They surged through to a triumphant win, Peyron's first since joining the class last year.
Feeling over data!
"We were 'in'!" grinned Peyron, "I don't know what it was, the French touch or something, but the funny thing is that last race, which we won, the first race win on the 52 SUPER SERIES for me, we had no electronics at all, no numbers, we just had the feeling. And there is a message there...too much data kills the feeling. We just had 'speed' and 'heading'. But for us the symbol of winning a race is important. And that was just magical, matching the gybe of the Quantum boys and girls, was really special. We love it!"
Beashel was quietly pleased with their days work on world champs leading Sled, "The manoeuvres today were huge, one bad one and that was it. Wave management was key, getting on a nice wave, surfing as you go, the gybe is very key. It is like the old days in a Laser dinghy flicking the sail across. Communication was important, having everyone on the same page at the same time was important, if one in the chain in the link is out then it will unravel very quickly. I don't have a huge amount of experience steering these boats but in these conditions it is like skiff sailing downwind. Leading after Day 1 means nothing as there is so far to go. It is Day 1 and we would rather be top than anywhere else but there is a lot of different conditions still to come."
And strategist Victor Diaz de Leon summed up American Magic's fortunes: "It was very tricky out there as we were on the edge of a lot of wind offshore to the left and much lighter to the right but shifted, and so with five points from Day 1 we are very happy with that. Sled sailed really well and kudos to them. We are sticking to our processes and we believe we are on the right path, we will keep doing what we are doing. Having a good start in the second race made it easier. But I feel like we had a good understanding of the conditions out there."
Rolex TP52 World Championship Cascais 2025 Standings after Day 1: (two races)
1. Sled (USA), Takashi Okura, 1+3 = 4pts
2. Paprec (FRA), Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 4+1 = 5pts
3. American Magic Quantum Racing (USA), Doug De Vos, 3+2 = 5pts
4. Alegre (GBR), Andy Soriano, 2+5 = 7pts
5. Provezza (TUR), Ergin Imre, 6+7 = 13pts
6. Platoon Aviation (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 11+4 = 15pts
7. Alpha+ (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 7+8 = 15pts
8. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 5+11 = 16pts
9. Alkedo Vitamina (ITA), Andrea Lacorte, 10+6 = 16pts
10. Phoenix (RSA), Tina & Hasso Plattner, 8+10 = 18pts
11. Vayu (THA), Whitcraft Family, 9+9 = 18pts