52 Super Series Royal Cup Puerto Calero 2026 - Day 1
by 52 Super Series 25 Aug 19:53 BST
25-29 August 2026
After two races contested in a light, streaky offshore breeze which peaked at 12 knots, the Thai flagged Vayu of the Whitcraft family are the early leaders of the Puerto Calero Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Royal Cup.
With Don Whitcraft steering and Mallorca's Manu Weiller calling tactics Vayu came from behind in both races, more spectacularly in the first one when they jumped the start gun and had to re-start, going on to cross second behind winners Provezza. Their recovery was not quite as impressive on the second race but they did climb through the fleet on the second beat to take third gun.
Vayu lead by three points ahead of Ergin Imre's Provezza who share an eight points aggregate with Harm Müller-Spreer's Platoon Aviation.
After Day 1 back at the first circuit regatta of 2026 in Puerto this is the second time this season that Vayu have led an event after its opening races.
Tactician Weiller cautioned, "We have been here before and we know it is a long week, we just take the low points today and hope they are not too high at the end of the week. I think we all saw what was going on with the breeze, sometimes we were better positioned to take advantage. Every now and then we were a bit lucky."
Explaining their early start and recovery the Vayu tactician said, "We had a problem with the jib and couldn't hoist it until there were two minutes to go; we were a long way from the line and the only thing we could do was try to get clear first on the pin, but it didn't quite work out. And then the good thing was that, coming from behind the fleet, we caught a good left-hand shift. The silver lining of a poor start is that you can sail freely and catch the wind shifts as you want, until you're level with the others again. And that's what helped us a bit. On the second race we got off to a great start and erred a bit more to starboard. I think we rounded the first mark in sixth place and then, on the first downwind leg, we managed to move up to third, then fourth, and by the second upwind leg we were up to second place only losing Platoon on the line."
The light offshore breeze contrasts starkly with last month's regatta out of Marina Rubocon when it averaged more than 20 knots every day. Wednesday should see more light to moderate pressure before a return to beefy tradewinds by Friday.
Provezza executed their pre-race game plan perfectly, building an early lead from their start near the left hand end of the line. Navigator Nacho Postigo had spoken Monday of a left favoured track and they led at every mark to win their first race since Puerto Portals.
Shawn and Tina Kang's Alpha Plus made some smart moves, notably splitting to the left of the first downwind to ride a shaft of strong breeze which was their passport to winning Race 2.
And with their eight points average for the day Platoon Aviation claw back six points on circuit leaders Sled who lost places in the closing stages of Race 2 for a tenth. Added to fourth in the first race Takashi Okura's circuit leaders lie eighth in the 13 boat fleet.
Müller-Spreer declared, "It was a really tricky place to sail today. It is like a Bavarian lake wind coming from all directions but for us a good result with a sixth and a second and catching up six points to Sled. To be honest I don't look at Sled's points I just like to see them behind us."
France's Teasing Machine broke a D2 shroud before the start and missed both races today but expect to be back competing tomorrow.
Racing Wednesday is due to start 1330hrs local time.
Puerto Calero Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Royal Cup Standings after Day 1: (two races)
1. Vayu (THA), Whitcraft Family, 2+3 = 5pts
2. Provezza (TUR), Ergin Imre, 1+7 = 8pts
3. Platoon Aviation (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 6+2 = 8pts
4. Crioula (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 7+4 = 11pts
5. Alpha + (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 11+1 = 12pts
6. No Way Back (NED), Pieter Heerema, 8+5 = 13pts
7. Alegre (GBR), Andy Soriano, 5+8 = 13pts
8. Sled, Takashi Okura, 4+10 = 14pts
9. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 3+12 = 15pts
10. Trinity Racing (SWE), Joakim Sundberg, 10+6 = 16pts
11. Paprec (FRA), Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 9+11 = 20pts
12. Alkedo Cetilar (ITA), Andrea Lacorte, 12+9 = 21pts
13. Teasing Machine (FRA), Eric de Turckheim, 14(DNS)+14(DNS) = 28pts