“Platoon” wins the title of the 52 SUPER SERIES 2023 at Puerto Portals

The battle for the champion crown of the 52 SUPER SERIES 2023 was resolved on the tie-break in a dramatic final battle in Puerto Portals. "Platoon and Provezza completed the season with the same number of points after five events and 45 races, but the title went to the German team, the fourth in the history of the circuit.

The most repeated headquarters of the history of the 52 SUPER SERIES hosted the last event of the eleventh season of the circuit and crowned the overall champion for 2023. After five days of very varied conditions, the Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week was resolved in a single race that served "Phoenix" to win the last event of the year and "Platoon" to confirm its first absolute crown in the 52 SUPER SERIES.

The fleet arrived to the last day with an interesting duel between “Platoon” and “Provezza” for the crown of 2023. The Turkish team overtook the German by 18 points after four events in which both of them had shared the victories equally. But "Platoon" arrived in an excellent state of mind after beating his rival by the minimum both in Menorca and Barcelona, and debuting the title of world champion achieved in the Rolex TP52 World Championship. Everything would be decided in Puerto Portals.

The event started with a collision that withdrew “Platoon” from the circuit for two of the three races of the day. A hard hit for the crew members of Harm Müller-Spreer, that received a reparation of 5,5 points for each sheet of the score competed, even though “Provezza” did not take advantage of the opportunity and signed an irregular journey (9+6+2) which made him lose three points to his rival. But the real drama came on the third day: "Platoon" retired to land before reaching the race course due to damage from the previous day's collision, and when it seemed that everything was already decided in favor of their rival, "Provezza" also had to retire due to a broken rig. The German team rejoined in the third race of the day to finish a good third, whilst the Turkish team stayed in port and added a heavy 36 points to their scoreboard. On Friday, "Platoon" was awarded 5.5 points for each race not sailed the previous day, and went into Saturday's grand final with a three-point lead over "Provezza".

On the last day, the fleet took to the water with a two-race programme. In the first race, sailed in 9-10 knots of wind, "Provezza" finished sixth and "Platoon" ninth, which meant that the Turkish team was tied on 198 points with their rivals. The wind dropped and there was to be a tense wait on the water for the last start of the year, but the time limit was reached with no news of the breeze, and the results became definitive. The tie-breaker favored "Platoon" for best position in Puerto Portals (fourth to Provezza's eighth). Harm Müller-Spreer achieved a title he had been chasing since joining the circuit in 2015 and which had eluded him in 2017, 2018 and 2019, seasons in which he finished runner-up.

In the battle for the Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week, five teams shared the partial victories, including the first for Hong Kong's Alpha+ since their debut on the circuit last May. The final event of the season was led from day one by Hasso and Tina Plattner's 'Phoenix', helmed by Tony Norris and tactician Ed Baird. The South African boat was the best of the fleet of 11 teams of eight nationalities, scoring four races throughout the week to complete a 29-point card, 11 points ahead of Takashi Okura's American "Sled" and 12 points ahead of Andy Soriano's British "Alegre", the teams that accompanied them on the podium in Puerto Portals. Phoenix said a well-deserved farewell to a discreet season in which he finished ninth in Saint-Tropez and Scarlino, and fourth in Barcelona

The 52 SUPER SERIES will return in 2024 with a new five-event programme starting in April in Palma before heading to the United States for two events in Newport in June and July, including the Rolex TP52 World Championship. It will return to Puerto Portals at the end of August and finish in Valencia in September.