The 52 Super Series season kicks off in Palma

The outcome of the 2023 season continues to resonate among the crews of the 52 SUPER SERIES, considered the best monohull Grand Prix circuit in the world. German owner and helmsman Harm Müller-Spreer's ‘Platoon’ made a spectacular comeback that allowed him to tie on points with the leader of the circuit, Turkish Ergin Imre's ‘Provezza’, and win the title on a dramatic final day after five events and 45 races sailed.

After the winter break, the fleet faces a new season with many new variables that will shake up the game board.

The 52 SUPER SERIES 2024 will kick off at the Real Club Náutico de Palma, where the 52 SUPER SERIES PalmaVela Sailing Week will be held from the 28th of April to the 2nd of May. Ten teams of seven nationalities will be taking part: The German ‘Platoon Aviation’; the British ‘Alegre’ and ‘Gladiator’; the Americans ‘Interlodge’, ‘Quantum Racing powered by American Magic’ and ‘Sled’; the French ‘Paprec’; the Hong Kong ‘Alpha+’; the Thai ‘Vayu’; and the Turkish ‘Provezza’.

Instead of continuing to stretch the magnificent performance of his winning boat, Harm Müller-Spreer opted to build a new TP52 and rely on a different design studio. Platoon Aviation", signed by Botín Partners and built in the Valencian shipyard of King Marine, arrives in Palma just a few weeks after its launch and with hardly any running-in time. At its controls, the same crew that won the overall title and the Rolex TP52 World Championship crown in 2023.

After winning the first two races of the season, in Saint-Tropez and Scarlino, and finishing second in Menorca and in the Rolex TP52 World Championship in Barcelona, Ergin Imre's ‘Provezza’ was the leader for most of the 2023 season. But an unexpected and unusual rig failure in the opening days of the season's decisive race, also in the Bay of Palma, saw ‘Provezza's’ 18-point lead evaporate completely and they finished a heartbreaking second behind ‘Platoon’.

But instead of resuming the season where it left off, with the same boat and the same crew, the Turkish team has come up with a different strategy: they will only compete in this first race of the year before taking some time to wait for the completion of a new TP52 to be launched in August to compete only in the last two races of the calendar: Puerto Portals and Valencia. The crew of ‘Provezza’, led by New Zealander helmsman John Cutler, tactician Hamish Pepper and navigator Nacho Postigo from Santander, is determined to say goodbye with a victory in their last regatta with the outgoing boat and leave the ghosts of Palma's past behind them. As well as losing the 2023 title due to technical failure, in August 2019 their title fight went down to the wire when their mast broke in the Puerto Portals regatta, also in the bay of Palma.

There are also changes to the most successful squad in the history of the circuit: Quantum Racing powered by American Magic. Doug DeVos' team, a four-time America's Cup champion, adds four new young sailors who will benefit from the American Magic programme to provide top-level training opportunities and accelerate the Grand Prix racing skills of future America's Cup sailors. Newcomers to the team, skippered for the first time by tactician Victor Diaz De Leon, are strategist Nevin Snow, navigator Evelyn Hull (the first woman in this position in the history of the circuit), grinder Alex Sinclair and spinnaker trimmer Ian Liberty.

 The British yacht ‘Alegre’, owned by the charismatic owner and helmsman Andy Soriano, will also be sailing a new boat designed by Botín Partners and built by King Marine. Fourth in Saint-Tropez and Menorca last year, and third in Puerto Portals, they will reinforce their crew with the addition of the Spanish Olympian in Tokyo 2020 and 470 world champion in 2021, Silvia Mas. They hope that the new boat will be the catalyst for that small step they need to reach the podium this season.

With the addition of Argentinean helmsman Guillermo Parada (three times champion of the circuit) and Italian navigator Bruno Zirilli (navigator with Parada in Azzurra for many years), Tony Langley's ‘Gladiator’ reached the podium in three events last year. They face the 2024 season with a new ‘Gladiator’, the former ‘Alegre’.

 British tactician Ado Stead joins Japanese owner Takashi Okura's ‘Sled’ to partner five-time America's Cup winner Murray Jones from New Zealand; on Jean Luc Petithuguenin's Paprec, ocean sailing legend Löick Peyron will sail the season as tactician; and finally, veteran American owner Austin Fragomen's ‘Interlodge’ will entrust strategy for the first time to Spaniard Carlos Robles.

The 13th season of the 52 SUPER SERIES will consist of five events. Immediately after Palma, the fleet will set sail for the United States. This year the circuit will visit Newport, Rhode Island for the first time.