Rain, shifty wind and just one race completed as the light improved towards evening: it wasn’t the day Puerto Portals had hoped for, but Provezza made the most of a single opportunity on the water to wrest control of the 52 Super Series Sailing Week. The Turkish boat, skippered by Ergin Imre, now leads on 35 points as the fleet heads into Friday’s final day with everything still to play for.
Cole Parada, calling tactics for Provezza, described the conditions as “extremely complex”. Short, irregular waves and an on-and-off southerly around 14 knots meant every choice felt like a calculated gamble. The win today came down to clean execution at the start, where John Cutler on the helm and navigator Nacho Postigo claimed the pin end and made it work. What should have been routine became anything but when rain knocked out the boat’s computer, forcing the team to navigate manually, the old-fashioned way.
“We lost the box and had to manage everything by hand,” Parada explained, crediting the whole team for performing at a high level. “For me, this is my first win as a tactician in this fleet, but the merit belongs to everyone.”
Alkedo Vitamina and No Way Back completed the podium, with the real story unfolding behind them. Sled, which had dominated much of the week, tumbled to second on points as the dust settled. The fight for the overall lead is razor-sharp: No Way Back, Platoon and Alkedo sit separated by just two points, meaning Saturday could reshape the entire leaderboard.
Nacho Postigo, Provezza’s navigator, believed the key was nailing the start and finding the correct layline in unpredictable conditions. “The left side looked promising, and we committed to it,” he said. With 14 boats now racing instead of the usual fleet size, the dynamics have shifted sharply. “The difference between a good start and a poor one is bigger than ever. Boats in the middle get compressed and slow; boats at the extremes find clean wind and better VMG.”
Alberto Bolzan, helm of Alkedo, remains philosophical ahead of the finale. “This class can turn everything upside down at the last moment, and that’s exactly what makes it fascinating,” he said. “Every decision today was an unknown, but we’ll fight all the way to the line.”
The Comitato de Regatas stopped play after one race, with the weather refusing to cooperate. Tomorrow brings the scheduled finale: first gun at 11:30 with plans to fit three races into what should be a cleaner seabreeze day. Postigo expects land breeze early, though another thunderstorm cell remains in the forecast and could disrupt proceedings once more.
