Sled has done it again in Porto Cervo. Takashi Okura’s team wrapped up the Rolex TP52 World Championship title with a characteristically controlled third place finish in what proved the season’s most brutally competitive fleet yet—15 boats from 11 nations all within striking distance of the crown.
The decisive moment came in the final race when Okura’s international crew, steered by Italian Francesco Bruni and America’s Cup winner Murray Jones from New Zealand, pushed hard on the start line. That aggression paid off. Where others faltered in the light Porto Cervo breeze, Sled controlled their main rivals on the first upwind and never looked back, securing the title by two clear points.
Sweden’s Trinity Racing took the race win and second overall, mounting a fierce late charge by capturing the final two contests. But it wasn’t enough. Sled’s consistency across five days of tricky light-air racing in flat water proved decisive. This is their second world championship—the first came in blustery conditions at Palma in November 2021.
Don Cowie, the team’s mainsheet trimmer and manager, reflected on the pressure-laden final race. “For a world championship from such a tight regatta, where five or six boats went into today with a genuine shot, having a really good last race makes you feel proper good,” he said. “We finally started well when it mattered. It’s been trickier in the lighter air all week. We managed to do a little bit better than the others today, and that’s what counts.”
Porto Cervo has become almost sacred ground for Okura’s squad. They’ve now won all three times the 52 SUPER SERIES has visited—2019, last year’s final regatta, and now this world title. In 2019 they were unstoppable, reeling off five consecutive race wins. That dominance at one venue is remarkable in a fleet this deep.
The podium told its own story of rising performance across the fleet. Trinity’s Joakim Sundberg, only at his second TP52 regatta ever, earned top owner-driver honours and couldn’t quite believe what his team had achieved. Germany’s three-times world champions Platoon Aviation took bronze, with Harm Müller-Spreer admitting the standard has climbed dramatically across the circuit.
Hong Kong’s Alpha Plus, who’d led going into the final race, started on the wrong side and couldn’t match Sled or Trinity to the favoured right. A critical loss of speed early on the first downwind proved fatal. They finished fourth, two points adrift of the podium, leaving tactician Luke Van Der Kamp gutted.
With two regattas done, Sled have opened a commanding 15-point lead at the top of the circuit standings. Next stop is Lanzarote in July, followed by Valencia in October for the season finale. The fleet keeps getting faster. Okura’s crew just keeps winning.
