Platoon Aviation has seized the initiative in Lanzarote, stretching a seven-point lead at the Royal Cup with two days of racing still to run. Harm Müller-Spreer’s German crew posted two second-place finishes on day three, a result that masks just how tight this fleet remains and how quickly the complexion of the regatta can shift.
Starting level on points with Ergin Imre’s Provezza, Platoon’s consistency contrasts sharply with the Turkish flagged boat’s volatile scorecard. Provezza won the first race in a shifty 15-16 knot breeze, then unravelled spectacularly in race two, slipping to tenth as the fleet tore them apart on the start line. That single poor beginning has already cost them the regatta lead.
The wind remained fractious throughout the day, with an awkward chop making early gains hard to defend. Sled, meanwhile, finally found some form. Takashi Okura’s crew nailed their starts and picked the shifts better than most, eventually claiming their first win of the event. That victory brought some relief to the New Zealand-linked boat’s camp after a bruising few days.
Don Cowie, Sled’s mainsheet trimmer, acknowledged the turning point came from honest self-assessment. “We weren’t starting well enough as a team,” he said. “But we’ve debriefed, we’ve had conversations, and we’re a strong outfit. There are four races to go here and a long season ahead. We’ll keep chipping away.”
Platoon’s tactical mastermind Vasco Vascotto refused to get ahead of himself despite the healthy margin. “Today we made the right choices,” he reflected. “In this wind range we’re making decisions rather than letting the fleet make them for us. But this is one day, only one day.” The reality is that Platoon’s lead rests largely on starting clean and reading the pressure shifts—two elements notoriously fickle in Lanzarote’s variable conditions.
Vayu, the consistent hand of the Whitcraft family, remains in third, two points clear of Trinity Racing and three ahead of both Sled and Crioula. With four races remaining, the season aggregate tells the real story: Platoon and Sled sit locked on 156 points apiece heading into a final regatta still to come. This Royal Cup could decide everything.
