Fourteen boats, one bay, no margin for error

Pieter Heerema took Monday off. After winning the PalmaVela warm-up regatta comfortably with the bulk of the 2025 championship-winning American Magic Quantum Racing crew, the Dutch owner-driver made a deliberate choice to step away from the water, recharge, and arrive at Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week with a clear head.

It tells you something about the level of the 2026 season opener that even the pre-regatta favourite is approaching it with that kind of care.
Fourteen TP52s representing 11 nations will race will race off Puerto Portals in the Bay of Palma starting Tuesday, the largest fleet the series has seen in recent years. Two practice races on Monday made the stakes plain: starts are more crowded, mark roundings offer less room, and a bad moment can cost you positions in a hurry.

Three new teams are among the starters, and all three have already shown signs they belong. Heerema’s No Way Back, carrying most of last year’s championship-winning American Magic Quantum Racing crew, won PalmaVela outright. Sweden’s Trinity, debuting on a brand new Botin design, sailed a solid PalmaVela and backed it up with a third place in Monday’s second practice race. Brazil’s Caballo Loco, the former Phoenix, finished third in the first practice race, showing the speed and composure that impressed in pre-season training in Valencia.

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Heerema’s No Way Back carries the lineage of last season’s championship-winning programme, with most of that crew intact, tactician Terry Hutchinson and navigator Michele Ivaldi among them. Morgan Larson joins as strategist for this opening event. The transition from title-winning programme to new colours has been seamless on the water, but Heerema is clear-eyed about what he’s taken on. “I have not been sailing really at high level competition for maybe four or five years,” he said. “I need to get into it.” Winning PalmaVela before his first 52 SUPER SERIES race has hardly hurt.

Sweden’s Trinity are the most intriguing newcomers. Joakim Sundberg, who had barely set foot in a grand prix racing boat two years ago, has launched a brand new Botin design built by King Marine, fresh out of the water for sea trials just days before the season started. Tactician Ed Baird, an America’s Cup winner and many times series champion, is the steadying hand. Trinity finished a solid PalmaVela and took third in the second practice race Monday. “We have moments when we can do a lot of things well,” Baird said, “but our entire motivation every day is just to try and do better than we did yesterday.” It’s the right framing for a team still learning the boat.

Brazil’s Caballo Loco, the former Phoenix, brings four years of South American racing together to their circuit debut. Co-owners Mauro Dottori and Fabio Cotrim will share the helm across the season, with Finn Gold Cup winner Jorge Zarif calling tactics. They proved in Valencia training that the speed is there. Third in Monday’s first practice race, they know their challenge is managing time and distance at 52 pace. “On the first race [in training], we were five metres behind the line and I was super happy,” Cotrim said. “But everyone else was less than one metre.”

The established teams are hardly standing still. Tony Langley’s Gladiator, with Guillermo Parada steering and Victor Diaz de Leon on tactics, won the second practice race and carry the form of a crew that took the Rolex TP52 World Championship title in 2024. Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon, 2023 circuit champions, are chasing redemption after what their strategist Jordi Calafat called “the worst year in our history,” the German team arriving with a new keel and a point to prove. Takashi Okura’s Sled, runners-up last season and winners of the final regatta in Porto Cervo, have focused their winter on sails and rig setup rather than hardware changes, betting on refinement over reinvention.

Andrea Lacorte’s Alkedo drew early notice too, the Italian boat running a new appendage package that has looked quick.

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The weather adds another layer of uncertainty. Palma’s reliable early-season sea breeze is not guaranteed this week, with forecasters suggesting possible rain and unsettled, shifty conditions. “Starting will be so important,” Calafat said. “There will be more points than normal, it can be high scoring.”

Racing runs Tuesday through Saturday.

Reference

• Three new teams set to start the 52 Super Series season at Puerto Portals
• Final tuning and training under way for next week’s 52 Super Series season start
• 52 Super Series fleet fully primed for season start in Puerto Portals