With two days of racing still to sail, winners last year Sled have taken control of Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week but only by a couple of points. The US flagged team which are the reigning 52 SUPER SERIES champions finished third in the first race today and then won the second contest by the tiniest of margins, just one second as they pipped 2022 circuit leaders Quantum Racing on the finish line.

After six races of the ten scheduled for this, the third regatta of the five event 2022 52 SUPER SERIES season, Sled have still not finished worse than fourth. Today their four points aggregate was only matched by the resurgent Quantum Racing who went 2-2 for the day, clearly back on form after a very modest opening to this event.

Since accumulating 21 points over the first three races Quantum have now sailed three consecutive second places and only missed out on their first win of this week when they were wrong-footed in the dying minutes of the second contest in what Sled’s Don Cowie called an ‘old school match racing move’.

The Plattner family team Phoenix atoned for an eighth in Race 4 when they ran out winners of Race 5, holding off the attacking Quantum Racing at the finish line. Phoenix could not match the precision and speed of Quantum Racing’s perfect pin end start in the second race and while Terry Hutchinson drove Quantum Racing to a substantial early lead, able to cross the fleet to round the top mark with nearly 80 metres in hand, Phoenix could only get round in seventh. That they pulled back to fourth means it is the South African team steered by Tony Norris which is, again, Sled’s biggest threat.

Standings after six races,
1 SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 2,2,4,4,3,1 16pts
2 PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso & Tina Plattner, 1,3,1,8,1,4 18pts
3 INTERLODGE (USA), Austin & Gwen Fragomen, 4,1,3,3,9,3 23pts
4 QUANTUM RACING (USA), Doug DeVos 8,6,7,2,2,2  27pts
5 PLATOON (GER), Harm Müller Spreer 5,4,8,1,5,7 30 pts
6 PROVEZZA (TUR), Ergin Imre, 3,8,5,5,4,5 30 pts
7 ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 6,7,2,7,7,8  37 pts
8 GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 7,5,6,9,6,9 42 pts
9 VAYU (THAI), Family Whitcraft, 9,9,9,6,8,6  47pts