The 2024 52 SUPER SERIES championship went to the wire once again. After 41 races at five different regattas, contested between April and September, including two at Newport RI in the USA, and from a record sized fleet of 13 boats from nine nations the title has been won by Doug DeVos’s Quantum Racing powered by American Magic.
The US team, which represents the New York YC, did enough on the last race of the Valencia 52 SUPER SERIES Royal Cup today to leave the 2023 champions, Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon Aviation to second and to clinch the top overall prize for the world’s leading grand prix monohull circuit.
While the Quantum team have won the circuit title five times before, this is the first major success for the initiative which DeVos launched two years ago to provide a pathway into top level grand prix sailing for young American sailors to mentored with the circuit’s longtime benchmark campaign which contains several past America’s Cup winners.
The young afterguard led by Victor Diaz de Leon has been required to deal with many ups and downs over their two years together, last season having to make personnel changes at each regatta and then in 2024 also integrating three new team members. They may not have won a regatta over these two seasons, having come close many times, but when it counted today in a light breeze on the America’s Cup racing waters they came home in fifth, three places behind Platoon Aviation which was enough, just.
Whilst the German flagged team have made an impressive comeback through the second half of the season, after struggling with their raw new build Platoon Aviation at the first regatta in late April in Palma and hitting an object in the early stages of the XS 52 SUPER SERIES Newport Rhode Island Trophy in June which cost them points, they are solid runners up and retain the Royal Cup as winners of this final event of the season.
With young Harry Melges IV away on Youth America’s Cup duties with American Magic this week, Morgan Larson was called in to drive Quantum Racing powered by American Magic and was undoubtedly a calm, experienced head making a key difference at the decisive regatta of the season.
Cloud 9
Skipper Diaz de Leon enthused, “We are on cloud 9. I felt very nostalgic coming in. This is a such a great team and a beautiful boat. It is a great team. We are so proud. Personally this is a dream come true. All these sailors in this fleet and on our boat have been my heroes for so long. And to be able to get the win with my team mates on Quantum Racing powered by American Magic it is a dream, a dream come true.”
Long time Quantum coach James Lyne added, “As usual the 52 SUPER SERIES comes down to the last leg of the last race and there is just the one point in it but this time we got it done and sailed a good last race when we needed to. The team is happy. It is a great year for us in the end. And it means a lot to the young guys on board to win one of sailing’s top prizes, the 52 SUPER SERIES, and these guys and girls are going to go on to great things I am sure.”
Platoon Aviation’s tactician Vasco Vascotto commented, “There were so many points that we lost over the season that make a difference now. Of course I think of hitting that object in Newport which cost us 10 points or so straight off. But it is a long season and everyone in this fleet can look back at the points they lost everywhere. We are happy. We won this event, we won the Royal Cup. We were a little unlucky in this race to have missed Provezza in the mix. But I think we should be proud of what we did. We recovered something like 30 points in the last couple of regattas and here and that is great for our future.”
Gladiator third
Britain’s Tony Langley and his Gladiator team came into this Valencia finale with an 18 points lead over their American rivals, but the shifty offshore winds proved to be something of a weakness for a team which have been otherwise outstanding this season, winning the Rolex TP52 World Championship in Newport in July and taking victory at the Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week last month as well as finishing second by two points at that first Newport RI regatta in June. Gladiator take third overall, five points behind the champions Quantum.
Guille Parada helm on Gladiator reflected, “I think that we did not have a good week. We did not sail well and we all sailed below our possibilities at the wrong time in the wrong place. So it was a little unfortunate for us, it showed a little our weakness that we have in certain conditions. I am a little disappointed but we need to take a little bit of hindsight and see what we have achieved. We were second at the first event in Newport, we won the Rolex TP52 World Championship, we won in Puerto Portals so I think overall it has been a step forward from last year> We leave with good lessons and hopefully we can put the good learnings together and come back stronger in 2025.”
In the Royal Cup Platoon Aviation triumph ahead of Provezza which was unfortunately involved in a start line collision which forced them to retire from the race. The regatta leaders were given average points and finish second just ahead of Hasso and Tina Plattner’s Phoenix which won the first race of the event and, today, the last.