The third day of competition at Marina Rubicón marked the crossing of the equator of the 2026 season of the 52 SUPER SERIES. After two sessions of winds at the upper end of the navigable limit, the fleet had to settle for a single race out of the two scheduled, enough to shake up the provisional standings. Sled took the opportunity to become the new leader by finishing a valuable third, against a painful ninth for Paprec in a race won by Trinity Racing.
The harshness of the trade winds on the south coast of Lanzarote conditioned the program for the third session. With a forecast of strong winds, the Race Committee had brought forward the first start of the day to try to take advantage of the moment of lesser intensity, and after a brief postponement ashore, sent the fleet out to sea in the hope of finding a navigable window. Winds that had touched 30 knots early on dropped to around 19-23 at the time of the start, after midday. In port remained Gladiator, which after breaking the forestay-to-mast connection the previous day, was absent from the first event of the 52 SUPER SERIES in the Canary Islands, reducing the fleet to 12 teams.
Alkedo Vitamina led an even start on the left side of the line, but the surprise came from the opposite end of the course. Trinity Racing opted for the right and soon took the lead, followed in the same lane by Paprec, who had been forced to cross astern of all his rivals at the pre-start and was experiencing problems with his pedestals, which would eventually take their toll. The tactical gamble by the great Ed Baird would soon pay dividends, giving the Swedish team a crucial advantage: Trinity Racing rounded the first mark in the lead, followed by Alkedo Vitamina and Platoon Aviation, while Paprec failed to replicate his performance from the previous two sessions and passed sixth. The team of owner Joackim Sundberg would no longer have a rival, scoring a valuable victory to make up for an inconsistent start to the week and climbing from tenth to seventh position provisionally. Second would finish Alkedo Vitamina and third Sled, a result that allowed them to snatch the lead from Paprec, who finished ninth in this race.
Ed Baird, tactician for Sled, explained the origin of his victory: “You have to go for the simple things, our whole season is going to be like that. Yesterday, the only time we got into a complicated situation, it went really badly for us. Today we gave up a bit of an advantage at the start line to make sure we could go to the right, the fleet struggled much more on the left side of the line than it had done so far, and then we tacked immediately. And once we got more or less halfway up the leg, the fleet on the left started to fall behind us, and the situation started to look very good. As a team, this is the first time we've sailed in so much wind, and it's tough. So every day we're discovering new things and learning. Enjoying it. It's always fun to learn.”
With the first race decided, the wind picked up again to around 30 knots and the Race Committee, led by María Torrijo from Alicante, sent the fleet back to Marina Rubicón. Pablo Torrado, helmsman for Alkedo Vitamina, explained: “When the race finished, the wind went back up to a steady 28 knots; then it dropped a bit, but the forecast was for it to rise again, so it was correct that they sent us ashore.”
The 52 SUPER SERIES crossed the halfway point of the 2026 season today. After two events and three days of competition, the standings in the battle for the overall title show a clear leader in the figure of Sled. The boat on which tactician Francesco Bruni, strategist Murray Jones, and navigator Andrea Visintini compete won the first two events of the year, was proclaimed 2026 TP52 World Champion in the waters of Porto Cervo, and leads the provisional standings in Lanzarote. With 102 points accumulated to date, they enjoy a 30-point advantage over their closest pursuer, which is now Alkedo Vitamina. Third, three points behind the Italian team, is Platoon Aviation.
With the first five partial results of the week added up, Sled faces the fourth day as the new leader of the Marina Rubicón Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week, with 13 points in their tally, four ahead of Paprec and five ahead of Alkedo Vitamina.
Murray Jones, strategist for Sled, acknowledged his satisfaction at capitalizing on that third place on a complicated day: “None of the days so far have been easy. The breeze was changing a lot at the windward mark. The guys handled the boat pretty well and that’s how we managed to sneak into third position, which consolidates our situation. On the last downwind, five boats were so close together that anything could have happened. There were quite large calm patches, and that made the difference on the downwinds, especially the first one.”
The Marina Rubicón Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week returns on Friday starting at 11:30 AM. The competition will be broadcast live on the official 52 SUPER SERIES platforms in English and Spanish.
Provisional Marina Rubicón Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week
1. Sled, Takashi Okura, 1+2+6+1+3 = 13
2. Paprec (FRA), Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 2+1+1+4+9 = 17
3. Alkedo Vitamina (ITA), Andrea Lacorte, 7+3+3+3+2 = 18
4. Alpha + (HKG), Shawn and Tina Kang, 3+8+2+2+8 = 23
5. Platoon Aviation (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 6+5+9+6+5 = 31
6. No Way Back (NED), Pieter Heerema, 5+7+5+9+7 = 33
7. Trinity Racing (SWE), Joakim Sundberg, 12+4+10+8+1 = 35
8. Alegre (GBR), Andy Soriano, 4+9+8+10+4 = 35
9. Vayu (THA), Whitcraft family, 9+6+11+5+12 = 43
10. Provezza (TUR), Ergin Imre, 11+12+4+7+10 = 44
11. Teasing Machine (FRA), Eric de Turckheim, 10+10+14(DNF)+12+6 = 52
12. Crioula (BRA), Eduardo and Renato Plass, 14(DNS)+11+7+11+11 = 54
13. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 8+13+14(DNS)+14(DNS)+14(DNS) = 63
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