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Paul Cayard honoured as winner of the 2026 Magnus Olsson Prize
Paul Cayard, among the most accomplished and respected figures in international sailing, has been awarded the 2026 Magnus Olsson Prize.
Most of the teams tested and trained in Valencia and Palma around Easter but they have the chance to make final tuning adjustments and polish up starts, and manoeuvres and get attuned to the bigger fleet size over the course over PalmaVela regatta which runs Friday to Sunday.
The pressure will be on from Puerto Portals’ Day 1. In a bigger fleet – at the same time last year in Saint-Tropez there were 11 boats – it will be all too easy to build a big, weighty score during the opening days of the season.
Racing Tuesday to Saturday looks set to see mixed conditions. It will be the first time the season has opened from Puerto Portals and the Bay of Palma in the early season can be hard to read.
Platoon’s Olympic gold medal winning, Palma-based strategist Jordi Calafat notes, “It looks like we might not see the typical Palma sea breeze, forecast is still looking a little bit far ahead, but so far it does not look like a typical scenario for the beginning of May. May can often see good sea breezes as the sea is still cold and the land heats up. We might see some rain and rain is always associated with tricky winds. We might see some land breezes for a few days which will be tricky.”
And Calafat contends, “We are looking forwards to it. It is an impressive fleet with 14 boats on the start line and so starting will be so important, we need to start well and be consistent. There will be more points than normal, it can be high scoring.”
Three new teams will be looking to find their marks early. Pieter Heerema’s Dutch flagged No Way Back may be the 2025 championship winning American Magic Quantum Racing and the team is 75 per cent sailors carrying on from last year. Morgan Larson returns for this week to reprise a winning partnership with Terry Hutchinson with Michele Ivaldi navigating.
It will be doubly exciting for the Swedish Trinity team, debuting on their brand new, freshly launched boat. They have the ultra calm, super consistent America’s Cup winner Ed Baird as tactician but will surely take time to make an impression near the top of the fleet but in shifty, unsettled breezes it could a big test of afterguard skills and focus rather than a boatspeed race. So if opportunities might knock for the new Brazilians on Caballo Loco, the former Phoenix, they proved in training they have the smarts and speed to capitalise.
Winners of the first regatta of 2025, Tony Langley’s Gladiator have re-configured their afterguard with Guillermo Parada steering, Langley working with Victor Diaz de Leon on tactics and strategy.
Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon, 2023 champions, are looking to bounce back from a difficult last season which Calafat describes as the ‘worst year n our history’. Like many in the fleet Platoon has a new keel fin.
“Last year we did something wrong to end up where we did, it was a strange season and Harm and myself did not do all the races, we had some bad moments but we sailed OK in Portals and Puerto Cervo, we were close on points but not with a good final result.
Runners up last year, Takashi Okura’s Sled were very happy with their boat and set up at the end of last season and, with the same dependable, consistent afterguard have a realistic hope of winning the season title and, or the world titles they lifted in 2021.
“We have spent time on sail design through the winter and upgraded some systems but in terms of upgrades in terms of ‘bang for the bucks’ we did not feel they were worth it versus having fresh sails. There are more options to gain that possible one boat length per beat from sails and rig set up. We changed our keel last year and are very happy with what we have under the water, that’s for sure.” Don Cowie, Sled’s project manager and mainsheet trimmer confirms.
Racing at PalmaVela runs Friday to Sunday, the official Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week practice day is Monday and then racing runs Tuesday to Friday. All of the 52 SUPER SERIES racing is live on the website and YouTube with live commentary.
Entry list
Alegre (GBR) Andy Soriano
Alkedo (ITA) Andrea Lacorte
Alpha + (HKG) Shawn and Tina Kang
Caballo Loco (BRA) Mauro Dottori / Fabio Cotrim
Crioula (BRA) Eduardo Plass / Renato Plass
Gladiator (GBR) Tony Langley
Paprec (FRA) Jean-Luc Petithuguenin
Platoon (GER) Harm Müller-Spreer
Provezza (TUR) Ergin Imre
No Way Back (NED) Pieter Heerema
Sled (USA) Takashi Okura
Teasing Machine (FRA) Eric de Turckheim
Trinity (SWE) Joakim Sundberg
Vayu (THA) Whitcraft Family
