Swedish newcomer Joakim Sundberg wins Race 2 just weeks after launch as 52 Super Series returns to the Bay of Palma.
A fleet of 14 boats — the largest in 52 Super Series history — gathered on the Bay of Palma for the Puerto Portals Sailing Week opener, and it was the newest, least experienced team that grabbed the headlines.
Trinity Racing, sailing under the Swedish flag and steered by owner Joakim Sundberg, won the second race of the day. The result would be remarkable for any team. For one whose boat was launched just a month ago, and whose owner had never set foot on a racing boat of any kind until less than two years ago, it borders on extraordinary.
Sundberg, a cybersecurity entrepreneur who writes his own team's performance analysis software, is nobody's idea of a conventional grand prix sailor. He humps sails on and off the boat himself, takes out the trash when it needs doing, and approaches the whole project with the methodical intensity of a tech founder rather than a sailing dilettante.
His team trained through the winter on a Cape 31 on these same Palma waters — winning the Trofeo Princesa Sofia in the process — before stepping into the lion's den of the world's leading grand prix monohull circuit.
"My heart rate was really high," he admitted afterwards, dockside at Marina Puerto Portals. "At the finish I was just laser focused, locked in getting over the finish line. The first day could not have gone better."
After race one the team had a quiet debrief, identified what needed improvement, and immediately applied it. That discipline — methodical, unflashy, effective — may be the defining characteristic of a programme with serious long-term ambitions.
Leading overall tonight is the Whitcraft family's Vayu, steered by Don Whitcraft who is somehow fitting this campaign around his master's degree studies. With Manu Weiller calling tactics, Vayu's 1-4 scoreline gives the circuit's underdog a five-point cushion.
"Today was the sort of day when anyone could have won," said Weiller. "Good start, get the first shifts right, and you're in the lead."
Ergin Imre's Provezza lie second, their afterguard pairing of Cole Parada and Santi Lange bolstered by Palma's own Nacho Postigo — widely known as the Wizard of Palma Bay.
Standings after 2 races
It’s been sailing’s worst kept secret for the past several months, but it has now been formally confirmed that Australia is returning to the America’s Cup for the first time in 26 years.
An independent subscriber-supported website, newsletter, and podcast. Featuring exclusive stories and interviews about Grand Prix sailboat racing. Subscribe to receive our free email newsletter. Get full access with a paid subscription.
Subscribe for free to receive our email newsletter.
