Trinity win one but Sled move clear at the top of the Lanzarote standings

The race committee led by PRO Maria Torrijo got the timing just right to complete one race at the Marina Rubicon Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week, making best use of a weather window which opened between gusts of 30 knots. As the Swedish team of Joakim Sundberg, Trinity Racing, streaked ahead after the first turn to land their first race win of the regatta, Takashi Okura’s Sled took a third place which, with Paprec finishing ninth, means the crew which has already won both of 2026’s regattas so far are four points ahead at the midpoint of the week.

Trinity’s key philosophy this season has been keeping things simple and avoiding conflict and seeking open, fast lanes worked for them again today. With Ed Baird calling tactics and the owner steering, Trinity started off the right end of the line and went right to lead all the way around the two lap windward-leeward track. Regatta leaders Paprec bailed out last minute from a port end start and took many sterns to join Trinity on the right. They fought back to be in good shape but then got stuck in the port tack traffic on the windward mark approach before having to double gybe after the offset mark – because of a spinnaker sheet problem. That cost the French team and when they crossed in ninth, six places behind Sled, they dropped to second overall whilst Andrea Lacorte’s Alkedo Vitamina are a good third after taking second today.

Ed Baird, Trinity’s winning tactician reported, “Those were some pretty complicated conditions, but the team is super excited. Our whole season is going to be about keeping it simple.  The one time we got in a complicated situation yesterday it went really went bad. It’s really obvious that we just have to make it straightforward and simple. Today we went out, had a little time before the race that we saw the right hand edge of the course was performing better than it has been for the past two or three days. We gave away a little line bias to make sure that we could get to the right, and I think it was kind of fun because the fleet really fought a lot more for the left side of the line than they have. And then we just tacked right away. And once we got about halfway out to the right, the fleet on the left started to fade into us, and started looking really good, and then we got a little right hand shift. It was strong.”

The Swedish team are up to seventh two points behind Pieter Heerema’s No Way Back. Baird reviews their regatta to date, “We’ve had our moments. We were in good shape on day one, and then trawled our gennaker in the water. That cost us says seven or eight points, and that was too bad. And then yesterday, we were in good shape going to the first mark in the first race, and, you know, got entangled in the group and ended up getting spat out the back on that one. So we’ve had our moments. But I think in general, you know, we’ve been a little unlucky in a couple of situations. But I can tell you that for this group it’s the first time we’ve ever as a team – and especially the Swedes – have ever sailed these boats in this much wind, in this kind of condition, and it is tough. And so each day we are figuring some new things out and we’re learning. I’m enjoying it. It’s always fun to learn.”

Sled return to the top of the standings, Murray Jones remarks, “None of the days so far have been easy. That’s for sure. Today was complicated actually. The breeze’s shifting a lot up at the top mark. It was all on. We were dipping boats, tacking and slam dunking and yeah, fortunately, we got around in reasonable shape. The boys got the boat around the course pretty well and so we snuck into a third, which has consolidated in our position. The last run was good we had five boats just so close that it could have gone any way.  In fact there were quite big holes and that made a difference in the downwinds, especially the first downwind. Then finally the big breeze pushed through and it sort of went right through the course.”

Today marks the theoretical mid point of the season. Sled lead overall by 30 points, Jones says they are not monitoring the season’s progress, “I haven’t even looked at it and we’re not focussing on that, you know, it’s one day at a time. We just focus on this regatta. still we are a long way away from thinking about the season.”

Stephane Névé from the Paprec team was not so happy today after their problems which stated with their pedestal winches overdrive failing.

“First we had some technical issue with our pedestals, so we have been working part of the race on this. And at the top mark, I think we made some mistake on our choice. And we should have stayed more to the right side of the race course and ended up taking so much risk with Sled and the other boats that were coming in from the left, so that cost us a lot. And also we had some problems with the gennaker sheet going under the boat.  So we had to double gybe at the top mark because of the spinnaker sheet so that cost us a lot of places during this race. So, overall not  such a good day.”

And Cameron Appleton, the tactician on Alkedo recalled, “That race was probably one of the more tightly fought with all the fleet now everyone’s getting more comfortable and understanding the conditions a little bit. The fleet really was close together. Other than Trinity, who got away and did a really nice job of that race, all the people that we stayed with, which was Alegre, Platoon and Sled we all had a huge fight the whole way. So we were pretty pleased that things went our way and we could control the situation that we just had enough of a lead . The team are so cohesive and just sailing the boat to an unbelievable standard. So it’s great to be able to be on board with all of those guys.”

Marina Rubicón Lanzarote 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week, Standings after Day 3
1. Sled, Takashi Okura, 1+2+6+1+3 = 13pts  
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 & 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 & Renato Plass, 14(DNS)+11+7+11+11 = 54   

13. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 8+13+14(DNS)+14(DNS)+14(DNS) = 63