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World Championship Winning Team on Lethal Form
St. Tropez – 4th May, 2025
Making what proved to be the decisive strike on the final run of the final race on the final day of racing at St. Tropez Sailing Week on Sunday, the 2024 world championship winning Langley Holdings Gladiator Sailing Team secured overall victory in the inaugural regatta of the world’s leading Grand Prix mono-hull yacht racing circuit, the 2025 52 SUPER SERIES.
Day 1 had the 11 teams from 8 different nations waiting for breeze that never filled sufficiently for Principal Race Officer Maria Torrijo to be able to set a course.
On Day 2, the Gladiators claimed first blood of the 2025 season, leading the fleet the entire way around the two-lap windward-leeward course to convincingly take the win in Race 1.
Light winds and calms prevailed for the rest of the week until Sunday, when a fresh breeze finally filled up to 14 knots, but it meant only four races could be sailed of the ten planned, the Langley Gladiator team winning by a single point ahead of the 2021 world and circuit champions, Takashi Okura’s Sled.
The triumph is all the more special for team boss Tony Langley as the first 52 SUPER SERIES regatta he has won steering the Gladiator, now backed up by tactician Guille Parada, who steered the boat to win the Rolex World Championship title in Newport RI last year with Langley calling tactics – one of two regattas the British team won in 2024.
With Kiwi America’s Cup legend Ray Davies joining the team as strategist for the 2025 season, following Emirates Team New Zealand’s defence of the Auld Mug in Barcelona last October, the Gladiator team’s potency was highlighted when they clinically put Sled to the sword in the final stage of the last run of the contest.
Commenting on the dock afterwards Langley said: “This is very special for me in a very special place, it is still sinking in. It is my first regatta win as driver in SUPER SERIES in 15 years and for Guille his first regatta win as tactician.
Swapping roles looks to be working okay so far and bringing in Razor (Ray Davies) for sure has helped enormously.
On the last run, Guille and I had a few words, Sled were three or four lengths ahead and I said to him “you do realise we are tied on points with these guys for the regatta, we have to do something, we’re not going to win this if we just follow them. He replied, “yes, I’ve got this.” And it worked.
“Saint-Tropez is very special for me, I love this place” said Parada, who joined the Gladiator in St. Tropez two years ago as part of a major shake up by Langley. The Gladiator podiumed in third place then.
“I was pleased with the win after swapping roles,” he said “It’s a great feeling because it’s the first time I’ve sailed as tactician in the Super Series, and although it’s a job I can do perfectly well, I’ve never had the chance to do it before. Debuting with a win is something unexpected, but at the same time it makes us very happy. The reality is that my job was made easier by Ray Davies, who is a giant of the sport, and (navigator) Bruno (Zirilli); we’ve known each other all our lives, we look at each other and we know what the other one is thinking.
The crew, the trimmers who made the boat very fast, the grinders pushing those last gybes on the last downwind, made a big difference. And a separate special story for Tony (Langley), who has taken the challenge of helming again, he has taken it very seriously, he did a very good job and gave us the possibility to fight for the top positions. So I’m happy, and we hope to continue on this path.”
Second place was a bitter disappointment for the Gladiator team’s arch rival Sled, who had their first regatta title since 2021 in their pocket until succumbing to the British team’s onslaught. It was almost déjà vu for the U.S. flagged team, when the Gladiator converted a single point lead in the last race of the final day of racing in the 2024 Rolex World Championship into a decisive victory over Sled.
Sled’s ace tactician Francesco Bruni mused: “We had our good moments and our bad moments and unfortunately we made a few mistakes and Gladiator had a good win which they really deserve. We have to clean up a few things, we did not make any bad races in the end, but we could have won the regatta.
Gladiator was the best boat this week. On that run we could have matched their first gybe that would have been better but not only that we made some mechanical mistakes in the manoeuvres, not picking the right angles, we need to learn these lessons for the next event.”
Next up, the circuit goes to Baiona on the north west coast of Spain for the GALICIA 52 SUPER SERIES ROYAL CUP, June 2nd – 7th.
The Gladiators will sit this one out, returning to defend their 2024 World Champions title at the ROLEX TP52 World Championship CASCAIS 2025, July 2nd – 7th.
Watch SAINT-TROPEZ SAILING WEEK Wrap Up.
St. Tropez “Jewel of the Riviera” played host to the inaugural regatta of the 2025 52 SUPER SERIES
Winning Race 1 convincingly
Gladiator dominated the 11 boat fleet from 8 different countries
Team Boss, Tony Langley – back on the helm after two seasons of calling tactics
About Gladiator Sailing Team
The Langley Holdings Gladiator Sailing Team is one of 13 teams from 8 different nations competing in the annual 52 Super Series, the world’s premier mono hull yacht racing circuit.
The Gladiator team also competes in other yacht racing in the UK and the USA, bringing on aspiring young sailors in big boat racing alongside seasoned professionals.
In common with Langley businesses, the 52 SUPER SERIES represents the very best technology in its field, attracts talented, dedicated people and is conducted with the highest standards of integrity.
About Langley Holdings
Langley Holdings plc is a privately owned UK-based engineering and industrial manufacturing group, principally producing capital equipment for diverse markets worldwide. Langley businesses are either outright market leaders, or occupy strong niche positions in their respective fields, providing advanced technologies in a solutions-based approach. The group operates in three principal areas: Power Solutions, Print Technologies and Other Industrials. The group’s operations are based in Germany, Italy, France the UK and Norway, with 18 production facilities in Europe, the UK and the USA. The group has more than 90 sales and service subsidiaries worldwide and employs around 5,000 people. Langley Holdings was established in 1975 by the current Chairman & CEO, Anthony Langley and remains entirely in family ownership.
