New halycon era

We look at the latest from the TP52 circuit

With the seeds sown following the launch of four new boats in the USA last year, so the TP52 class in 2005 is not merely growing, it is going supernova thanks to the interest stirred up in the Mediterranean by the King of Spain's participation in the class.

Ten new TP52s are currently in construction and will be heading for Spain from builders in the UK, New Zealand and Italy (as well as Spain) to compete in the newly announced Breitling MedCup, the circuit for the TP52s in the Mediterranean. Another ten or more new TP52s may be joining the circuit in 2006...

To manage the circuit in Europe a group of owners have banded together to form a European TP52 class association headed by Arturo Delago who manages the Bribon campaign on behalf of the King of Spain. The Med class has been working closely with the four year old TP52 class association in the States ( click here to see the US website) to ensure that rules and measurement issues remain common globally while negotiations continue to take place over the class' first 'global championship'.



King Juan-Carlos of Spain

For Mediterranean owners, the TP52 will be faster than their IMS500 predecessors as boats will be optimised to power up in just 10 knots of true wind, yet maintaining stability in wind speeds up to 25 knots. Allegedly TP52s will tack and get back up to speed in roughly one third the time of an IMS 50 footer, thanks to their lighter weight - 7,500kg compared to 12,000kg.

From the northern European perspective it is tempting to assume that the owners in Spain have finally 'seen the light' and abandoned their sophisticated but otherwise ugly and slow IMS boats, jumping instead on the performance band wagon with the TP52. "That is not really reason we have gone there. It is for the racing," counters Brendan Darrer, who's British owner John Cook is having a new Cristabella built by Green Marine and Neville Hutton to a Judel-Vrolijk design replacing their IMS500. "The top racing will be in the TP class. When you are sailing in 8-10 knots of breeze you are still sailing in light airs and you are not going to be surfing around."

While the TP52s will definitely be quicker than their IMS500 forebears even in these conditions, the most profound change to the racing will be the boats level rating rather than sailing under the convoluted IMS handicap. "You will have 12 boats level rating going round," says Darrer, "first boat across the line wins, which is always a lot easier as everyone understands that. With IMS, most people sailing didn’t even understand it, but it was good and whatever sailing happens in Spain will be good no matter what boats you are sailing."

Darrer admits that as a result of the King of Spain's move into the TP52, the IMS500 class is virtually finished in Spain, although a market for secondhand boats still exists mainly in Italy, Sweden and South America. Budgets for the new boats he says are similar to the IMS 500 programs and the move away from IMS is also a popular move attracting new faces from the circuit as well as a few converts from the Farr 40 and Swan 45 classes.

The new Mediterranean TP52 class assocation has also arranged the Breitling Med Cup:

TP 52 MEDCUP PUNTA ALA	PUNTA ALA (ITA)	28 MAY-4 JUN
TP52 MEDCUP TROFEO SM LA REINA	VALENCIA (SPA)	29 JUN-3 JUL
TP52 MEDCUP 11 REGATTA BREITLING	PUERTO PORTALS (MALLORCA, SPA)	21-24 JUL
TP52 MEDCUP TROFEO COPA DEL REY	PALMA DE MALLORCA (MALLORCA, SPA)	30 JUL-7 AUGUST
TP 52 MEDCUP PORTO ROTONDO	PORTO ROTONDO (ITA)	20-24 SEPT

It is believed that a majority of the new boats plan to join the circuit in Valencia. All the events in the 'Breitling MedCup' piggyback other events with the exception of the final event in Sardinia.

According to the European class association, a problem with the IMS500 was that most boats eventually ended up being optimised for what was considered the most important event of the season - the Copa del Rey - and conditions expected in the Bay of Palma in August. "To avoid this, five regattas have been created, all of which have the same importance but different wind conditions," claim the Association. "Also, in all of these there will be offshore as well as short windward-leeward races."

Among the rock star expected to be competing on the Med circuit this year are Russell Coutts, Paul Cayard, Tomaso Chieffi, Vasco Vascotto, Ross McDonald, plus the royals such as H.M. King Juan Carlos I of Spain and H.R.H. Prince Felipe.

Potential disagreement within the class internationally has been over whether or not the TP52 should be an owner-driver. The class rules originating from the US stipulate that it is and this is for the most part the view of US owners. In the Mediterranean it is the opposite case, where moving on from the IMS500 class, boats are typically driven by pros.

A compromise of sorts has been found by allowing pro-sailors to drive in the Mediterranean, while helming will remain the province of owner-drivers in the US. But what happens at a potential 'world championship' if the two fleets get together?

"According to the class rules it is an owner driver category one situation for a global championship," explains the class' Executive Director Tom Pollack. "The European guys when they came over they agreed to that back in September. They voted 14-0 to allow the professionals to drive in the Med, but what happened on top of that was they said that for a world championship we want to go with the existing class rules and even the guys from the Med who voted for pros said ‘that’s fine. We’ll vote for that.' And they voted 14-0 to say 'let’s do it that way’. So there wasn’t any disagreement."

Thus the first 'global championship' to be held next year on the east coast of the USA will be owner-driver. In 2007 the event will move across the Atlantic to Spain and at this stage it remains to be seen whether this will be owner or pro driver. "It is not hard to go out there to find yourself a really good category one sailor," says Pollack. "I think everyone understands that".

Also under discussion at present is the timing of the first 'global championship' next year. The original plan put forward by the US owners was for it to be held in Newport, RI in June. "The problem is that the Med boats are sponsored and have sponsorship requirements [in Europe then]," says Brendan Darrer. "The Americans would like to have a world championship joining up with the Bermuda race, but that clashes with people’s sponsorship over here."

According to Tom Pollack what is most likely to happen is that the Newport event, run by the New York Yacht Club, will go ahead but as the class' North American championship. He thinks the most likely time a 'global championship' would work for boats coming from both sides of the Atlantic is in Florida, probably Miami in March.

Meanwhile this year the US fleet will remain racing in US waters with the exception of John Coumantaros. Coumantaros has recently acquired the Farr Yacht Design Esmeralda from Japan's Makoto Uematsu who remarkably, like his previous Esmeralda, he owned for less than a year before selling it.

While there has been some dithering among the US owners about a program for 2005, some unity has come with the arrival on the circuit of Philippe Kahn who has his latest Pegasus, yet another Farr Yacht Design TP52 currently under construction at Goetz. "Philippe Kahn got involved and he said ‘I’m going to go Transpac" and that got a lot of people thinking about Transpac. And Mike Brennan emailed me and said ‘I’ll go too’," says Pollack. Six of the US TP52s - Pegasus, Rosebud, Trader, Sjambok, Flash and
Braveheart are now planning to compete in the biennial downwind sleigh ride from San Francisco to Hawaii in the event the class was originally designed for.

Following the Transpac the US boats are expected to race in an offshore series run by the Waikiki Yacht Club before returning for the Rolex Big Boat Series in San Francisco and then moving across the States to Fort Lauderdale for a series in the first week in December, following the feeder race south to Key West and then Key West Race Week. By then they should be nicely limbered up the first 'global championship'.

Tomorrow we will look at the new TP52s due for launch this year