A second British TP 52

We speak to Peter Morton about the Carphone Warehouse boss' latest race boat

Rather quietly a new TP 52 has been taking shape over the last months two doors down from thedailysail's office at Ritchie Faulkner's premises in Hamble Yacht Services. Charles Dunstone's new Red had its fist public outing at the weekend in the JPMorgan Round the Island Race.

Unlike the numerous TP 52s down in the Med from the top design houses such as Farr, Judel/Vrolijk, etc the new Red is unique in being a design by former Southampton University duo Javier Jaudenes and Lieven Theys. Originally the boat was commissioned by Spanish owners Aitor Ruiz/Eugenio Jaudenes and was to be called World Force, but last year the project floundered.

Into this situation stepped Hamble's foremost raceboat deal-maker Peter Morton who was convinced that Faulkner's boat should be the new racing yacht of Carphone Warehouse boss Charles Dunstone.

"When Charles sold Enigma at the end of last year he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do and he knew he would be very busy this year with Talk Talk and Carphone Warehouse. So when that Spanish project fell apart I had a chat with Ritchie Faulkner and found out what was going on and then went and had a chat with Charles about the possibility of picking that program up."

At that stage, last November/December the project was sitting Faulkner's build facility three quarters complete. "From a time point of view it made sense because the decision to build a new one was past deadline."

In the end Morton took the project on himself shrewdly, on the basis that when it comes to new TP 52s it is very much a sellers market. Dunstone finally signed up for the TP 52 as it was nearing completion a few weeks ago and so Red was born.

The boat is named Red as Charles Dunstone is a supporter of a charity of this name, created by U2 frontman Bono to raise money for The Global Fund - to help women and children with HIV/AIDS in Africa - by a commission on sales on Red branded products. Companies that have already created Red products include Amex, who have a Red Amex card, Emporio Armani who selling some Red wraparound sunglasses, GAP who are selling a RED range of clothing and Converse baseball boots. Dunstone's involvement has been in coming up a Red phone in conjunction with Motorola. Read more about this here.

"If you have a Red phone 5% of all your calls go to their charity," explains Morton. Hence the boat is being used as an additional vehicle to raise awareness of the campaign.

Back to the boat itself and despite the project falling apart for its original owners, designers Jaudenes and Theys have been involved from start to finish and Morton says that at present Red is in 100% TP 52 mode, although they are currently looking at a few things as the boat is due to the stay in the UK in the short term at least. The program includes the IRC Nationals this coming weekend, a couple of practice weekends, the RYA's Pre-Cowes Week regatta and then Skandia Cowes Week. This is a small possibility of Red then heading for the Mediterranean, but this will depend upon Dunstone's schedule. "At the moment it is such that he can’t take any time away. He was on board for two hours before the round the island race and then he was gone within half an hour of finishing..."

As Dunstone was uncertain of his sailing schedule this year due to his business commitment, the Enigma maxi boat crew has disbanded, most now racing on board Patches or Stay Calm on the Breitling MedCup TP 52 circuit. The hardcore remain in Morton, Dunstone's long term helmsman Dave Bedford and Kelvin Rawlings.

Aside from Red, Dunstone also has a new 117ft Philippe Briand cruising yacht, Hamilton II, recently launched. Again this was another project he 'took over'. The boat was originally commissioned for the Aga Khan's brother who sadly died before it was completed.

More photos on page 2...