Mean Machine update

We get an update from Peter de Ridder about his TP 52 and Volvo Ocean Race plans

For Monaco-based Peter de Ridder, the 2007 season is looking to be a complex one. He and his Mean Machine team will be returning to the Breitling MedCup circuit to defend their title in the TP 52. He has sold his beloved Mumm 30 and has ordered a new Farr 40 to be delivered in September ready for the Worlds in Miami next year. Meanwhile there is the no small matter of the Volvo Ocean Race where de Ridder heads a team to be skippered by Ray Davies.

When de Ridder's Volvo campaign was announced last year, it came with the big proviso that their participation was subject to finding sponsorship. At present de Ridder says they are in the same predicament, although they are currently in negotiations with a major sponsor. "If they say 'we go with you' then we say we will go around the world and will have enough funds in place to do it seriously, to be competitive, because that’s the only way I want to do it. So hopefully in the next month or so we can announce something. In the meantime I don’t want to chance my luck."



While the finances of the team are put in place - so the design work continues. Fellow Dutchman Rolf Vrolijk is well underway with his R&D of the new Volvo Open 70 with his team remarkably similar to that of a certain America's Cup defender. This rather talented group including engineer Dirk Kramers and CFD guru Michel Richelson were also behind de Ridder's winning TP 52.

"We have a good team," says de Ridder. No kidding.... "I have worked so many years with Rolf already, and again with the TP 52 he and his guys did an excellent job, so I like to work again with these guys."

So far the design work on the VO70 has included trying out around 100 sails in the University of Auckland's famous wind tunnel and soon they are to start tank testing the Vrolijk hull in a facility in Denmark. Meanwhile alongside this all CFD work continues ready to start building on 1 August.

A builder has yet to be finalised but it seems most likely that some or all of the work will be carried out by their own team.

De Ridder is excited by how competition in the Volvo Ocean Race is lining up including the recent annoucement of Ken Read's Puma campaign with more in the wings from Spain, Brazil and possibly Ireland. "At the end of the day we may end up with eight boats, maybe more."

As to his involvement, de Ridder expects to helm for the in-ports and may sail some of the shorter legs in Europe and/or China where a leg between Qingdao and Shanghai is expected. He is more than happy to do the longer legs by plane. "I don’t like to do the 6,000 milers and especially not the one which goes from Shanghai to Rio..."

In the shorter term there is the no small matter of defending his Breitling MedCup title, where last year he not only won the TP 52 series, but did so as a 'Corinthian' helmsman, impressively against some of the world's best pros.

This year de Ridder and his team led by Emirates Team New Zealand tactician Ray Davies will be racing the same boat on the Breitling MedCup circuit and he hopes it will be as competitive. "I have spoken to Rolf about it, and he is saying that hull-wise there won’t be so much change [with the new boats]. Basically they will have the same hulls as last year with the Vrolijk boats. I don’t know what B&C are going to do. So hopefully we’ll still be competitive. Last year maybe speed-wise we had an edge. Hopefully this time we’ll be more even and that will make the competition even more interesting."

Over the winter the team have been developing their boat. An AC-style sliding hatch has been added to the foredeck. "That will let less water in, because occasionally you get tons of water coming in through the hatch in a good breeze," says de Ridder.

They have also extended their sidedecks aft in order to get two more crew hiking at the back of the bus when reaching. "Last year we had the impression that our boat was a little bit bow down, and maybe that was the reason we were quick reaching, but not as quick as the Botin & Carkeek boats. So hopefully we will get a little bit closer to them reaching." Equally De Ridder reckons the B&C boats will have improved their upwind performance for this year. They have also made some small changes to the jib tracks to make trimming the jibs easier.

Last year Mean Machine was the only TP 52 to be fitted with a tiller instead of wheels. This feature appears to have been adopted by several of the new TP 52s being launched for this year. “It’s funny to see that of the 9 new boats 7 will have a tiller,” comments De Ridder, “the 60 year old grandad set a trend in 2006!”

One of the key areas that the team has also been focussing on is sail development. Dirk de Ridder, mainsail trimmer on the TP 52, comments on what they've been doing: "We've worked very hard on sails this winter. This season we’ll be using all the sails from last year, plus a brand new suit of sails, which will be a big step for us. Jon Gundersen and Liam Newman have been working very closely with the sail designers, while Jono Swain and I have been developing the sail area. We’ve shared out all the responsibilities between us: I have been more focussed on developping the mainsail, Jono’s been in charge of the spinnaker area and Gundy (Jon Gundersen) took care of the foresails. We’ve been working throughout with North Sails New Zealand and North Sails Denmark , while Liam Newman has been managing the process as a whole.”

While de Ridder waits to hear about the Volvo Ocean Race sponsorship, he has already secured a Spanish sponsor for the TP 52 program this year.

The Breitling MedCup circuit may not begin until after the Louis Vuitton Cup, but this weekend they will be sailing the Hublot Palmavela Trophy in Majorca alongside around nine other TP 52s including their sistership Anonimo, John Buchan's new Glory from the USA, and the British boats Stuart Robinson's Stay Calm and John Cook's Cristabella.

De Ridder says they won't sail any other races in the TP 52 prior to the first Breitling MedCup regatta in Alicante but they will be racing their VO70, the former Pirates of the Caribbean, in the ABN AMRO North Sea Race. "Because we are Dutch we want to come into Holland with that boat. In this they may find themselves up against ABN AMRO One if the black boat makes it back from the Caribbean in time en route to her new owners in Sweden.