Second new TP in two years
Thursday June 14th 2007, Author: James Boyd, Location: United Kingdom
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On pages 3-5 of this article see photos of all the boats in Alicante by year
The Breitling MedCup circuit for the TP52s continues to strengthen. At the opening regatta of the season here in Alicante 23 boats are competing (the King of Norway's Fram is notably absent) including nine new boats, three from Botin & Carkeek, five from Judel Vrolijk and one from Reichel Pugh - Eamon Conneely's Patches. After Peter de Ridder and Mean Machine's win in the 2006 championship, Judel Vrolijk seem to be the designer of choice at the moment in the TP 52 class and have this year conjured up two sistership's - Bribon on which the King of Spain will once again sail and Alexia/ Matador (now renamed Siemens) for Argentinian owner Alberto Roemmers. Seattle property developer John Buchan has a boat from the same moulds at Hakes Marine in Wellington, NZ as the 2006 generation boats Mean Machine and Anonimo, while Artemis is the Russell Coutts masterminded project for new Swedish owner Torbjörn Törnqvist. The fifth is British owner Stuart Robinson's new Stay Calm, built at Green Marine . Robinson's latest acquisition might seem a little excessive. Stay Calm is the only campaign in this incredible fleet to have had new boats on consecutive years, but Robinson says he has his reasons: "With the last boat we were looking at doing a bit of offshore, Cork Week and a little IRC. This one we have optimised because we are spending all our time here. But the old boats seem to be doing as well as the new ones, so maybe we’ve been wasting our money!" he adds refering to the win of the 2005 generation boat Balearia yesterday. The class has got a level more competitive yet again this year, says Robinson. "It is amazing – one little error and you lose three or four boats." This year Robinson and his team will be competing on the whole MedCup circuit, before going to the Rolex Global Championship in Porto Cervo in September. She will then go across to do Key West, Miami and the Worlds, where Robinson says they are expecting 15 or so boats. This year there are a few new faces on board. Former ABN AMRO Two star navigator Simon Fisher has now taken up this role with Robinson, Jerry Mitchell is on mainsheet, Team Shosholoza's Brett Jones is trimming upwind. For this regatta Sydney's finest Alby Pratt is trimming downwind, a role that Andy Hemming will take on once he has won the America's Cup for Emirates Team New Zealand. Finally Chris Main is now at the back helping Adrian Stead with speed and strategy. As to the new boat herself, she is not simply a Med boat. She is very much tailored for the program Robinson has planned for this year. The MedCup itself this year goes to Majorca as it did last year. This regatta in Alicante is perhaps similar in conditions to the first regatta last year in Castellon, but this year the circuit also visits Hyeres and Portimao in the south of Portugal, both venues with potential for big breeze. Thus a common feature of the 2007 generation boats is that they have slightly more stability. "If you were looking at us versus the winning boat last year, we are a little bit stiffer," admits Adrian Stead, although Mean Machine have been under the knife this winter to remedy this. This has also affected the engineering. The previous Farr designed Stay Calm had a structure to be withstand a Fastnet Race, but the new model it is purely a regatta boat. "Last year rather than put lead in the bilge we made the bilges stronger," explains Adrian Stead. "In the end we sailed a lot in the Med, so the reality is that this is Grand Prix Med boat. The old Stay Calm would be a fantastic boat for someone who wanted to race in Sydney or in IRC anywhere around the world." For yes, Stay Calm 1 is up for sale. Comparing the new Stay Calm with the 2006 generation Judel Vrolijks she looks a bit wider at the stern and there is now a subtle chine along the sides of her hull. Below the water we understand the rudder is now a bit further forward than the 2006 JVs. The side decks extend further aft in order to get crew weight further aft downwind, another common feature of the new boats. In the cockpit the boat follows Mean Machine in having tiller steering. "It’s more fun," says Robinson. "There is a bit more to do. You are sitting down and then standing up downwind. You can follow the boat around easier when you are tacking or gybing. But it is nice." Stead reckons that it also provides more feel in the light. "The boats are quite well balanced and easily driven whereas years ago with the 50 footers some tiller boats struggled. This seems pretty light and you can steer with the tiller raised up against your hip. And it means the whole cockpit is more functional. The tactician, the navigator and the strategist can go forward no problem and move their weight around a lot more. All the boats seem quite trim sensitive, particularly as we’ve only be experiencing 4-10 knots over the last couple of days. You are seeing the very extreme trim changes." The sexiest feature of the cockpit are the fore and aft stripes of grip tape giving Stay Calm a slightly Wally look. Allegedly the reason for it being in stripes is simply that the grip tape is easier to remove and replace if it gets damaged. A common trend on many of the boats now is to have runner winches mounted almost on their side so that if it must be wound on as everyone is hiking it can without the handle hitting the back of the person sitting behind it. As on Patches, the twin pedestals are not only linked but they now power the starboard pit winch. "It means that all the hoists now are driven rather than bounced and the spinnaker is not packed upwind - we just hoist it out of the front hatch, so very much small keel boat style," explains Stead. "We still run the tapes but it means we keep the weight on the rail rather than having someone downstairs packing. The driven pit winch also means that that you can furl the G0 leaving the primaries free for the sheets. Because the VCG rule of the class, you’re using it because you know you are going to make boat handling gains and because it is in the middle of the boat pretty much above the VCG it is not too detrimental." 
Above deck Stay Calm is fitted with Southern Spars three spreader rig that is similar to that Machine Machine and Pinta sported last year but made with a higher modulus carbon fibre. Within the team Chris Main and Jerry Mitchell are responsible for the mast. In terms of sails Jeremy Elliott has been in charge, with input from the venerable Henrik Soederlund and Juan Messenger. This year a cost limitation has been applied to the class with the introduction of a 25 button sail card for the five events within the 2007 MedCup. So far Stay Calm have used around 12. "If we use the light jib for the whole regatta, it’ll have one more regatta in it," says Stead. "We have got a new main coming on line ready for the next regatta. Some might have development in it, some might be pure replacement. For the Globals we’ll have some other new stuff as well. We’ll do two or three extra sails than last year. Last year we had sails out of the bag that weren’t quite right whereas this year we have hit the ground running and they are pretty good." They are also trying to up the game with their training. "We want to do well in the boat and in order to succeed you need to practice, practice, practice," says Stead. "We’re trying to do a day or two more before each regatta." On Stay Calm Stuart Robinson helms and so they sail in the 'Corinthian' class. However this does not mean they sail with the also-rans. Remember it was an amateur driver in Peter de Ridder who beat all the pro helms to win the 2006 championship outright. Robinson hopes to emulate this this year. So with 23 boats in Alicante and possibly 25 racing on the circuit this year has the TP 52 class peaked? "I think in terms of numbers I’d be surprised if we get more than 25," says Stead. "But in terms of standard, no. The potential standard for the racing in this class goes from strength to strength. The teams that were struggling last year have all taken a step forward, they have spent money on sails and done work. Platoon is being sailed better, Ono, Balearia and these are last two are two years old." Costs are going up, Stead admits, but we suspect not as a huge rate. Sails are now limited and there are no full new wardrobes for every regatta. Costs of building a TP52 cannot have escalated greatly. Stay Calm have four shore crew. The main cost is likely to be in a more extensive regatta program and the additional training. What will be interesting to see this year is if or how long the tweaked older generation TP 52s can keep up with the new hardware. This will be one true test of the longevity of the class. |
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