TP52s in 2009
Friday May 15th 2009, Author: James Boyd, Location: United Kingdom
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The turn-out for the Audi MedCup this season is considerably better than it seemed it might be, with 13 potential contenders and all of them very strong teams. Numbers have been bumped up recently by the 11th hour entries of Vasco Vascotto's ex Mutua Madrilena, now reverting to the name of Vascotto's first MedCup season winner Pisco Sour, and Swiss Star sailor Flavio Marazzi's campaign, with a crew, including Jochen Schuemann, that for the most part sailed on Platoon last season. Unfortunately both campaigns are continuing to look for sponsorship, so at present it is uncertain how many more regattas they are likely to do. On this list, but not competing in Alicante is John Cook's new Cristabella, the former Matadorwhere the team at present are attempting to sort out the VAT situation of their new steed. With the downturn in the economy there is a noticable loss of Spain entries, which were largely sponsored. The feeling is that many, such as the banks Cam and Caixa Galicia, are likely return once the economy picks up and they can be seen to be spending money on yachting again. The end result is that this season there is a much more even spread of nations competing on the Audi MedCup, with oddly only Spain, Russia and Italy fielding two boats. As an aside, we've listed the afterguard of each boat and it is interesting that Valars III has an afterguard of one - Olympic 49er sailor Rodian Luka. The Russians teams have typically remained largely Russian for mainly language reasons, along Synergy now also have Chris Main on...you guessed it.... main. Conversely Flavio Marazzi has a boat load of afterguard including the eminent Schuemann, while 2008 winner Terry Hutchinson's Quantum Racing returns with an all-American cast, including Robert Hopkins, who has always sailed with the Caixa crew (he is virtually Spanish having lived in the Canaries for umpteen years). Other significant changes in the afterguards are on board Cristabella where double gold medallist Iain Percy has signed on and Tim Powell is taking time off from skippering Ran 2 to join the party. Russell Coutts having sailed just one regatta on the MedCup last year with BMW Oracle Racing, is back with Artemis, as he was when they won the Audi MedCup in 2007. There have been three significant changes of helm. Paul Cayard who steered El Desafio last year is no longer with the team - the Spanish AC challenger is no longer fielding their GP42 as well as the TP52. On Pisco Sour Vasco Vascotto has handed driving duties over to the young Alberto Bolzan, while the King of Spain will this year be sharing the helm of Bribon with Thierry Peponnet, Dean Barker now having his own boat and Bouwe Bekking being on round the world duty. ![]() Design The MedCup is now into its fifth season in the Mediterranean and while the fleet is smaller it is ever more competitive. The oldest boat in the fleet for example is Bribon which is now a stately two seasons old. This year there are still three new boats which have joined the circuit. The new Judel-Vrolijks Artemis and Matador - you would be hard pressed to tell any difference in the hull shapes between these and the 2008 generation J-V designs. Both boats incorporate the new rules that allow cabin tops to be lower but for the engineers, build teams and project manager the object of the exercise continues to be lowering CoG to the maximum possible degree and reducing windage. Thus the biggest developments have been in the pit area where the driven pit winch is virtually in the cabin with the turning blocks at the foot of the mast being below decks rather than on deck. However when it comes to the new Botin & Carkeek boat for Emirates Team New Zealand, it is a massive departure, which we suspect will prove to be either very right or very wrong. The hull shape is vastly different with a very narrow waterline and a massive flare in her aft sections. The hull shape definitely looks like it would be fast on the Transpac... Her heavily cambered foredeck is also very different, incorporating the volume previously required by the coachroof while providing an improved end plate for the foot of the jibs. Anyway, today we have for you, a complete video guided tour of the new Kiwi TP52 thanks to the help of boat captain Chris Reid, who takes us on a bow to stern walkabout (with the exception of the out-of-bounds-until-the-end-of-the-season interior). Watch this video here NB: This video are formatted to play in Windows Media Player and are LARGE in size - therefore only suitable for those with a suitably fast broadband connection. They should play out as they download. Mac users can now view .wmv files by downloading a suitable add on to Quicktime - for example we use Flip4Mac which works a treat. The only noticable difference is that while the clip will play out while downloading on a PC in Internet Explorer, on a Mac it must download first. On page two see comparison pics of the TP52 fleet |
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