TP52s' little brother

We take a state of the nation over the GP42 class, holding their Global Cup in Lanzarote this week

Boat	Owner	Designer	Builder	Built	Formerly
AIRIS	Roberto Monti	Felci Yachts	Decision SA	2008
Islas Canarias Puerto Calero	Jose Calero	Botín & Carkeek	Longitud Cero	2007/9
Quebramar-Xacobeo 2010	Goncalo Esteves	Botín & Carkeek	Longitud Cero	2008	Iberdrola
Tourism Madrid	José María van der Ploeg	Botín & Carkeek	Longitud Cero	2008
Caser-Endesa	Javier Goizueta Grasset	Botin & Carkeek	King Marine	2007	Quum
Peninsula Petroleum	John Bassadone	Farr Yacht Design	Latini Marine	2006	Roma 1
Roma 02	Filippo Faruffini	Farr Yacht Design	Cantiere Roma	2008
Team Nordic	Magnus Olssen	Cognit Design	Mtorres	2007	Totalboats
Others
Swing (ex Movistar)	Keisuki Suzuki	Botin & Carkeek	King Marine	2007	movistar
Near Miss	Franck Noël	Farr Yacht Design	Latini Marine	2008
AA HPB	Darko Prizmic	Botín & Carkeek	Murtic Yachts	2007
AlCapOne		Botín & Carkeek	King Marine	2007
Fermax		Botín & Carkeek	Murtic Yachts	2007
Seawonder 007	Vittorio Urbinati	Reichel Pugh	Marine Composite	2007
Zurich	Jan Santana	Botin & Carkeek	King Marine	2007

A new and relatively expense class, that perhaps hadn’t got up a full head of steam going into the present global economic melt down - many perhaps have felt that the days are numbered for the GP42. This might well have been the case had it not been for this year’s union with the Audi MedCup. With the TP52 fleet dwindling from its 20+ strong fleets of two years ago down to around 10-11 in 2009, so the five to seven GP42 teams racing this year have been a welcome addition to the MedCup jamboree.

As Jose-Luis Domecq, who now races on Javier Goizueta Grasset's GP42 Caser Endesa, but who for three years previously was on the TP52 Ono, says, the GP42 class are pleased by the association with the MedCup: “I knew the circuit was very well run and I think with this organisation we have got a lot of good things from it. The real Formula 1 [of sailing] are the TPs. If we can stay with them, it will be good for the class. It would have been a much poorer circuit with only 11 TPs, so it is good for everyone.”

This week the GP42 class is holding its Global Cup, thanks to strong support from the Calero family, who own a marina bearing their name in Lanzarote where this regatta is being staged, and who have also been campaigning their own GP42 this season on the Audi MedCup circuit, which they won. In Lanzarote eight boats are racing including two new additions: one skippered by the well known Swedish round the world race veteran Magnus Olssen, returning to Lanzarote having spent time there training with Ericsson prior to the last Volvo Ocean Race; the other by Gibraltar-based businessman John Bassadone, who’s Gibunco Group is involved in everything from petroleum, marine engineering, shipping and mechanical engineering to property development. He usually sails a Comet 41.

Nonetheless, as has been the case in the TPs, some strong competitors have gone. The Spanish America’s Cup challengers Desafio campaigned boats in both the TP52 and GP42 classes in 2008, but this year dropped the latter until the last regatta, where, with Laureano Wizner back on the helm, they finished second.

Last year we sailed a race at Copa del Rey on board the powerful Swiss GP42, Near Miss with owner Franck Noël and a full supreme team crew including Bertrand Pace, Tom Schnackenberg, Tanguy Cariou, Benoit Briand, etc (see video of this here). Noël still owns the boat, but doesn’t campaign it on the circuit any longer (he did race it in this year’s Giraglia Rolex Cup).



Similarly this year another brief addition was that of Keisuke Suzuki (left), of the world renowned Japanese automotive family, who acquired the former movistar GP42 (the only one with twin wheel steering), following on from various IOR and IMS boats, previously culminating in a Rodman 42. He competed in the first two events on the Audi MedCup, followed by the Quebramar-Chrysler Cup for the GP42s in Cascais and according to crewman (ex-Nippon Challenge/Luna Rossa) Tatsuya Wakinaga (right), the boat is now being shipped back to Japan where it will have a bowsprit added to race in the future under IRC, out of their homeport of Osaka.

Also perhaps not a good sign for the class was that no brand new GP42s were launched for the 2009, although this is perhaps misleading. While in the TP52 fleet, owners seem keen to build anew whenever they can, in the GP42s owners typically prefer to carry out major surgery on their craft instead. For example for this season the Botin & Carkeek designed Islas Canarias Puerto Calero and Caser Endesa both had their hulls cut away from the deck down, to be replaced by new hulls, while a nip and tuck occurred at the back end of the Farr-designed Roma 2. Interestingly while the former gained volume in their sterns, the latter lost it. The B&C designs were updated so their hulls were a little more like the B&C-designed Emirates Team NZ TP52. Paolo Cian, who helms Filippo Faruffini’s Roma 2 says he sees this as a case of the fleet levelling.

“They have a new hull because if the designer has come up with one it is better to have it,” explains GP42 Class Manager, Paolo Massarini. “The rigs are quite oversized to requirements, so they are not getting tired or old. You haven’t got much room design-wise or material-wise to make many improvement to them [the rigs] because you have a CoG, the stiffness of the carbon, the weight, etc.”

Even for the Global Cup, teams have been making serious alterations to their craft - Team Nordic, the original Farr designed Roma 1, has been fitted with a new keel, while towards the end of the MedCup this year Roma 2 made some changes to their keel (although they are suffering at this regatta as USP have currently lost their race mainsail and medium jib…)

So what is the attraction?

As a concept, the GP42 is very similar to the TP52 however the class rule produces a boat with a higher power to weight ratio. According to Paolo Cian, who has raced both: “Above 20 knots the speed is the same downwind. Upwind it is different of course. But that gives you an idea of the difference between the two boats.”

They are obviously substantially lighter than TP52s and according to Cian they are therefore more responsive to movement of crew weight.

In terms of crew work they are also more of a handful as they are sailed by only 10, compared to the 15-16 that have typically raced on TP52s to date. Caser Endesa’s Jose-Luis Domecq confirms. “I think this boat is more difficult than the TP to sail. The ratio between sail area to displacement is higher and also there are 15 people in a TP and only 10 here and the manoeuvres and everything are the same, but with five people less. So that is the biggest difficulty with the handling. But I think it is a bit nicer.”

Former Team New Zealander, Cameron Appleton, who is helmsman on Roberto Monti’s Felci-designed Airis agrees: “It is a great number. Everyone has a job and a purpose on board and is relied on throughout the race. One of the best things the TP52s could do is take four people out of their crew limit and I am pretty sure I am not the only one who thinks those boats would become pretty exciting with a few less crew.”

However Appleton also observes there is a greater range of performance across the fleet: “That is due to the nature of the designs and generations. The TP52s have been going a bit longer and they have found their area of the rule, but this class is a smaller and is fought for just as hard, but we see more performance differences over the ranges.”

Domecq reckons the TP52s are more evolved because they are an older class and because they are sailed by the best sailors in the world. However the GP42 teams have learned a lot from them.

$$$$

Given these hard economic times, the GP42 campaigns have the benefit of being significantly cheaper than TP52s. Cameron Appleton estimates that the GP42s are probably half the price to run with a sail budget of perhaps one quarter that of a top TP52 campaign. “And crew costs are down a lot because we only operate with 10 people - so less people to feed, accommodation and fly. The TP52s are more than double that.”

Paolo Cian reckons a boat costs 550,000 and 700,000 Euros to build while running costs are probably half that of a TP.

However we understand that relative for their size (and compared to TP52s), GP42s are more expensive to build as the rule rewards shedding weight from anywhere on board in order to slap it on the bulb, more than is the case with the TPs. This is perhaps why several boats have shed their jib tracks in favour of an ABN AMRO-type flying ring system.

GP42 running costs were reduced this year as the season shed an event - from six to five - when it joined the Audi MedCup, but extending each regatta by a day, although it is still a day less than the TP52s sail.

An oddity, probably for reasons of costs, is that while all the Spanish TP52 boat sponsors, perennials from the past days of IMS, such as Caixa Galicia, Cam, Mutua Madrilena, Ono, Tau Ceramica and Siemens, have pulled out, although many believe this to be temporary as they weather the recession, they have stayed aboard with the GP42s. Okay, we refer to both of them: in addition to Puerto Calero - they are Turismo Madrid and Caser-Endesa.

Another cost saving is that the GP42s only race windward-leewards. The original concept was for the boats being able to race offshore, but only one boat - the first Roma - was built with this in mind. With no coastal races, GP42s don’t have any of the specialist reaching sails that feature on TP52s. The sails for a season have been reduced to just three jibs, two mains and four kites. Paolo Cian reckons that the sail allowance is fine, but it is light on jibs.

While these days the crews on the TP52s are all-professional, fully pro crews among the GP42s are in the minority. Roma 2 is the only boat with a fully pro crew while the rest have a spattering of pros in their make-up. On board Caser Endesa for example there are three pros. Jose-Luis Domecq, quoted earlier, is an architect by profession. On Airis, the only pros are Appleton and Andrew Escourt, his mainsheet trimmer from the Team Aqua RC44 program, who calls tactics.

Going forwards

The TP52s are adding bowsprits for 2010 twin backstays to go more ‘IRC friendly’, however due to the higher power to weight ratio of the GP42s, the feeling in the class is to remain in a holding pattern for the time being with their rule. A final decision about this is to be made at an owners’ meeting in Puerto Calero tomorrow (Friday).

“The direction the class wants to go is not to change anything, because the owners all believe that any changes that could be on the same track as the 52 are not the right ones at the moment,” says Paolo Massarini. “They want to keep the boats as they are unless there is something seriously happening in the IRC rule where the 42ft size is going to be favourite. That is not going to happen this winter for sure.”

So no rule changes for 2010.

In terms of teams, it seems those that competing on the Audi MedCup circuit this year are returning next season, including the Spanish-sponsored ones. We think it unlikely that Magnus Olssen and his Nordic team will be a regular feature on the circuit, however the class is of course working on John Bassadone, who is dipping his toe in at the Global Cup. According to our colleague Dobbs Davis, Bassadone is 'stoked' having been up with the leaders at one top mark rounding today.

According to Massarini there is another British owner contemplating joining in next year too.

So in short with the GP42 class you get all the benefits of getting to race on the MedCup circuit, possibly not in such a near-America’s Cup way as the TP52s, but certainly in boats that are very nearly as exciting and for a faction of the price and running costs.

More photos on the following pages....