Can Artemis defend her title?

The Puerto Calero TP 52 World Championship Islas Canarias sets sail this week

Starting tomorrow Monday and until next Saturday, the Puerto Calero TP 52 World Championship Islas Canarias will take place on the waters of the Atlantic Spanish island, with the participation the world’s top boats and crews. 14 teams representing 11 countries will race in the most international TP52 world cup so far. This will also be the first time the TP52 world championship is held in Spain, after visiting Miami in 2006 (USA) and Porto Cervo (Italy) in 2007.

Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis from Sweden will be defending the title won on Sardinian waters last year and with three-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts calling tactics. She will undoubtedly be on the starting line as one of the favorites.

After being crowned European TP52 champions in the MedCup circuit, Quantum Racing has world dominance in sight. Terry Hutchinson doesn’t need introduction and the season’s most consistent team has all it takes to threaten Artemis.

Three-time Olympic medallist Jochen Schuemann will again lead Platoon, hoping to capitalise on their second place in the Trofeo César Manrique practice race last week. The German boat’s shore crew is currently workig round the world to repair the boat when she sustained damage after being hit by another yacht inside the marina.

The Spanish fleet will have three boats racing off the Puerto Calero marina. José Cusí’s Bribón, helmed by New Zealand America's Cup helm Dean Barker is the most well known. The yacht which is also helmed by HM King Juan Carlos of Spain finished second in this year's Audi MedCup and is certain to be a contender. Desafío, fresh from a decisive victory in last week’s Trofeo César Manrique Puerto Calero, is another of the powerhouses, helmed by American Paul Cayard and entirely crewed by the Spanish America's Cup challenger. Last but certainly not least TAU Andalucía, jointly owned by Javier Banderas and Rafael Díaz from Malaga, is the third Spanish entry.

Alberto Roemmers’ Matador will now be helmed by Roemmers Jr while Guillermo Parada will switch to tactics, in a similar fashion to the 2007 Global Championship.

Audi Sailing Team Powered by Q8 of Italian Riccardo Simoneschi will count on the addition of Swedish match-race champion Magnus Holmberg in the role of tactician.

As usual Vasco Vascotto will race in the TP52 World Championship with his Mutua Madrileña from Chile while John Cook’s Cristabella will rely on Spaniard Roberto Bermúdez de Castro to drive her. The Portuguese yacht Bigamist 6 of Pedro Mendoça will also be steered by an Portugese Olympic Star sailor Alfonso Domingos. The most important novelty will be Fram XVI of King Harald of NOrway. This will be the first time the Norwegian yacht has raced this year.

And then there are the two ever more threatening Russian entries - Sergey Pichugin's Synergy and Kirill Podolsky’s Valars, the emerging powers of the TP52 class. Both have brand new 2008 boats; Valars is the former Mean Machine while Synergy was briefly BMW Oracle Racing’s TP52 and now has Kiwi sailor Cameron Dunn calling tactics.

The schedule for Monday and Tuesday calls for the usual leeward/windward races, starting at 12pm local time. On Wednesday, the short coastal race (between 35 and 40 miles) will take place, followed by the long regatta of about 60 miles on Thursday. Both coastal races will start at 11am. The fleet will then resume its leeward-windward races on Friday and Saturday, again starting at 12pm.