Valencia Sailing: Stay Calm wins TP52 class race in Hublot-PalmaVela regatta

It was a great weekend of racing under excellent conditions for the more than 240 boats that participated in the third edition of the Hublot-PalmaVela regatta in the port city of Palma de Mallorca in Spain.

For the first time ever, the TP52 class took part in this annual sailing congregation with a total of six boats. Two teams (Platoon and Mean Machine) were absolute beginners in the TP52 class, two had already participated in last year's Breitling Medcup (Stay Calm and Bambakou) but premiered in Mediterranean waters their recently launched yachts while the remaining two (Aifos and Bribón) used the boats that had already competed in last summer's TP52 circuit in Europe.

Stay Calm was the clear winner of the exhibitional regatta with three bullets, one second place and one third.

TP52 Score table at Hublot-Palmavela

My apologies for not keeping the usual "near real-time" reporting but it was very difficult to carry out shooting, photo editing, researching and writing simultaneously. Enjoy Valencia Sailing's dozens of exclusive photos from the first "training camp" of the TP52 class in Europe this year, focusing on the four brand new boats.

Stay Calm

British boat Stay Calm, owned by Stuart Robinson and with Adrian Stead as tactician in the Hublot-PalmaVela, arrived in Palma from the US where it had won the Key West Race Week in January, although she was launched just a week before the races. This boat, designed by Bruce Farr, will participate in the 2006 Breitling Medcup sponsored by the Spanish real estate group Santa Ana and Natalia Via-Dufresne, 470 women silver medallist at the Athens Olympics will be one of the crew members.

In addition to tactician Adrian Stead, six other crew members come from GBR Challenge, the former British America's Cup team.

Stay Calm, winner of the TP52 class racing in Hublot-PalmaVela. Palma de Mallorca, 22 April 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Platoon

This was the first brand-new boat designed by the Judel/Vrolijk to start her racing career in the Hublot-PalmaVela. Owned by Harm Muller-Spreer of Germany, she was built in the US at Goetz Custom Boats and launched in Rhode Island last March.

Platoon on her maiden race in Hublot-PalmaVela. Palma de Mallorca, 22 April 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Mean Machine

This was the second brand-new boat designed by the Judel/Vrolijk to start her racing career in the Hublot-PalmaVela. The boat belongs to Dutch Peter de Ridder and was built by Hakes Marine in New Zealand. She was launched three months ago in Auckland and after making a brief stop at Valencia's yacht club last month, she arived in Palma two weeks ago, just in time to train for the regatta. Mean Machine will participate in the 2006 Breitling Medcup as "Mutua Madrileña" (a large Spanish insurance group) and part of the crew will come from Emirates Team New Zealand, the America's Cup challenger.

She finished fourth in the races but as the team states, "a win transformed into OCS, 2 minor but decisive breakages and a few boat handling mishaps prevented the Team from winning races and shining through out the whole event".

Mean Machine on her maiden race in Hublot-PalmaVela. Palma de Mallorca, 22 April 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Bambakou

Bambakou, owned by US yachtsman John Coumantaros, competed already in 2005 in this class as well as the 2005 Breitling MedCup, but this was a brand new boat that marked the entry of Argentinian designer Mani Frers in the TP 52 class.

Bambakou racing in Hublot-PalmaVela. Palma de Mallorca, 22 April 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

2010 World Match Racing Championship
	Skipper	Points
1	Ben Ainslie	126
2	Mathieu Richard	111
3	Torvar Mirsky	106
4	Adam Minoprio	90
5	Ian Williams	87
6	Jesper Radich	82
7	Francesco Bruni	65
8	Peter Gilmour	60
9	Bjorn Hansen	51
10	Magnus Holmberg	29

Race Sailing

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Stay Calm wins TP52 class race in Hublot-PalmaVela regatta

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