Video: AUDI A1 t-bones Bribón

AUDI A1 t-bones Bribón. Cagliari, 22 September 2010. Video copyright AUDI Medcup

First test sail for the modified TP52 Bribón in Palma de Mallorca

Yet another TP52 yacht takes her first test sail after the necessary modifications in order to compete in this year's AUDI Medcup, that is to add 150kgs of weight to the keel to compensate for the reduction in crew weight, move to a "square-top" mainsail with twin backstays, increase spinnaker area and adopt bowsprits.

Just like he did with Matador on Saturday, our friend and local photographer Jesús Renedo, followed the first sail of the Spanish King's TP52 yacht on the water of the Palma bay on Tuesday. Helmed by Gonzalo Araujo, the sole Spanish TP52 entry in the 2010 AUDI Medcup sailed for approximately 4 hours under very light conditions. They have changed to tiller steering, removing the twin wheels, changed the mainsheet system, extended the deckline to the vertical at the back of the boat, in line with all the other newer TP52's, and, at least in this first test, sailed with brand new 3Di sails.

First test sail for the modified TP52 Bribón. Palma de Mallorca, 23 March 2010. Photo copyright Jesús Renedo

First test sail for the modified TP52 Bribón. Palma de Mallorca, 23 March 2010. Photo copyright Jesús Renedo

First test sail for the modified TP52 Bribón. Palma de Mallorca, 23 March 2010. Photo copyright Jesús Renedo



First test sail for the modified TP52 Bribón. Palma de Mallorca, 23 March 2010. Photo copyright Jesús Renedo

First test sail for the modified TP52 Bribón. Palma de Mallorca, 23 March 2010. Photo copyright Jesús Renedo

First test sail for the modified TP52 Bribón. Palma de Mallorca, 23 March 2010. Photo copyright Jesús Renedo

First test sail for the modified TP52 Bribón. Palma de Mallorca, 23 March 2010. Photo copyright Jesús Renedo

First test sail for the modified TP52 Bribón. Palma de Mallorca, 23 March 2010. Photo copyright Jesús Renedo

Bribón takes TP52 practice race in light and shifty conditions

Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a story in the first practice TP52 race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. The 13 TP52 yachts taking part in the Alicante Trophy had to sail in light and shifty conditions as the northeasterly breeze the blew in the bay of the Spanish Mediterranean city varied between 6 and 9 knots and was marked by a clear left shift.

The left paid off and that was exactly what Ross Macdonald called aboard Bribón. The Spanish King's boat, helmed by French veteran Thierry Peponnet, had a clear strategy from the start line, opting for the pin end, despite the committee boat end having a slight advantage. The Spanish boat stayed on the far left of the course in the first beat and rounded the top mark clearly ahead of her competitors. They held on to their lead and crossed the finish line ahead.

Valencia Sailing was aboard Valars, the Russian TP52 yacht helmed by Serguei Chevtsov. The Russians are racing with last year's winner of this same event, the former TP52 Mean Machine, but her pedigree was of no help. Despite the young age of most of the crew, the Russian managed to stay in the game half way through, rounding the leeward gate in the middle of the pack, ahead of Emirates Team NZ and Artemis, but an erroneous tactical decision in the 2nd beat cost them dearly. They chose the right side, watched the rest of the fleet make good progress on the left and rounded the top mark 12th, only ahead of AUDI Q8. Despite showing good speed in the last run they were unable to make any significant gain.

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First TP52 practice race of the 2009 AUDI MedCup. Alicante, 12 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

"Hispanic" TP52's train in Valencia

With just a few days left before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup in Alicante, Desafío is playing host to Matador and Bribón in their base and the three "hispanic" teams took advantage of Thursday's excellent conditions to carry out their last training sessions in the host city of the 32nd America's Cup before moving to the actual venue on Sunday. It was Valencia at its best today, with bright skies and a brisk southeastern breeze that reached 17 knots late in the afternoon, before dying completely.

The three teams were later joined by the Russian Valars and ended the day's training with a 4-boat fleet regatta. That race also marked the return of the Russians on the water after an unfortunate incident a month ago that resulted in a broken mast. The Russians had scheduled to race in HUBLOT Palmavela in mid-April but the breakage dashed their hopes. The first tests today proved successful and Valars was able to join today's race.

In addition to these 4 TP52 yachts, AUDI Q8 used the day to finetune their yacht while Emirates Team New Zealand were busy working on their 52ft boat, trying to make her a TP52. As surprising as it might sound, the yacht of the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup winners didn't measure and as a result it isn't a TP52 yet. According to the reports from the rest of teams, the kiwi shore crew has to slim the bulb by around 200kg before the class measurers put their stamp of approval. So if you answered, Emirates Team NZ TP52 yacht in our quiz, you were wrong. We don't know whether this setback will have any consequences on ETNZ's schedule.

With the TP52 action in Valencia winding down, we will publish an interesting interview with Terry Hutchinson on Friday. Last year's Med & World champion is already in Alicante and Quantum Racing has been training there for a couple of days.

Last TP52 training sessions before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last TP52 training sessions before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last TP52 training sessions before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last TP52 training sessions before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

First, and successful, test sail of Valars after the mast breakage a month ago. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last TP52 training sessions before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last TP52 training sessions before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last TP52 training sessions before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last TP52 training sessions before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last TP52 training sessions before the start of the 2009 AUDI Medcup. Valencia, 7 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

James Spithill joins TP52 Bribón for Portugal Trophy

[Source: Breitling Medcup] After a spell home in Australia, enjoying the post-Cup therapeutic effects of some garage and extension building work at his house, Luna Rossa’s highly rated helmsman James Spithill is back in Europe and ready to compete for the first time on the TP52’s Breitling MedCup Circuit, the best fleet racing circuit in the world.

Spithill will be a more than capable deputy for Bouwe Bekking on the helm of Jose Cusi’s Judel Vrolijk designed Bribon.

“I had my first sail today and it was great. I have never sailed these boats before but they felt just great, like big dinghies. It was so nice to go out and do some real planing.” Smiled Spithill as he joined the line to weigh in at the Marina Portimao on Portugal’s Algarve, where the circuit’s fourth event the season, the Portugal Trophy starts Tuesday with 19 boats set to line up.

With the late afternoon breeze building to a comfortable 20 knots these were what are promised to be typical conditions as the MedCup circuit extends out of the Mediterranean waters for the first time in search of more breeze and excitement.

James Spithill aboard the TP52 Bribón. Portimao, 20 August 2007. Photo copyright Thierry Martinez

“It’s probably back to the Melges times when I last went racing in a planing boat. It should be a lot of fun, planing and asymmetrics. They are really nice boats. They react well, just like big dinghies and so nice after the big displacement Cup boats. I was really impressed with the guys on Bribon, I just stepped on and the boat handling is really good and everything. This a chance I jumped at and Ross (McDonald, tactician) and the guys seem really good. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

“It is great to be racing again. I am in Europe now for about a month, doing this and then some RC44 sailing and some match racing. I really enjoy the fleet racing, and just racing. That is just one of the things about the America’s Cup, is that you just don’t get that many opportunities. I think it is such a good thing for Cup teams to get out and do some racing. We did it with the Melges 24, got a core group together and went out and did a lot of open racing, there is a lot of value to it. I think you will start to see a lot of Cup teams going out and doing this sort of racing, the technical boat speed development, because you just don’t get that in Match racing.”

“I have been close to Portugal before, in Bayona, but never here before. I have heard a lot about it and heard the ISAF Worlds were really good.”

The brand new TP52 Bribón is sailing in Valencia

The brand new TP52 Bribón was launched on Friday and immediately went out for her first sail off Valencia's coast. The Bribón was designed by Rolf Vrolijk, built at the King Marine boatyard in Valencia and fitted out during the last couple of weeks at the Desafío Español base.

Given the particularity of the boat and team - the King of Spain Juan Carlos is considered the de facto owner - there is little information made public. As a result, we can't provide further details on the first test sails.

The brand new Bribón carrying out the very first test sails. Valencia, 1 June 2007. Photo copyright Nico Martinez

The brand new Bribón carrying out the very first test sails. Valencia, 1 June 2007. Photo copyright Nico Martinez

The brand new Bribón carrying out the very first test sails. Valencia, 1 June 2007. Photo copyright Nico Martinez