The brand new GP42 racing and creation of boat owners association in Palma

The Copa del Rey finished yesterday and the 20 boats of the TP52 Mediterranean fleet offered the ever growing number of spectators an excellent show of fast racing, despite the light winds that prevailed during the week and forced the organization to cancel almost half of the races.

In the sidelines of the regatta, another interesting new development started taking shape. It was the formal creation of a Spanish association of GP42 boat owners with the intention of establishing a European circuit next year, with the participation of teams from Spain, France and Italy. At the press conference, two Spanish owners announced they had already put the office of Botín & Carkeek in charge of the design of the first two Spanish units, to be built at the King Marine boatyard in Valencia. King Marine was responsible for the construction of ESP-88, the first new boat of the Spanish America's Cup challenger Desafío Español. In addition, as we wrote a month ago, on July 10, King Marine started the construction of the team's second America's Cup yacht, scheduled to be ready next February.

Always according to the Spanish owners, the advantages of the GP42 class over the TP52 class reside in the considerably lower financial costs. The construction costs (excluding sails) of a GP42 boat are between 450 thousand and half a million euros, while the annual budget of a team is well within reach of an owner and his sponsors that look for boats that can be competitive, fast, attractive, fun and can draw the interest of top-class international sailors. In addition, one of the basic concepts of the rule is to keep it stable for at least three years, further reducing the costs. In comparison, it is now believed that the annual budgets of the top teams in the Breitling MedCup have reached the 2-million euros level.

Another six Spanish projects are on the starting blocks and there is the potential of reaching a total of eight teams in France and Italy. The first ever GP42 boat has been designed by Farr Yacht Design and built by Latini Marine in Rome. She was presented in Valencia on the 1st of July and made her racing debut the following day, in Valencia as well in the Trofeo de la Reina regatta. I managed to get some pictures of it, unfortunately of lower quality. I was caught by surprise as I was not aware of the presence of the boat in the races till they rounded the last weather mark of the last race!!

You can see also watch two videos of the boat sailing, produced by Latini Marine. The first one was shot in Italy during a test sail, while the second video was shot a month ago in Valencia during the VIII Trofeo S.M. La Reina Rolex Cup.

The first ever GP42 racing in the Copa del Rey. Palma, 6 August 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The first ever GP42 racing in the Copa del Rey. Palma, 6 August 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The first ever GP42 racing in the Copa del Rey. Palma, 6 August 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing