The current situation of the TP52 class in Europe

Since the last regatta in Ibiza last September and the end of the 2006 Breitling Medcup season, there hasn't been any remarkable news on the TP52 class, despite its importance on the professional sailing scene, at least in Europe. This class of fast and exciting boats had a meteoric rise in popularity and in its second year was able to attract a great number of top professional sailors, with two boats crewed by a total of 13 members from Emirates Team New Zealand.

The end of an admittedly remarkable season saw many ebullient insiders predicting 30 entries for 2007 and jammed starting lines. Nevertheless, since then we haven't seen any major announcements or spectacular incorporations (the exception being the enry of CAM) and on the contrary some boat owners decided to drop out of the circuit.

What is the current situation of the TP52 Med fleet? What are its prospects? Who better to talk about this than someone who was directly involved last year. We reproduce here the article written by Pedro Perelló, manager of the Siemens Sailing Team, that appeared on his website, Promorace:

Now that the seemingly endless Christmas break is well behind us and we are back to work, I would like to comment on the current situation of the TP52 class. As most of you will probably know, the TP52 has been through a spectacular start and just at its second year it was established as one of the leading classes worldwide on the top professional sailing level. This is an irrefutable fact and upon this we enter the third consecutive season of the TP52’s in Europe.

The most optimist were forecasting a growth rate equal to the one in 2006, that is 10-12 new entries. But the analysis of the current situation puts in evidence some signs of fatigue that should make us ponder upon. At the end of the previous season, some of the existing teams made public their intention to change their boat for one of newer design. Some of them dated from 2005, such as the Caixa Galicia that has now been sold to a Russian owner. Anoher one was the Bribón, Caixa Galicia’s “twin”, that after the poor results of the 2006 season and the unfortunate collision that took place in Ibiza, decided to commission a new boat, this time to Rollf Vrolijk, and is being built in Valencia at the King Marine boatyard (that also built Desafío Español’s two America’s Cup yachts, ESP-88 and ESP-97). This new Bribón is also “twin” of Alexia, a recent addition to the TP52 class. The Patches, the highly successful Siemens in 2006, is building a new Reichel Puigh yacht in China, but still hasn’t been able to sell the old boat, despite her impressive list of accomplishments. The Stay Calm that raced under the sponsorship of Spanish group "Santa Ana", and caused the unfortunate collision with Bribón, decided to build a new boat, one of the reasons being the damages from the collision. The old boat is still on sale, as is the old Farr-designed Bribón.

The TP52 fleet at the start of one of last season's races. Castellón, 5 July 2006. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The Italian Orlanda of the Italian boat owner Alessandro Pirera, has also decided to put an end to the TP52 project. Unfortunately, health reasons will not allow its participation in the 2007 circuit. The Bambakou of Jonh Coumantaros will not be present either in the 2007 regattas. The Greek boat owner stated the boat would be available for charter. Pinta, Rush and Atalanti are another three major absents from the 2007 fleet.

Warpath has been sold and is now called Windquest, owned by Doug de Voss. The new entries to the fleet are lead by CAM that finally abandons the now-defunct IMS 500, Alexia of the Argentinian Alberto Roemmers, Artemis of the Swedish Torbjorn Tornqvist and Mutua Madrileña of the Chilean Bernardo Matte. Other boats whose participation in our circuit looks less likely are the new Glory, the Samba pa ti of John Kilroy, or the Red, a yacht designed by Javier Jaudenes for a British owner, that hasn’t raced yet in the TP52 circuit. As a result, the final number of yachts that will take part in this year’s Breitling Medcup seems to be around 22, a significant number, just as significant is the level of all participating sailors.

Nevertheless, the desire of having 30 yachts competing in 2007 proves to be just an illusion. It is normal that in a first-class sporting event participation isn’t massive. It wouldn’t make sense to have a Formula 1 circuit with 40 teams. The very high level of competition implies some form of selection.

Dean Barker at the helm of Warpath, a yacht with 7 Emirates Team New Zealand crew. Castellón, 4 July 2006. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The sailing costs of the TP52 class have shot up. Few boat owners are willing to bear the cost of a campaign, which lead to the curious phenomenon of strong boat owners getting into a form of association, followed by a major sponsor. It looks like an interesting solution: Boat owners invest their capital in the construction of a boat, a considerable part of which will be recovered by the sale of the yacht. Sponsors pay the costs of the sailing campaign, an expense they will never recover, getting in turn the right to use the boat as an advertizing vehicle. It seems to be a convenient solution for both sides, allowing boat owners to have a top-notch sailing team and considerably lowering the budget the sponsor has to bear during the season.

In any case, the fleet’s growth might have stalled for other reasons, such as the late decision on the season’s calendar, making it difficult to sell it to a sponsor or the lack of a reliable media analysis that could convince sponsors of the returns on their investments in a short period of time.

Finally, it is worth pointing out that an important part of the fleet with a Spanish sponsor considers the possibility of not participating in foreign events, mainly due to the poor media coverage in Spain of these events during the 2006 season. My opinion today is that we can have a viable "Medcup" with a fleet of 20 units on average, peaking to a participation of 28 in the Copa del Rey.

In any case, I still consider it a success.