La Taberna del Puerto

[Ocell (3NY)]

Estos en la lista de espera;

We look at the owners, designers and builders of the latest generation of boats
Boat Owner Nat Designer Builder Launch
Transpac 52s
Braveheart Charles Burnett III USA Bakewell-White Lloyd Stevenson
Flash Mark Jones USA Alan Andrews Westerly Marine
Rosebud Roger Sturgeon USA Reichel Pugh Westerly Marine
Lightwave David Ford USA Laurie Davidson Cookson
Yassou Jim Demetriades USA Nelson Marek Goetz
Beau Geste Karl Kwok HK Farr Yacht Design Southern Ocean Marine Spring 2003
Bright Star Richard Breeden USA Farr Yacht Design Goetz Spring 2004
Bambakou 52 John Coumantaros USA Farr Yacht Design Goetz Spring 2004
Sjambok Michael Brennan USA Farr Yacht Design Goetz Spring 2004
Trader Fred Detwiler USA Jim Donovan ML Boat Works Summer 2004
Patches Eamoon Coneely IRE Reichel Pugh Green Marine Spring 2005
Cristabella John Cook GBR Judel/Vrolijk Green Marine/Neville Hutton Spring 2005
Caixa Galicia Vincente Tirado SPA Farr Yacht Design Cookson Spring 2005
Bribon Jose Cusi / H.M. Juan Carlos SPA Farr Yacht Design Cookson Spring 2005
Sirius Spanish Navy SPA Farr Yacht Design Cookson Spring 2005
Atalanti George Andreadis GRE Farr Yacht Design Goetz Spring 2005
Orlanda Alessandro Pirera ITA Bottin & Carkeek Latini Marine Spring 2005
Pisco Sour Vasco Vascotto ITA Bottin & Carkeek Longitude Spring 2005
Quantum Racing Doug de Vos USA Reichel Pugh Barcos Deportivos, Spain Spring 2005
Pegasus 52 Philippe Kahn USA Farr Yacht Design Goetz Summer 2005
World Force Aitor Ruiz/Eugenio Jaudenes SPA J. Jaudenes/Theys Richie Faulkner Summer 2005
Team Balearia Toño Gorestegui SPA Bottin & Carkeek Summer 2005
John Kilroy USA Autumn 2005
Marco Birch USA Autumn 2005
Mean Machine Peter de Ridder NED Judel/Vrolijk Hakes Marine Autumn 2005
Rush Thomas Stark USA Farr Yacht Design Cookson Autumn 2005
Sotto Voce Arien van Vemde NED Judel/Vrolijk Hakes Marine Autumn 2005
Fram H.M. King Harald NOR Farr Yacht Design Goetz Spring 2006
Team Astro Rainer Wilhelm AUST Luca Brenta Spring 2006
Stuart Robinson GBR

As mentioned in our update on the class yesterday, at present twelve new TP52s are due for launch in time for this season, with seven more due for launch this autumn or in 2006 plus several others in the pipeline. Designer Juan Kouyoumdjian for example tells us that he is currently talking to five clients about a series of boats to be build by Killian Bushe at the same yard in Holland where the second ABN AMRO VO70 is at present under construction. Watch this space... Considering that launching a fully tooled up carbon/Nomex TP52 gets you little change from 1 million Euros (plus running costs for a fully pro crew) - this is an impressive investment in yachting hardware and personnel.

Of the 12 new boats due to race this year, a majority are going to join the Mediterranean circuit, while two - Thomas Stark's new Rush and the latest Pegasus of Philippe Kahn - are going to join the US fleet.

As ever Farr Yacht Design are the most prolific in the class and have been behind half of these 12 with four - Rush following the three Spanish boats, including the latest Bribon of Jose Cusi and the King Juan-Carlos of Spain - under construction at Cookson in New Zealand and two more - the new Pegasus and latest Atalanti for Greek owner George Andreadis - at Goetz in the US.

"There has been a great explosion of interest in these boats," says Jim Schmicher, Senior Naval Architect at Farr Yacht Design. "If you'd asked me last spring if I thought we'd have six of these boats building now, I would have said 'no'. But the interest of the people in Spain - I think there there is a lot of pent up desire to get into a different style of boat. We are still talking to four or five potential clients for 2006 - which bodes well for the class and I think there will be many more - maybe twice that many".

According to Schmicher all of the Cookson boats are the same save for some detail work specified by their owners or skippers while the hulls on the Goetz boats are the same, but they have different appendage packages due to their intended race programs - Pegasus' first race will be the Transpac while Atalanti will be heading for the Med.

Compared to last year's models built for racing in the States, the latest generation Farr boats have been optimised for slightly lower down the wind range. "This means they will be narrower on the waterline and have a smaller footprint upright for sailing in lighter winds. But they still have the ability for reaching and when they get going fast to transition to a powerful boat with good effective length," explains Schmicker.

Saying this Schmicker doesn't think there will be a difference between US and Med boats destined to race around the buoys or in long inshores. "If you came to the US and were doing buoy racing at Key West or Newport, then guess what - your Med boat wouldn't be wildly different because the average wind strength in Key West is 12 knots and in Newport it is about the same. So you'd probably have a boat that is a little bit focussed on lighter wind, but over a two mile beat the difference - it's probably half a boat length..."

The principle difference between TP52s, as demonstrated by the Goetz boats, will be between those looking to race inshore and those going seriously offshore or oceanic as in the case of Pegasus.

"If you were always doing buoy races you would have a particular set of appendages, tailored for having enough lateral area to get upwind well and they would have features of the bulb designed to go upwind that would reduce drag," Schmicker explains. "The other extreme is if you are doing an offshore race with lots of reaching and running and then you don't need lateral area so you'd have a fairly small fin and you have a bulb tailored to very low drag. Those are your two extremes so if you have some combination of offshore and inshore then you might go somewhere in between. But for a Mediterranean boat doing buoy racing and a Newport boat doing buoy racing, then - voila - you have the same keel."

TP52 racing in the Med is supposed to comprise 75% round the cans and 25% or so 'offshore' although these are more accurately long inshores. Thus Farr have optimised their Med boats with 80% focus on windward-leeward racing. But the track record of TP52s in the States shows that their owners prefer to compete in more truly 'offshore' events such as the Chicago-Macinak, Bermuda Race and Pineapple Cup and boats designed now for these races Schmicker says would probably have a more powerful hull shape. However he hopes with the latest boats they have reached a compromise. "Your Med boat is - to use a loose term - is a 'smaller' boat whereas your boat for stronger wind speeds and more offshore would be a 'bigger' boat, but we have designed ours so that you can get across that transition between a smaller boat upright in lighter air and the boat that has got plenty of effective length and powerful counter and enough volume to keep the bow up when you are going fast."


The pillow fight

One of the most interesting aspects of the TP52 is that it is cranking up a wholescale battle of the design offices, the likes of which we haven't seen since the heyday of IOR or IMS. Although there is not much leeway under the TP52 class rules, even boats optimised for the same set of weather conditions - such as the Med circuit - will of course vary between design houses.

While designers such as Alan Andrews, Brett Bakewell-White, Nelson-Marek and Laurie Davidson penned the first generation TP52s, so in addition to Farr we now have Reichel-Pugh, Judel-Vrolijk and Botin & Carkeek, the latter trying to make the transition after their success in the IMS500 class (read October's interview with Shaun Carkeek here).

Judel/Vrolijk for example have created John Cook's new Cristabella currently having its hull completed by Green Marine shortly before being passed on to Neville Hutton in Lymington to be completed.

"It is doing you normal homework: Trying to optimise within the box for the conditions, mainly trying to find out what the parameter effects are on the performance profiles of the boats," explains Rolf Vrolijk of the design process. "That is the basic study you have to do, that is why you can target your boat for particular conditions or not."

Although the Med boats typically will sail in 8-10 knots of breeze Vrolijk doesn't feel that boats will be pushed only into that area of the box. "I don't think anyone is going to put a boat in a corner, unless you really want one for a particular event, but I don't expect that. So you have to go for your own derivation of what you expect from the season and what the competition will be like, how big the groups are and where you can make the gains to be successful over the season. And there is also interaction and discussion with the teams and the crew and they participate in the final decision." This will become even more the case for the 2006 season in the Med when many more events are to be held compared to this year when the class is still getting on its feet.

As to the differences between the boats Vrolijk says that this will principally focus on waterline beam (as the centre of gravity is fixed) and volume distribution along the length of the hull. "It is the normal parameter game. It will depend a lot upon how strong you want the boat to be upwind or not."

Regarding the relative performances on the water of the TP52 compared to the Spanish fleet's IMS500 predecessor Vrolijk expects the new boats to be 20 seconds or more faster in breeze of 8-10 knots of more, whereas the IMS boats will be better in the light. However under IMS they will be close up to 8 knots and in anything over this the IMS500 should be faster. "The Transpacs are longer on the waterline than the 57s, so they have a higher speed potential and once you get up to 15-20 knots then they start surfing because of the length and the weight."

Where the biggest gains and loses will be made, Vrolijk predicts, will be on the crew work, making the most of the far larger accelerations teams will experience aboard the new lighter more powerful generation of boat. "They are more manoeuvrable but the difference is that the Deltas will be bigger because the crew work and the acceleration will make bigger differences than with the IMS boats. That's what you saw in San Francisco [at the Rolex Big Boat Series last year] where there were minutes of difference between sisterships even and reaching also - and they were the same boats. So it won't be closer racing. The acceleration will be a very important part for these boats, so getting the right tune and angles, etc. Crew work will be more important, trimming will be critical and sail choice. It will be quite professional. But it is a good development…"

The new Cristabella is due for launch in Spain on 17 June and after a warm-up event in Castillione, she will join the TP52 circuit at its second event in Valencia the week following the America's Cup Acts at the end of June. Compared to the Cristabella team's previous crew they have had to hire more hands and will be sailing with 14 (most teams are expected to sail with 15) including new recruit 'big' George Skuados and Luke McCarthy who takes over from Simon Fisher as navigator.

Aside from Cristabella, Judel-Vrolijk are also designing Peter de Ridder's latest Mean Machine and the new Soto Voce for Dutch owner Arien van Vemde. They are both due to start construction at Hakes Marine in New Zealand in August.

Following their experience designing the first generation TP52 Rosebud, heavily and enthusiastically campaigned by owner Roger Sturgeon, Reichel Pugh have two of the most interesting new TP52 campaigns on the stocks.

The first of two boats they are due to launch this year will be Patches of Irish owner Eamon Conneely (see our interview with him tomorrow) that will be skippered by former GBR Challenge helm and skipper Ian Walker with a mixed Anglo-Irish crew including many ex-GBR Challenge and Team GBR Olympic squad personnel. Built by Green Marine the boat is due for launch less than a month from now.

Reichel-Pugh's second boat is also unusual in being the latest racing boat of Doug de Vos, who's family are known for their series of Windquests. However on this occasion the boat is being called Quantum Racing. Of note with this campaign is that having been sidelined for this America's Cup cycle, on the helm will be none other than Russell Coutts.

In addition to the new Orlando for Italian former IMS500 owner Alessandro Pirera, and another syndicate owned boat driven by Vasco Vascottto (read our interview with Vasco here), Botin & Carkeek have a third TP52 due for launch this year for the Spanish Team Baleria, who campaigned a 41 footer in the IMS600 class last year.
Aside from Patches and Cristabella, also under construction in the UK is another Spanish boat called Work Force, being put together at present by Richie Faulkner in Hamble, who built Peter Morton's Mandrake. Work Force is unusual in having been designed by two young ex-Southampton University trained naval architects Javier Jaudenes and Lieven Theys. Jaudenes' father used to campaign the Corel 45 Las Casera. This boat is also of course destined for the Med circuit.

In addition to John Cook, the TP52 class is soon to get its second British owner in the form of Stuart Robinson who over the last seasons has been campaigning his Swan 70 Stay Calm in Europe and the Caribbean.


_________________
CLICKAR EN LOS ANUNTIOS DE BABOR!!!!!

[Bocaccio]

Yo es que en esto de las regatas ya hace tiempo que estoy en off.... Que diferencia hay ente un TP y un IMS?

[Tomatasso]

Interesantisimo post...!!!

Me lo grabo para estudiar todo con detenimiento. El render con la configuración estructural es muy interesante... pero, ¿sera verdad? ¿o se guardan ases bajo la manga...???

Ernest, basicamente la diferencia es que van a tiempo real. Hay una serie de limitaciones en la regla, y dentro de ella, libertad total. Es decir, ahora al principio el I+D es brutal, el barco nuevo a priori tendrá ventaja...

A grandes rasgos, son barcos mucho mejores que los ims, de menos francobordo, más manga, muchisima estabilidad, muchisimo menos desplazamiento, spinnaker's a tope de palo, etc, etc.

Para más info: www.transpac52.org
_________________
Email: fco_lopez_ingtnaval@yahoo.es

Msn Messenger: fco_lopez1980@hotmail.com

[rachas]

Muy bonito , me encanta por lo menos tiene pinta de andar .....

Ahora yo pongo una pregunta sobre la mesa:

Por qué no se fabrica un TP en 23 o 25 pies?????


Qué os parece la idea??
_________________
No hay que ser supersticioso, "eso trae mala suerte".

[Tomatasso]

[rachas]

Jolines (que dicen en mi pueblo) o estoy ciego o bebo mucho a estas horas y no le veo pareceido.....





Pero vamos ni un poquito......


Rachas .
_________________
No hay que ser supersticioso, "eso trae mala suerte".

[Atlant]

Rachas,

Precisamente desde el ORC estan estudiando establecer tres 'box rules' más, de 26, 32 y 42 pies, similares a las del TP52, pero cada una de ellas premiando ligeramente prestaciones o confort.
He leido (Seahorse del mes pasado) que el ORC 26 pies sería un sportboat en toda regla, casi sin habitabilidad y con prestaciones muy cercanas al ORC 32, que sería más 'cómodo' -en el más restrictivo sentido de la palabra, claro-.
En cuanto al ORC 42, el objetivo claro es mejorar en todos los rumbos las prestaciones de los IMS600 actuales.

Siguiendo el estilo TP, ninguno de ellos se plantea con orza pendular, tanques de agua o similares, sino que son 'puros y duros' racers al estilo de antaño.

Salu2

[rachas]

Pues me parece una idea estupenda, yo creo a mi entender que sería mejor un 24 pies por ser mucho más economico su mantenimiento etc.....

Pero que las prestaciones sean tan radicales va a mermar mucho al publico que quiera empezar a salir a las competiciones.....


Eso si encuanto esten en el mercado......ahorro y me compro uno.... .


rachas.
_________________
No hay que ser supersticioso, "eso trae mala suerte".

[esquitx]

Una noticia interesante la que cuentas Atlant, pueden quedar unos barcos muy divertidos y competitivos.

Si además se corre en monotipo, o sea sin aplicar ratings, mucho mejor para el público que en el fondo es lo que necesita este deporte: popularizarse mucho más.

[Tomatasso]

[Atlant]

Fco,

Recuerdo que oí hace ahora casi un año (en concreto para el Sofia del 2004) que el GS42Race'04 era, en vientos suaves y con ola, entre 15 y 17 segundos más rápido que el GS42Race'03. Es decir: que el Nearmiss, Zurich, Memo Memulini, Lexus, etc del año pasado le sacaban al Jazztel y al Baleària casi medio minuto en la primera baliza de barlo.

Con eso quiero decir que nuestro amigo Botín no sólo saca rendimiento de unas formas 'antinaturales', sino que hace lo impensable: que sean barcos muy rápidos y efectivos entre boyas, mucho más de lo que pudieras llegar a pensar.

Yo no sé qué pasaría si se enfrentaran el BH41 y el GS42Race versión 2005 - del que he oído que masacrará a los GS42Race'04-...

Salu2

[E-clipSe]

Wenas

Interesantisimo post, como siempre Ocell, ¡¡¡en la cresta de la actualidad!!!

Salu2
_________________
Vivir no es importante... navegar si.

[Tomatasso]

[jsanchidrian]

[Tomatasso]