Yachts & Yachting — February 2018

Right

Iceni Yachts, whose

i39 is pictured,

has hinted at

foiling plans

SEASON REVIEW KEELBOATS

TP52, a recent flourish of interest with

a rush of new boat orders is a good

sign. There are currently nine new

boats in build, seven of which are from

the drawing board of Botin - much

like Tony Langley’s successful TP52

Gladiator and Azzurra, winner of the

2017 Super Series. This win marked

the tenth TP52 circuit success in a row

for this Spanish-based design team.

Rob Weiland, the class manager,

says he expects to see 12 to 14 boats

at the first 52 Super Series event

in Croatia in May. “This is a small

increase in the number of boats from

2017 with 10-11 boats competing. The

increase is partially caused by some

America’s Cup teams interested in

using 52 Super Series for crew/team

training and partially by a few new

private owners joining the class.”

Commenting on forthcoming

changes that will come into e‘ect

from 2018, Weiland added: “In an

e‘ort to clean up the somewhat

messy rules, the use of titanium is now

permitted in all equipment except

the rig. We have also upgraded our

engine to a newer type because the

previously permitted engines were

no longer produced for the EU and

US because of environmental rules.”

Within its busy race calendar are four

52 Super Series events including the first

event in May which is based at Šibenik

on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, and the

TP52 world championship in Cascais

in July; with a good breeze predicted

at that time of year, it should produce

top racing. Meanwhile, for professional

PAUL WYETH

o‘shore sailors, at 14 years old, the

Class 40 is as strong as it has ever been

with top results recorded in most major

events globally including the Route du

Rhum and Transat Jacques Vabre.

With 117 class association members

spread over 15 countries, and four new

boats built in 2017, this ‘open’ box rule

class, which races under IRC, is

expected to expand further next

year with over 40 entries lined up

for November’s Route du Rhum.

As well as a recent Franco-British

duo win for class president Halvard

Mabire and Miranda Merron in the

RORC Class 40 Championship, Phil

Sharp (Imerys) won the five-event

2017 European trophy series after an

impressive final performance in the

Transat Jacques Vabre in November

2017, where he and team mate Pablo

Santurde (Spain) finished third in class.

The overall class winners in the Transat

Jacques Vabre – Maxime Sorel and

Below

The Fast 40+ Pace

at pace; The TP52s

are expecting

more entries to

their Super Series

this season; Phil

Sharp on board his

winning Class 40

C/O ICENI YACHTS

NICO MARTINEZ DAVID HARDING

With four boats built in 2017, the ‘open’ box

rule Class 40 is expected to expand further

February 2018 Yachts & Yachting 63

Keelboat classes_AC-GC-hg_th_TH.indd 63 19/12/2017 09:25