Sir Peter Ogden at the helm of his Maxi 72 Jethou in Porto Cervo, the former Stig – designed by Rolf Vrolijk – replacing Ogden’s previous very pretty Judel-Vrolijk 60 of the same name. This is the first season for the Jethou team racing in the increasingly competitive and fast-growing Maxi 72 class, where they finished sixth overall at the 2014 Worlds in a class that was topped by the Mills-designed Alegre
More, more
TP52 class management maestro Rob Weiland just took on a new brief…
Seahorse: The end of yet another season… Rob Weiland: Yes, it is amazing to look back on 45 years of sailing and being involved with boats in all kind of ways. From the steel ketch that I learned to sail on to the machines that seem so normal today has been quite an evolution. One can only wonder how boats will look 50 years from now.
From the TP52 point of view we have now achieved the full extent of the rule modification that the class members and I set out to achieve in early 2008. Step by step we modified the IMS-inspired 2007 TP52 to the racer that we will see in 2015. Cleaner than clean, both on-deck and inside, and even more ‘fast is fun’ instead of following rating idiosyncrasies as when the class first started. Using modern technology and modern materials without
becoming a floating experiment instead of a reliable racer, leaving room to play in design and construction without making that the primary goal. Racing comes first. SH: It has been good to see the older TPs able to track the modifications and compete with newer boats over the years. Will that still be the case in 2015? RW: I feel it will, but there comes an end to life at the top… also for boats. There is a cut-off from the money point of view once it becomes more attractive to buy a more recent model than to spend yet more on keeping an existing boat functioning. You also have to appreciate that it requires the co-operation of the owners of the new boats to make the older boats competitive, in the sense that they permit the older ones to modify outside the TP52 box rule. Actually, that worked better than any of us foresaw. Especially making the boats lighter was greeted with scepticism, in the sense that the hull shapes are not the optimum for a given displacement, but one tends to forget there are many roads to Rome, many ways to speed up a boat. For sure, it gets more difficult from 2015, as the new boats touch what now look like some genuine boundaries in key components such as displacement, draft and sail area. I guess the reality will be that we will see very few boats from 2009 or before joining in the class racing from 2015. Which means there will be about 18 boats worldwide that fit the TP52 class racing bill. I hope this number grows to
about 25 within around two years from now. Then the pool of boats will be big enough to sustain at least half that number to race each other on a regular basis. SH: And now you are also joining the newly founded Maxi 72 Class as its class manager… RW: For my sins, I am. The Mini Maxi owners feel it is time to firm up their identity and get more control over their racing by founding a class association. Then you need a manager. Why not me? Easy decision, a lot of work. The decision to start a class is marked by changing the name from Mini Maxi to Maxi 72. The International Maxi Association (IMA) more and more seems to become an umbrella organisation for all kinds of maxi racing and as such, in my opinion, has a solid future. The fragmented maxi sailing world needs a meeting point as well as direction and streamlining. The Wally Class, J/Class and now the Maxi 72 Class. Superyachts having specific rules and racing. I like to stress that the owners of the 72s strongly support remaining under the IMA umbrella as IMA members as well as Maxi 72 members. It is an important signal to send out. The maxi world is amazingly versatile. From Mini Maxi cruiser-racers to superyachts, it exhibits a wide variety in racing ambitions and requirements. It is easy to see the potential for successful co- operation as well as for a fragmented mess. IMA secretary general Andrew McIrvine has his work cut out, that’s for sure.
SEAHORSE 21
CARLO BORLENGHI/ROLEX
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74