Variety
Twenty-four years of TP52s grazing the seas and three fleets consisting of similar numbers of boats racing in more or less organised structures in Australia, east coast USA and the western Med. Other smaller pockets of TP52 racing pop up at times too – right now a small fleet of TP52s built between 2007 and 2010 is establishing
itself in the Solent and there are a number of TP52s racing in Hong Kong and the Baltic. In Australia after a few attempts there is now not only a class
structure (the Australian TP52 Class Association), class rules and website (
www.tp52aust.org.au) but also a sponsor, Pallas Capital, putting its weight behind a series of four events labelled the Pallas Capital TP52 Gold Cup. A new TP52, Hooligan, was added to the fleet recently, but also one or two boats got sold to destinations outside Australia leaving a total of 12 to battle it out in 2024. In the USA, also after a few attempts, a substantial fleet of about
15 TP52s, Pac52s and IRC/ORC52s is gaining traction under the umbrella title of GL52 North American Fleet. In which GL stands for Great Lakes, where the majority of this fleet originates from. This is a typical USA east coast affair, founded in 2019 by five
staunch supporters of 52 racing: Doug Devos (Windquest), Chris Duhon (Mockingbird), Austin Fragomen (Interlodge), Robert Hughes (Heartbreaker) and Phil O’Niel (Natalie J). Doug DeVos and Austin Fragomen are of course also active in the 52 Super Series… (
www.gl52racing.com). The main difference between these fleets is that the TP52 Class
and 52 Super Series are loyal to the original Transpac 52 concept of boat-for-boat racing with strict box rule yachts. Elsewhere the Australian and Great Lakes fleets race their boats on corrected time within what can be described as a more open box, facilitating
34 SEAHORSE
elements that do not fit the TP52 box itself. This might seem an unnecessary complication, but actually it’s the best way to race TP52s of different generations – especially when many yachts end up optimised outside the original TP52 box. Not that using one of the existing rating systems makes it all
even or, if you prefer it, fair. Nothing more sobering about how accurate or fair rating systems are than rating and racing well-sailed boats with near-identical parameters. Hard to hide that! Part of the perceived and often obvious inaccuracies can be
traced back to the advantage of the faster boat in close racing, and the fact that older boats are not kept at the same standard as more recent ones and have more dated equipment. Today the latter is reasonably well covered by age allowance, which most rating systems carry, but it can never be perfect. In fact, when you are well protected by age allowance replacing equipment with the latest products is an efficient way to keep up with the newer boats – your age allowance is unchanged as long as the hull remains untouched. There is another aspect that the Australian and Great Lakes
fleets experience, maybe an open door but not a door that is easy to close, nor to level out using ratings, which is that crew quality matters. Performance differences are often mainly attributed to the amount of money spent on hiring crew, which then triggers a debate about whether pro and amateur sailors should be mixed, whether pros shall be banned, limited and so on. Indeed, paying good money is a reliable way to get quality crew on the rail, but it is not the only way. And whether pro or amateur, just splashing money around is no guarantee for success. It is not easy to build a decent team full stop. An important door
that money opens is the one labelled time, so crew availability. Good amateur crew can rarely race a full regatta schedule while in the case of pro crew it is the more days the better.
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