Paul Cayar
Rob Weiland
Another Super season!
The crew lists are dripping in for the 52 Super Series Saint-Tropez Sailing Week and I open them straight away eager to see who and what is new. Many familiar faces but not all on the same boat as in 2022, and a good number of new faces, not least because of Shawn Kang from Hong Kong and his Alpha+ team joining the series for the
first time. A very much international team made up of crew from Hong Kong (three), the Philippines (one), New Zealand (seven), Aus- tralia (one) and England (two). Also pleased to see Alpha+ bringing back Ian Walker to TP52 racing, as tactician. Quite a number of the Alpha+ crew are actually Hong Kong based – certainly much more a Hong Kong team than one might expect at first sight. America’s Cup commitments and SailGP clashes with the 52
Super Series calendar have meant that Phoenix now continue with- out Tom Slingsby; however, they quickly found Argentinian gold medallist Santi Lange prepared to step into Tom’s large shoes. The 2023 Phoenix line-up consists of two crew from Argentina,
the second being bowman Juanpa Marcos, five crew from South Africa, two each from Australia and New Zealand and finally Lorenzo Mazza from Italy trimming downwind. Other than a change in the grinder team no further changes in this solid team racing under the South African flag, again with Hasso Plattner, his daughter Tina and Tony Norris sharing helming duties. Much has been written already about Quantum Racing extending
its moniker, adding ‘powered by American Magic’ to the yacht’s name – a nod to owner Doug DeVos’s engagement with the America’s Cup and more specifically Team American Magic. What’s in a name, one might say, but not much happens in this
team without having been thought through carefully beforehand. So from an owner-driver boat with trusted high calibre but not all that young star pro sailors, we now see 23-year-young Harry Melges IV at the helm, with 32-year-‘old’ Victor Diaz de Leon having what must be a first stab in his already extensive sailing career at nav- igation at this level. Also Sara Stone at mid-bow, who in the past has been more offshore sailing oriented than the previous two.
34 SEAHORSE The youngsters are certainly not thrown in at the TP52 deep end
on their own – John Kostecki on tactics seems to enjoy his parental role and I have seldom seen him so relaxed. Not that he is without battle-hardened help, Warwick Fleury (NZL) on main, James Dagg (NZL) and Federico Michetti (ITA) trimming, Greg Gendell (USA) bow and Matt Cassidy (USA) pit. Add Slovenian Lara Poljsak and Dutch and American powerhouses Piet van Nieuwenhuyzen and Scott Ewing and you have a team of similar potential to its predecessor. Trust Quantum president and team manager Ed Reynolds not to rest till this potential is realised. From my perspective as class manager I like to see a wide mix
of crew. It is great to have the Olympic medal winners and America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veterans, but equally great to see true amateur sailors and upcoming talents functioning well in the mix as well. Also to see their passion. While I fully support promoting a better mix of age and gender I
am not in favour of enforcing this using rules. Perhaps a little encour- agement is required to get the ball rolling, as I recently suggested to consider a small crew weight bonus to promote a better crew mix when writing about the 2025 Admiral’s Cup. But I firmly believe that crew selection should not be forced upon private owners. Not much pleases me more than to welcome and introduce mixed
pro-amateur teams like Alpha+, Paprec and Vayu to the 52 Super Series. The series is often promoted as the pinnacle of monohull sailing, with lots of name dropping of indeed the many heroes of our sport active in the series to justify the claim. In part this is why many pro-am teams join of course, to compete
against the best and to learn from the pro sailors they employ. But the series also needs at least nine or 10 teams to have proper racing, which requires on average one new team a year, not some- thing that can be achieved on the basis of full pro teams alone in a circuit based on private yachts. A positional balancing act and a constant debate, also with those
who run our media to find the right promotional tone and focus. I firmly believe in staying close to the truth when it comes to marketing, accepting that simplification of our complex sport cannot be avoided
NICO MARTINEZ
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