It’s been one hell of a run with Terry Hutchinson, Dean Barker and Doug DeVos’s Botín-designed TP52 Quantum winning three of the four TP52 Super Series rounds held to date in 2018. They started the closing rounds of the year with an unprecedented 32pt lead and are virtually impossible to unseat. A handy bit of cheer as the same team begin the real work with the American Magic Cup challenge
a bit heavier than the specialist boats at the front of the likes of the Vendée Globe, but I am sure – and no disrespect intended – for a good number of Vendée Globe competitors to finish is their own victory. And a more solid 60-footer would increase their chance of doing just that. And that opportunity for a team to charter out their Super 60
could be sufficient assistance to get those with modest budgets across the startline. Use of a Super 60-type concept could also help towards the
declared desire of teams for greater continuity and sustainability instead of the present stop-go existence. I don’t know, just throwing a pebble in the pond amid the current discussions. Most of the technical work is done and paid for (by VOR) and I am sure whoever holds the Intellectual Property on the design would be willing to part with it for a price – it is no use to them sitting in a dusty filing cabinet or on a computer hard drive. Let’s not forget that although the next race starts in 2021, if an
Imoca is the weapon of choice that boat has to be designed and built and then a team recruited, assembled and trained – there’s 18 months to two years gone right there. That leaves hopeful teams with just 12 months (do the maths) to build a prospect list that fits the parameters, those prospects have to be warmed up, sold to and closed and teams don’t even know what route they are going to sell them yet. I know some purists would be quite delighted if the race
completely returned to its roots of 45 years ago with just four legs and three stopovers but unfortunately that doesn’t put sponsors’ (or their customers’) ‘bums on seats’. And whether we sailing fans like it or not, those sponsors are the real customers of this event. That bit ain’t gonna change. For those still wanting an adventure more akin to those early
events, raced mostly in big, heavy IOR cruiser-racers, the Atlant/ Volvo Ocean Race has many competitors. An obvious one that immediately springs to mind is the Clipper Round the World Race – and it doesn’t come with the complications of finding sponsors, recruiting a skipper and then the rest of the crew, finding (or design- ing) a boat and all the other plethora of logistical nightmares that go along with a round-the-world race. Instead, all you have to do is write the cheque, do the training and off you go. Or if you want some high-latitude stuff you just have to speak
12 SEAHORSE
to the likes of Skip Novak and his ilk, also without the headache of team ownership and management. Again just the cheque please. Does that mean it is less likely the VOR (or AOR) will ever return
to the high teens in terms of entries? Most probably. But it should also be remembered that today entries of that sort of size would provide their own headaches, perhaps the most obvious being room for haul-out at a stopover; essential today but back then many did not bother. For all the challenges I truly think the race has good prospects
for a healthy future. Perhaps better prospects today than at any time in the past 10 years or so. It is unique after all and, for all the naysayers, it is a true pinnacle of the offshore side of our sport. And it does generally provide a healthy positive ROI for the investor, sorry sponsor (same difference). But whatever solution is found we have to remember what I said
earlier. We haven’t got three years. We might only have one. Tick tock.
ALMOST READY – Terry Hutchinson Bumping along at 39,000ft aboard UA 988. Returning from the fourth of five TP52 Super series events in Puerto Portals, Palma. One of the toughest events we have had in Palma Bay that I can remember and yet probably not the toughest of the year as that still rests with Zadar. More on this later. The past month has been flat out in a good way. I had the
opportunity to do an event that I would put on every sailor’s bucket list. Harbor Springs, Michigan and the Little Traverse Yacht Club host the Ugotta Regatta as the third series of racing following the Chicago and Port Huron to Mackinac races. It was the final event for the first-generation Maxi86 Windquestex-Zephyrus(she is looking for a new home). The 17-years-young Windquest is meticulously maintained, water-ballasted, and while not perfectly suited for windward-leeward racing an absolute blast to sail. What adds to the racing is Harbor Springs as a venue. Little
Traverse Bay is perfectly formed to generate a consistent and predictable 12-16kt sea breeze. The shoreside activity is equally good and quite worth the trip to northern Michigan. The racing itself is pretty simple: one race a day around laid government marks – navigator and binoculars required at this venue. Our rating was not
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