Left: turning heads wherever you take her. Setting aside the fact that though she was the fastest 100ft Maxi ever she would soon be as lonely as her rivals, the magnificent Comanche represents a staggering ongoing financial outlay (sorry, investment is not the right word). Fortunately for sailing, sailors and the industry there will always be a small number of people with both the enthusiasm and the resources to push out against the edges of current technology to the eventual benefit of all of us. And of course compared with the next level – the America’s Cup – $25 million for a 100-footer is chump change (though a big tri is cheaper and more fun – ed). The sad part is the more sophisticated the raceboat the more limited the possibilities of a happy afterlife. Seen recently are two of the greatest Imoca 60s of all time – Vendée Globe and Around Alone winner Geodis (above left) and the only double Vendée winner, PRB
US$780,000 ready to sail including design. Right now (just) to build a similar boat in that range, ready to sail, one will need about four times that sum.
The first TP52s were quite basic boats aimed to be raced by their first owners for several years. They were seen as a much better ‘investment’ than the IMS 50s. Owners were fed up with fighting the vagaries and constant changes of rating rules which never managed to overcome stimulating slow solutions. At the height of IOR, and later IMS, top-tier racing boats were often replaced every year. We also saw this in the 2006 to 2009 MedCup years when righting moment was still a part of the TP52 measurement and box rule limits. After six to nine months of use the top-scoring boats were then selling, taking on average a 25 per cent knock. But no such ‘luck’ for non-podium boats. Nowadays a TP52 is raced by its first owner for at least three years and then has a secondhand value of about ⇔1 million. Com- pared with building new each year I would guess on average this comes close to halving depreciation. Still leading to considerable sums, at 2020 price levels one faces a yearly depreciation of about
€500,000 over the first three years, roughly 25 per cent of the yearly budget required to race these boats at the highest level. Based on a 50-race year, €10,000 per one-hour race for the boat plus ⇔40,000 per race for the running costs. Sounds expen- sive enough for 50 hours of actually racing, somehow 2.5 million per year sounds more encouraging… Certainly if compared with racing a maxi. To race a TP52 the non-52 Super Series way, let’s say at a mix of inshore and offshore handicap-scoring races at pro crew level, will not necessarily produce a much different cost picture as soon as the boat has an international regatta schedule. Let’s say two Caribbean regattas, Cowes Week+Fastnet and Middle Sea Race or Voiles de Saint Tropez for a party finish to the season. Maybe just 15 races in total but a Fastnet or Caribbean 600 on their own of course represent more racing hours than a 52 Super Series year. Which demonstrates that apples and pears are not easy to compare and that cost-per-hour racing is not the right way to get proper perspective. But… it remains unique to build a €25 million racing boat and never race it. Let alone to then scrap it. Rob Weiland, TP52 and Maxi72 class manager
Unchallenged since 8:20 this morning.
In Pewaukee, engineers whisper that the Cam-Matic is the best product Peter Harken ever designed. There are at least 68 secrets to why it works so well. First are the 33 ball bearings in each cam, stacked on three levels to balance and start them moving so easily. Next, the top of each cam is shaped to allow even a loaded line to drop in from
above rather than having to pull them open. Then, there’s the cam radius which enables them to hold a wide range of sizes while still being kind to the line. When an idea works so well—for so long, it’s logical you might focus on other things. Nope. Around here, that just makes it a target.
THE SMALL MIGHTY CAM-MATIC
SEAHORSE 39
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