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Trouble In TP 52 Land? We've heard that there are some potential issues threatening the TP 52 class. First is the current driver restriction rules. The boat must be started and steered by either the owner or a Group One sailor who is a regular crew member. One source tells us that the class had a vote on this earlier and was split down the middle so the rule remained. They continue that If a vote were taken today the rule would be overthrown, however the class administrators refuse to have a ballot. Rumor has it that three potential owners have decided not to get into a new TP 52 over the driver rule, and now that Victoria has left the class the numbers would stack up in favor of a change but the organizers refuse to take another vote. We also heard that apparently Volvo was offering to sponsor the class and promote it worldwide but they gave up on the guys from Southern California and walked, and that there are some folks none too happy about losing a potentially great sponsor like Volvo. It is issues like these that can stop a class in it's tracks, and we really like the 52's, so we went to Tom Pollack, the TP 52 Executive Director and he gave the class perspective on these issues and also on some other interesting developments. Enjoy.
Scot, Thank you for Sailing Anarchy's continued interest in the Transpac 52 Class. Here are the straight answers to your questions as your second hand information is pretty far off base. I will try to sum it all up and throw some light on the various topics facing the Transpac 52 Class. Transpac 52/Volvo 50? Ken Read approached Glenn Bourke the CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race several months ago about adopting the Transpac 52 class as the next "Box Class" under its vast sailing umbrella. Volvo owns the Box rule for the Volvo 60's and 70's so this made a lot of sense to see if a marketing angle for a boat in the 50' would interest Volvo. They own two box rules, why not a third? The idea would be to rename the Transpac 52 class "Volvo 50's", have a national race schedule and see if we could grow the class faster. All the Transpac 52 owners were supportive of this idea and gave the Executive Director the green light to pursue it. The Transpac 52 Class just wanted to see more like boats on the starting line and if the marketing and administrative power of the Volvo Ocean Race Organization was available, the owners were all set to go that route. The owners of the Transpac 52's asked for nothing in exchange and were willing to let Volvo run the show. Glenn Bourke, the CEO of Volvo Ocean Race & Ken Read & I traded phone calls and emails going over the benefits of this proposal. It would be up to Volvo to decide if there was a marketing/financial angle to make it all happen. Once aboard, Glenn was very supportive of the whole idea and ran it up the flagpole at the Volvo board level. Unfortunately, Volvo was not interested in committing more funds this year to a 50' Box class in the current automotive/economic environment. Perhaps the door is open in the future. Regardless of this setback, the Transpac 52 Class continues to plan & grow. In regards to the Transpac 52 Owner Driver Rule, The Transpac 52 Class unanimously voted to allow any Group 1 sailor to drive Transpac 52's in buoy competition in addition to the amateur owners themselves. They let stand the existing rule that professionals (group 3's) can only drive 30 minutes after the start of a distance race, but never in buoy races. The owners decided in the interest of making the class more appealing to existing and potential owners, to expand the pool of sailors eligible to drive the boats in buoy competition. Professionals can drive the boats in offshore races to their hearts content 30 minutes after the start 24/7 if they want to. Unlike Farr 40's that race for a few hours a day, these boats go offshore and need lots of great drivers regardless of group status. That said, the Transpac 52 class wants to retain its Corinthian amateur driver roots. The owners realize that many Group 1's are as good, or better than, many Group 3's, but this is not the America's Cup or the Swedish Match Race Circuit. Those classes are designed for the Pro's to steer , and the Transpac 52 owners want to this class to be different as far as buoy racing is concerned. And seeing as Sailing Anarchy is interested in Transpac 52 class issues, here are a couple more.... Single 25' spinnaker pole configuration. The Transpac 52 Class has decided to go with a single 25' spinnaker pole and use the existing 2665 square foot asymmetrical spinnakers in both offshore and buoy competition starting in 2004. The 25' spinnaker poles will significantly turbo up the Transpac 52's in buoy races and eliminate the need to ship smaller spin poles and smaller symmetrical kites to arrival destinations in Mexico, Hawaii, Bermuda, etc. Now for example, when the Transpac 52's finish next years Pacific Cup, they will be all set to race the 2004 Waikiki Offshore Championships hosted by Waikiki Yacht Club starting on July 31st, 2004. Before, the Transpac 52 class had 21' spinnaker poles and 2100 sq foot symmetrical spinnakers for buoy racing and 28' poles with 2665 sq. foot asymmetrical spinnakers for offshore racing. Having to maintain two radically different spinnaker inventories was deemed a waste of everybody's time and money. Furthermore, the VPP's suggest the 25' pole is worth perhaps 20 minutes on a Hawaii race vs. a 28' spinnaker pole so it's hardly worth talking about in terms of offshore performance. During my 2-year tenure as Executive Director of the Transpac 52 class, the owners have methodically addressed most of the major issues that were not expressly covered in the original Box Rule formulated by Bill Lee and the Transpacific Yacht Club. The box rule was designed originally for a single offshore blue-water race every two years and it was basically up to the owners to formulate the inshore rules. The Transpac 52 Class and the Transpacific Yacht Club have worked in harmony the entire time on all these areas. And as my good friend Mike Howard says, "Harmony is Victory". The Transpac 52 Class now has 7 owners representing three countries (China, Japan & the United States). The worldwide marketplace is deciding that the Box Rule concept in the 50' size range is wining the day versus a VPP based Grand Prix Rule. That said, a VPP based rule to link these "box boats" together on a handicap basis against other 'box boats" for an offshore/buoy race would be terrific.
If you want to win the beautiful 2004 Transpac 52 High Point Championship Trophy, you will have to do it with a single IMS certificate for the entire season. It's purely voluntary series, and you are still free to modify your boat for individual races if that is your desire, but you will lose any "high" points accumulated. The Transpac 52 class continues to grow slowly and attract world-class owners with outstanding resumes in grand-prix sailing. I think it is a good thing the class is slowly achieving a critical mass on it's own and hammering out the class rules at the same time. All the Transpac 52 owners have been around the block a few times and are very cognizant of lessons learned in IOR and IMS classes in past decades. There is no first to finish pressure here and everybody knows the program budget before they lay a single layer of carbon fiber cloth. For those owners who don't want to keep building a larger canting keel boat every two years to finish first or are bored of doing 2 mile windward/leeward sausages on a Farr 40, this is the best game in town. Every Transpac 52 has a sweet spot where it excels and figuring that out, is part of the fun. You can visit the Transpac 52 Website at www.transpac52.org to see pictures of the boats and find other information. Thanks again Scot for your interest in the Transpac 52 class and the link on your terrific site.
Tom Pollack |