CYCA Rear Commodore and TP52 Zen crew member Tom Barker experienced a full-circle moment as he lifted his two-year-old daughter Bella onto his shoulders during the post-race presentation area on lay day eve at Hamilton Island Race Week (HIRW) 2022.

“To me, this year on a personal note is quite special,” Barker said, as the crowd around us celebrated the end of three action-packed days.

“I’ve brought my daughter Bella [to Hamilton Island] for the first time. My parents first brought me here when I was her age and we did many, many years of racing in the cruising division and other divisions, and it’s kind of cool to have my daughter here now.”

Barker, 38, was born and raised in Gladstone in Central Queensland before he moved to Sydney. He is the offside trimmer on Gordon Ketelbey’s TP52 Zen when he’s not in the role of navigator. He said he was stoked to be back at HIRW following the Covid-19 imposed two-year hiatus.

“I’ve been here [for sailing] a dozen times at least. After missing the last two years, it’s so good to be back. It’s some of the best sailing in the world,” Barker said.

He’s not the only one who’s excited. An impressive 200-plus yachts, across a number of divisions, are competing in the event in the crystal-clear waters on the fringe of the Great Barrier Reef.

Tuesday’s light-to-moderate south-easterly winds, created milder conditions compared to the first two days of fresh southerly winds. The seven TP52s made their way around the 25nm course in “gorgeous sunshine, warm wind and warm water”. The course took the fleet around a cluster of vivid green islands that are part of the Whitsunday Islands.

Matador

David Doherty’s Matador thrived in Tuesday’s lighter conditions, to come first in IRC Division 1. This puts Matador in hot contention for the overall lead, sitting one-point behind Max Klink’s Caro (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and the Royal Ocean Racing Club).

Matador’s mainsheet trimmer Damian Abbott, 48, said it was a perfect race in terms of manoeuvres and tactical decisions.

“Today our success was no mistakes, nothing went wrong and there were a lot of gains in that. It was fantastic,” Abbott said.

Unlike Barker, this is Abbott and Doherty’s first HIRW. Unfortunately, Doherty has been unable to make the first three days of racing due to illness, so Matador has had different crew taking hold of the helm. But Doherty will be back on Thursday and looks forward to joining to crew for remaining three days of racing.

“David Doherty is doing phenomenally well,” Terry Wetton, a founding member of the Australian TP52 Sailing Association said. “He’s brand new into the class – he had his first season last year. He’s got a hot young crew and their sailing is amazing on both TPR and IRC [in many regattas].”

Matador’s build is more suited to lighter conditions, but that won’t stop the crew from having a red-hot go at winning the event.

“We’ve had two seconds, one first,” Abbott said. “We’re going to be looking pretty good [on the leader board]. But there are heavy winds to come, so we’ll see what happens.”

Zen

Barker and the team on board Zen, representing Middle Harbour Yacht Club, are currently placed fourth overall in IRC Division 1 at HIRW in a fleet of seven TP52s. Consistency has been key for Zen, which has placed fourth on IRC in all three races so far.

“On Zen we pride ourselves on being a predominantly Corinthian crew,” Barker said.

It was a privilege, he said, to be “mixing it up with the calibre of” Max Klink’s Caro, Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban (CYCA), Matador and Geoff Boettcher’s Secret Mens Business (Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia).

“It’s great to have seven really competitive 52ft boats on the start line. It is great for the crews, for the owners, for sailing generally. It really helps us all lift when we’re all on the water together.”

Secret Mens Business (SMB)

Peter (Billy) Merrington can usually be found on board Matt Donalt and Chris Townsend’s TP52 Gweilo (CYCA). But this week, the 23-time Sydney Hobart Yacht Race competitor is imparting his knowledge as the mainsheet trimmer on board Geoff Boettcher’s SMB (CYCSA).

Merrington said he was impressed by the performance of the predominantly South Australian crew who got together rather late in the lead-up to the event.

“The boat is sailing really well, it’s a fast boat,” Merrington said. “But we’re not quite there. Luck has not worked in our favour; it happens in sailing.”

SMB is placed fifth overall in IRC Division 1. Merrington said time was on their side, and if things went to plan in the next few days, the top boats should be concerned.

“The rest of the week is pretty windy, that should suit our boat pretty well. Our crew’s coming together more and more as the week goes on, so expect to see some good results from SMB which will set it up for the week.”

Merrington is enjoying the tight TP52 racing, and is already looking ahead – ready for even more TP52s to join in on the fun when HIRW returns in 2023.

“It’s really awesome to have all the TP52s here. It’s a really competitive fleet of boats. I think everyone is keeping an eye on our fleet to see how it all goes. It’s exciting sailing.”

By Greta Quealy / Australian TP52 Sailing Association

Hamilton Island Race Week Results

Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race: TP52 sailors prepare for ‘tricky’ conditions

Two months ago, getting to the start line for the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race on Saturday July 30, seemed near impossible for Mark Spring and his team on ‘Highly Sprung’.

Spring, 58, bought the TP52 (formerly ‘Stay Calm Hungary’) in June. After five years of offshore racing, he and his team decided it was time to graduate from the Beneteau First 45, also named Highly Sprung, after they won their division in the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on IRC and ORCi.

The TP52 needed some serious work. Spring and his team also had to get up to speed and learn to sail the TP52, a different beast to the Beneteau in terms of speed and technology.

“I remember saying – ‘Gold Coast… really? Do you think we’ll get there?’ And of course, we have,” Spring said.

This Saturday Highly Sprung, representing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), will join 60-plus yachts and nine other TP52s for the 384nm journey north to the finish line off Main Beach on the Gold Coast.

Gordon Ketelbey, on the helm of TP52 Zen, is looking forward to a strong turnout of TP52s.

“The great thing about this race is that we’ve got such a large division of TP52s. It’s going to be pretty fast and furious [racing], although maybe not wind wise,” Ketelbey said.

The event is back on the racing calendar after a two-year hiatus in 2019 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is the first of the CYCA’s six-month Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore – a series of offshore races that finish with the iconic Sydney Hobart on December 26.

Spring credits his captain Sydney Hobart veteran Andrew Pearson (who has a couple of Hobart wins to his name on TP52 Quest), Patrick St John (Highly Sprung’s navigator for the 2021 Sydney Hobart), and bow person Scott Poole, among others, for getting the yacht into peak condition in such a short space of time.

“I mean, the amount of work they have done is just phenomenal,” Spring said.

Spring’s core crew from the Beneteau have moved across to the TP52. To assist with the seven extra feet and added technical challenges of sailing a TP52, Pearson has recruited several “seriously, seriously experienced” crew members to help ensure a safe passage north.

It’s been a steep learning curve for Spring and his crew, transitioning from a “souped-up Holden” as he calls it, to “the Ferrari of the racing game”. Despite having the least experience in the highly competitive and established TP52 fleet, which includes Sydney Hobart 2021 Tattersall Cup winners ‘Ichi Ban’, the Highly Sprung crew are going to give it their all.

“We’re so pumped, so excited because we’re in this infamous TP52 class,” Spring said. “We’ve got no expectations around how we’ll go. For us, really, this is about getting to the Gold Coast safely. There is a competitive spirit amongst us all, but this is about competing in this class and just seeing how we do.”

The team are hoping to use the weather forecast of “having a lighter breeze coming in different directions” to their advantage.

“It’ll be a complicated race now rather than a blast [of wind predicted in an early forecast]. We’ve got some tactical people on the boat. With the boat being new to us and us being relatively new to each other – we’re happy about tricky conditions.”

The crew aboard Zen, are also prepared for a tactically challenging race.

“It’s going to be a really, really tricky race. The navigators, in particular, are going to have it absolutely cut out,” Ketelbey said. “There’s two ways to go north. Either you go in and chase the land breeze or you go out and get bumped by the current and take whatever wind is out there.

“Someone is going to guess the right way and get it right, and they’re probably going to clean up. Hopefully it’s us.”

This race will give the High Sprung crew experience for the races ahead. After completing the Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, the team will continue to Hamilton Island for Hamilton Island Race Week on August 20-27, which Spring dubs as the “world’s greatest regatta”.  Then, it’s back to Sydney for smaller offshore races in the lead-up to the Sydney Hobart.

The only downside of racing the TP52, according to Spring, is the food arrangements. Weight minimisation becomes crucial in a tightly-matched fleet like the TP52 class. As a consequence, there will not be a designated ‘chef’. Instead, the crew will dine on “ready-packed cardboard” meals for “brekky, lunch and dinner”.

But at least they’ll beat majority of the fleet to the bar at Southport Yacht Club, with an estimated arrival time of Monday evening.

“We’d been watching these guys [on the TP52s] for five years now, passing us on the way back [during offshore races]. And we’d be like, ‘They’ll be having dinner at 7pm with a glass of wine and we’ll be there at 4am.’

“But now, if we sail the boat well, we’re going to get up there at least amongst the first bunch of people. So, no doubt, speed to the bar is very important.”

By Greta Quealy / Australian TP52 Sailing Association

TP52 entries

Celestial – Sam Haynes

Frantic – Michael Martin

Gweilo – Matt Donald and Chris Townsend

Highly Sprung – Mark Spring

KOA – Peter Wrigley and Andrew Kearnan

Patrice – Tony Kirby

Quest – Craig Neil

Smuggler – Sebastian Bohm

Zen – Gordon Ketelbey

Ichi Ban – Matthew Allen

To follow the race, see the tracker: https://goldcoast.cycaracing.com/tracker/

Australian TP52 Sailing Association set to make waves

The TP52 class originated in California in the early 2000s as an alternative to 70 footers competing in the Transpacific Yacht Race (a 2,225nm course from Los Angeles to Honolulu).

The appeal of a 52ft, ‘one-design’, racing yacht that is equally competitive inshore and offshore saw the TP52 class swiftly make its mark around the world.

In 2013 a number of Australian TP52 owners began to establish a series which was founded by Terry Wetton, with the support of Marcus Blackmore, Dennis Thompson and Michael Green. Unfortunately after a few breakages and boat sales, the series laid dormant until 2021 when Wetton encouraged a number of owners to compete in Newcastle for the ‘Gold Cup’ – from there things began to take off.

Australian TP52 Sailing Association President and the owner and skipper of Quest, Craig Neil, has nothing but praise for the TP52 class, which he fell in love with in 2017. 

“I just love it,” Neil said. “It’s hard racing, you’ve physically got to be fit. It’s full on, but it’s exhilarating and I like racing the boats we’re up against. They really keep you on your toes.”

Joining Neil on the Australian TP52 Sailing Association Management Committee is manager Sam Haynes, owner and skipper of Celestial, and founder & Class Captain Terry Wetton, who coordinates the handicap system and on water activities.

Since TP52s started to race in Australia more than a decade ago, a highly competitive fleet of about 10 TP52s in NSW has been joined by enthusiasts sailing out of South Australia and Queensland.

Offshore, TP52s are a force to be reckoned with. Matt Allen’s TP52 Ichi Ban achieved the overall win in the 2021 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, to claim the coveted Tattersall Cup for the third time. In the same event, three other TP52s placed in the top 10 on line honours — Celestial, Quest and Smuggler. And in the 2019 race, the top three yachts on IRC were all TP52s.

“You could put a blanket over us (we’re so close),” Neil said of the calibre of TP52 offshore racing. “Racing off each other, you’ve got something to benchmark yourself against.”

The class gathered momentum in 2022, with 10 entrants in the Australian TP52 Sailing Association’s point score – an inshore ‘around the cans’ regatta series comprised of 21 races over three months. About 150 sailors, 14-to-15 crew members per boat, competed at locations on the east coast of NSW. 

To encourage an evenly-weighted competition, the event focussed on IRC and TPR handicap results rather than scratch. 

According to Wetton, TPR “allows for things like the age of the hull, the number of professional sailors on board, etc.”. David Doherty’s Matador claimed first place overall on TPR, while Matt Donald and Chris Townsend’s Gweilo placed first overall on IRC. 

“Every boat improved, everyone got better, it was really good to see,” Neil said. 

“From where we were from the first regatta to where we finished up, was quite a big difference. And if you look at the results, not just one boat ran away with it, it was quite mixed.”

Heading into the 2022/23 sailing season, Australian TP52s will compete in offshore races in the lead-up to the 2022 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Following the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the Association will run a highly anticipated second regatta series. And with borders no longer closed to neighbouring states, the fleet will have more than 10 competitors on the start line for several races.

The Australian TP52 Sailing Association will continue to focus on youth sailors. TP52 racing gives youth sailors invaluable experience on a technically advanced racing yacht. “We really embrace youth sailing,” Neil said.

In the Australian TP52 Sailing Association’s 2022 point score series, a penalty system was implemented for yachts that had more than one professional sailor on board per boat. This is a reflection of the Association’s commitment to providing opportunities for sailors at all levels of experience to develop individual skills and compete in a team environment.

The Australian TP52 Sailing Association is looking forward to another season of competitive racing and taking the class to the next level.