Between October 6th - October 11th, the Real Club Nautico de Palma will host the 2009 TP52 World Championship.
The TP52 Class has been described as the Grand-Prix class of the global sailing circuit because the 52' yachts are extremely fast. As described on the Transpac52 website:
"TP52’s are flat out racing platforms, fully crewed, high performance monohulls capable of racing in both buoy regattas and offshore races. The 2800 pound weight limit provides for approximately 14 crew members with the flexibility to bring along a guest or a sponsor in the back of the boat and out of harms way. TP52’s race in true time, the first boat across the finish line wins. TP52’s are designed to be raced by both amateur and professional sailors alike. TP52’s elected not to use water ballast, canting keels, running back stays; preferring to keep it simple, safe & reliable. There is no time credit to build a slow TP52. They can easily exceed 25 knots off the wind with the record being 32 knots in a race set by 4 TP52’s racing down the California coast in 2003. Upwind, they are very stiff and fast as approximately 60% of the weight of the boat is in the metal fin & lead bulb." Quote ©Transpac52
In this year's Transpac 52 Worlds there will be 10 crews competing for the world title, including Quantum Racing (USA) who will be defending their title. There will be two new entries to the TP52 class, France's Paprec Recyclage and Great Britain's Henri Lloyd Weapon of Choice.
The other eight crews are regular competitors on the Audi MedCup Circuit
The Ten Crews competing will be:
Quantum Racing (USA), Bribón (ESP), Matador (ARG), Cristabella (GBR), Artemis (SWE), Audi TP52 powered by Q8 (ITA), Valars III (RUS), Paprec Recyclage (FRA), Henri Lloyd-Weapon of Choice (GBR), Synergy (RUS)
The World Championship will follow a similar schedule to a typical Audi MedCup event with a practice race on Tuesday, a coastal race on Friday and a series of windward-leeward races Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
