Rolex TP52 Global Championship 2007 - Final

by Event media on 30 Sep 2007 Artemis, owned by Sweden’s Torbjorn Tornqvist with Russell Coutts calling tactics, has taken victory at the Rolex TP52 Global Championship 2007 organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) in Porto Cervo.

Having gone into today’s final day of racing with more than fifteen points separating him from his nearest rival, Tornqvist could have settled for mid-fleet placings in today’s two windward-leeward races but instead he managed second in both races to dominate the final classification with a 26 point lead.

Tornqvist, who also won the TP52 Medcup Circuit couldn’t have been happier: 'I’m obviously delighted about the whole season, but this was our best regatta, this event was our goal for the season. The TP52 was a new thing for me, it was a new campaign and we thought it was going to take some time to get it right. But this was at the end of the season, the boat was designed for windier conditions, we probably would be good by now and this is what we aimed for. And, we were good at this event. What can I say – it’s unreal!'

Last year’s Global Champion Patches (IRL), owned by Eamon Conneely and helmed by Stuart Childerly took a seventh and first place today to move up to second place overall with Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine (MON) just a half point behind in third place.

Conneely was happy with his second place: 'It was a really great week. A challenging regatta with a lot of big breeze and then some days with no wind and others with very little. We were very, very pleased to get second overall. We went out today hoping to get to third place and the (last) race went our way and we ended up second. The race was very difficult but Ian Walker and Ian Moore sailed a very good last race and it was brilliant to get the win. We started the week with a win and finished with a win, so we were quite happy with that!'

After a week which brought almost every type of weather condition imaginable, from 40 knot gusts to warm sirocco breezes and no wind at all, and from pouring rain to glorious sunshine, today the fleet started in approximately 7 knots of south south-easterly breeze. The first windward leeward of the day was approximately 7 nautical miles while the second was lengthened to just over 8 nautical miles and the breeze held at 7 to 8 knots right up until the end when it died down to approximately 4 to 5 knots.

Race Eight, the first of the day, saw Siemens (ESP), with Alberto Roemmers at the helm, lead the fleet around the course to take her first victory of the series. Artemis chased Roemmers for the duration but had to settle for second place ahead of Mutua Madrilena with Antonio Sodo Migliori at the helm and Vasco Vascotto on tactics.

In race nine it was the turn of Patches to lead Artemis at each mark while newly elected TP52 Class Association President John Cook crossed the finish line in third place with his Cristabella (GBR).

Torbjorn Tornquist was awarded the Rolex TP52 Global Championship Trophy, a Rolex YachtMaster timepiece and the TP52 Amateur Owner Driver Trophy at the prizegiving in the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Piazza Azzurra.

The YCCS Racing Calendar continues with the Moby M30 World Championship scheduled to start on Monday 1st October and run through Sunday 7th October.

TP52 - Final overall results

1 ARTEMIS Torbjorn Tornqvist/Torbjorn Tornqvist SWE 11152 6 6.00 1 1.00 1 1.00 2 2.00 4 4.00 1 1.25 4 4.00 2 2.00 2 2.00 23.25
2 PATCHES Eamon Conneely/Stuart Childerley IRL 5200 1 1.00 5 5.00 9 9.00 8 8.00 1 1.00 12 15.00 3 3.00 7 7.00 1 1.00 50.00
3 MEAN MACHINE Peter De Ridder/Peter De Ridder MON 52 7 7.00 4 4.00 6 6.00 3 3.00 6 6.00 6 7.50 1 1.00 8 8.00 8 8.00 50.50
4 SIEMENS Hight Tide Ltd/Alberto Roemmers ESP 52 11 11.00 8 8.00 10 10.00 5 5.00 2 2.00 5 6.25 8 8.00 1 1.00 4 4.00 55.25
5 STAY CALM Stuart Robinson/Stuart Robinson GBR 93R 12 12.00 7 7.00 2 2.00 4 4.00 3 3.00 7 8.75 2 2.00 12 12.00 5 5.00 55.75
6 WINDQUEST Doug DeVos/Doug DeVos USA 52698 8 8.00 6 6.00 5 5.00 1 1.00 11 11.00 2 2.50 12 12.00 9 9.00 7 7.00 61.50
7 MUTUA MADRILENA Orlandi, Matte, Cousino/Antonio Sodo Migliori CHI 2110 9 9.00 2 2.00 13 13.00 7 7.00 5 5.00 3 3.75 7 7.00 3 3.00 12 12.00 61.75
8 GLORY John Buchan/John Buchan USA 36 3 3.00 13 13.00 3 3.00 10 10.00 7 7.00 4 5.00 9 9.00 13 13.00 6 6.00 69.00
9 CRISTABELLA John Cook/John Cook GBR 5206L 2 2.00 DSQ 16.00 4 4.00 11 11.00 10 10.00 11 13.75 5 5.00 10 10.00 3 3.00 74.75
10 CAM CAJA DEL MEDITERRANEO Fernando Leon\Francisco Sanchez/Fernando Leon ESP 8199 5 5.00 12 12.00 8 8.00 6 6.00 12 7.00 8 10.00 DNF 16.00 5 5.00 9 9.00 78.00
11 ANONIMO Q8 Riccardo Simoneschi/Riccardo Simoneschi ITA 572 4 4.00 3 3.00 7 7.00 DNF 16.00 DNF 16.00 9 11.25 6 6.00 14 14.00 11 11.00 88.25
12 DSK COMIFIN Danilo Salsi/Danilo Salsi POR 2241 13 13.00 11 11.00 12 12.00 9 9.00 13 13.00 14 17.50 10 10.00 4 4.00 10 10.00 99.50
13 VALARS Silver Wave Ltd/Shevtsov Serguei RUS 7 DSQ 16.00 10 10.00 11 11.00 13 13.00 8 8.00 13 16.25 11 11.00 6 6.00 13 13.00 104.3
14 FRAM XVI H.M. King Harald V Of Norway/H.M. King Harald V Of Norway NOR 12000 10 10.00 9 9.00 14 14.00 12 12.00 14 14.00 DNC 20.00 13 13.00 11 11.00 14.00 117.0
15 RUSAL SINERGY Gateway Overseas Limited/Andrey Nikolaev RUS 13 14 14.00 DSQ 16.00 15 15.00 14 14.00 9 9.00 10 12.50 DNF 16.00 DNC 16.00 DNC 16.00 15