Ready for the 2023 M32 Class season - Twelve events at three amazing venues
by M32 Class 16 Dec 2022 01:26 AEDT
The fleet have been steadily growing for this years Miami winter series © Stephen R Cloutier
The schedule is set for the 2023 Season and the fleet is in for a treat, setting up camp in three fantastic sailing venues: Miami, Newport RI and Lake Garda in Northern Italy.
The racing starts in January and 15+ teams are heading for Miami for the four events series ending in April. The European fleet will have four events on Lake Garda based in Riva del Garda in the very north end of the lake.
Riva has always been a second home for the European teams and this year they will host the entire series with coordinated storing options between regattas. In the U.S. for the summer, the fleet heads north for the Newport Midtown Cup hosting three events starting in June. The season culminates with the classes showcase event - the 2023 M32 World Championship in Newport in late September.
View full 2023 schedule
Incredible 2022 season with strong highpoint at M32 Worlds
The 2022 season came to an epic close at the Worlds in Cascais, Portugal in October with the Trophy decided in the last race, on the last leg. The team to beat was reigning World Champion Don Wilson on Convexity. Wilson's team had shown strength throughout the season both in Miami and Newport but had a slow start in Cascais with uncharacteristic mid-fleet results early in the Championship. The racing was incredibly tight with no team being able to pull ahead on the scoreboard. On the fourth and last day of racing six teams left the harbour with the clear goal and possibility to win the Championship.
Bliksem with Peter Taselaar, this year's European Champions, Inga from Sweden with Richard Goransson, China One Ningbo with PJ Postma, Midtown with Larry Phillips, Extreme2 with Dan Cheresh and Convexity with Don Wilson all in the hunt for the Trophy.
Throughout the final day of racing no team was able to pull ahead and for race number 19, the final race; Midtown, Extreme2 and Convexity were separated by four points with Bliksem another three points behind and all still in the game. After a clean start the race saw a little of everything -- lead changes, protests and penalties all on a race area full of tactical challenges. On the final upwind leg the order of the boats went Convexity's way and they defended the trophy one point ahead of Extreme2. Dan Cheresh summed it up by saying "It doesn't get any better than that."
Last day wrap up video:
Class drone with live feed
Starting in January, for the first Miami Winter Series event, the M32 class will have live streaming drone footage. This raw feed is being supplied for umpires calls, coaching debriefs in hopes of making the racing more equitable for all teams giving everyone access to quality drone footage. "In the past it was a challenge to distribute high resolution footage to all teams when they hit the dock but with the availability of 5G technology, all footage will immediately be online ready to view" says Felipe Juncadella at Uptop Media, who has been on the M32 Miami media team since the very beginning. "An added benefit is that race fans will be able to watch the live feed as well." The class has long since had its own drone operation focusing on capturing the starts and mark roundings. This has been made available to teams for their debriefs and used for teaching purposes by the umpires.
Clips with rules explained by M32 Umpire Craig Mitchell
Automated start system together with Vakaros
With an increasing fleet size and reaching starts where the boats hit the "go" at 20+ knots the starts are a challenge. Together with Vakaros the class will begin initial testing of automated start and ocs systems in Miami. "Calling the line for the M32 fleet is among the hardest things I have done on a Signal Boat" says class PRO Mattias Dahlstrom and he continues, "For a long time we have looked for a realistic system with the performance we require for the starts and I'm happy that we will start testing this winter." Vakaros is well known by sailors for their outstanding way of presenting relevant information while racing and many teams in the fleet use their systems.