Here Come the Party Crashers

The 52 SUPER SERIES has established itself as the world’s leading grand prix monohull yacht racing circuit. With racing in the high performance TP52 boat, the 2017 season was the closest ever as three longstanding teams entered the final event with an almost equal chance of winning the overall title.

And next year, expect the bar to be pushed even harder with the swing of the America’s Cup pendulum.

Now that Emirates Team New Zealand confirmed that their defence of the 36th America’s Cup in Auckland will take place in monohull boats, and not the multihulls of the last two editions, the competing teams will be looking to develop their monohull sailing skills again.

The first to announce their intentions is Britain’s Land Rover BAR as Sir Ben Ainslie will lead his America’s Cup team aboard Tony Langley’s Gladiator TP52.

“The return to monohull racing for the America’s Cup means that the 52 Super Series will be great racing for our sailing team,” said Ainslie. “Tony Langley is one of the biggest supporters of British sailing and this will give us a unique opportunity to return to the subtleties of monohull sailing at an extremely high level. This allows not just our sailing team, but also our design and performance teams to start developing our tools and methodology as we begin our 36th America’s Cup campaign.”

Langley will continue at the helm of Gladiator, a role he has maintained since 2012. The team tied for the win in the season ending event, scoring equal points to the 2017 Series champions Azzurra, only losing out on the regatta victory after the tie-breaker.