52 Super Series: More sizzle than South Beach

With the America’s Cup on hiatus, the torch for ‘Most Glamorous Circuit’ is passed to the TP52 class and their 52 Super Series. The fleet is now teeing up for five days of racing in Miami (Mar. 5-9), with the strongest fleet of American 52’s yet assembled.

Five US registered 52’s are joined by two European boats, Niklas Zennström’s world champions Rán Racing and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Azzzurra, to form what is considered to be the most competitive fleet of modern TP52’s to race together in American waters.

Here are some of the glam points:
* New Zealand’s two times MedCup championship winning skipper-helm Dean Barker is flying in to helm Interlodge after owner-helm Austin Fragomen sustained a skiing injury two days ago.

* North Sails president Kenny Read will be joining as tactician for Gunther Buerman’s Hooligan, which previously was the 2009 and 2010 MedCup championship winning Emirates Team New Zealand.

* Italian Azzurra has tactician Vasco Vascotto and Francesco Bruni as strategist, arguably as good a tandem in the sport that exists. They teamed up last week to win a Melges 32 regatta on the same course.

* Quantum Racing, 52 SUPER SERIES champions and winners in Key West, will be helmed by the highly acclaimed Ed Baird with Terry Hutchinson as tactician, and not far will be the full support of Quantum Sailmakers.

After Miami, the six event circuit continues on to Capri, Italy; Porto Cervo, Italy; Palma, Spain; and Ibiza, Spain.

The website is hosting photos and video, and the races will be tracked by Twitter feed and Virtual Eye live graphics. Racing begins Wednesday, with two or three races scheduled, first warning signal at 1230hrs local time. Click here to follow.