NORTH SAILS RENEWS PARTNERSHIP WITH 52 SUPER SERIES
NORTH SAILS RENEWS PARTNERSHIP WITH 52 SUPER SERIES
World’s Leading Sailmaker Continue their Association with the High-performance, One Design Monohull Circuit
Following a successful partnership over the last two seasons, North Sails has today announced we will continue as an ‘Official Technical Partner’ of the 52 Super Series sponsored by Rolex. The 2020 circuit, now in its ninth season, will again play host to a stellar list of sailors and boats, with 12 boats from eight countries all vying to be number one. Year after year, the competition gets more compelling, with teams forced to out-think and out-sail each other in the high performance, one design TP52s. As an Official Technical Partner, North Sails will bring their world-leading expertise, design and sail technology, as well as sailor support to the fleet, with ten boats choosing cutting edge North Sails 3Di.
The TP52 has become the de-facto top monohull inshore race class in the world, appealing to the very top level professional sailors, discerning owners and teams. The all-carbon fiber boats with powerful sail areas and deep slender keels remain very close in performance. The current Champions Azzurra, racing with a North Sails 3Di inventory, has won the Championship four times (2012, 2015, 2017, and 2019), and there is only one other team who has taken the top spot.
With the America’s Cup just a year away, the ultra-competitive TP52 class continues to attract the best in the business. As North Sails TP52 Design Expert, Mickey Ickert commented: “The pace of this class is relentless – every year we are being pushed more and more out there on the race track, and the differences between boats are getting smaller, so we have to look for any marginal gains. We work very closely with all our North Sails clients in the fleet to help eke out every possible inch of boat speed. Each of our teams has a dedicated North designer who works with their sail coordinator to further refine the baseline inventory, and they are also on hand for feedback to make sure we are constantly moving forward.”
Commenting on the partnership, Paul Westlake, North Sails Executive Vice President, and Mainsail Trimmer for Bronenosec Gazprom concluded: “Every November we get the sail designers who have worked with the various teams together for a full debrief on what we have learned from the previous season and what is next area of development for the coming season. The partnership we have with the Super Series helps us to grow the support we can give clients and to enable North Sails to help them make more gains in the future. We have the utmost confidence in our sail design tools and 3Di composite technologies to provide our clients fast, reliable, cutting edge sail wardrobes. Still, we are always exploring the limits for ways to improve as we progress along the highly demanding season consisting of 60 races with all to count!”
Commenting on the partnership, Agustin Zulueta, CEO of the 52 Super Series said “We are delighted to extend our partnership with North Sails as a Technical Partner to the 52 SUPER SERIES. As a high-performance class, we are driven to push the boundaries of what is possible in our sport, and in North Sails, we have a partner whose mission is naturally aligned with ours. We look forward to continuing our successful collaboration with the expert sailmakers for a further two years.”
The 52 SUPER SERIES covers six trophies from March to September 2020:
- Cape Town 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week: March 2nd – 6th, Cape Town, South Africa
- ROLEX TP52 World Championship Cape Town, March 31st – April 4th, Cape Town, South Africa
- Royal Cup 52 SUPER SERIES, Scarlino, Italy, May 12th – 16th, Scarlino, Italy
- Audi 52 SUPER SERIES Porto Cervo & TP52 20th Anniversary Invitational, June 17th – 21st Porto Cervo, Italy
- 52 SUPER SERIES Valencia Sailing Week, July 18th – 22nd, Valencia, Spain
- Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week, September 15th – 19th, Mallorca, Spain
