The 52 SUPER SERIES

About

The series in detail

The 52 SUPER SERIES now has a proud history of continued success since being established in 2012 very soon becoming renowned as the world’s leading grand prix monohull yacht racing circuit. Indeed 2022 saw the tenth anniversary celebrations, back in Barcelona where it all began at the Trofeo Conde de Godo regatta in May 2012, and really the circuit has gone from strength to strength with new teams continuing to join and owners building new race boats as they seek potential gains.

So 2025 finds the 52 SUPER SERIES in rude health, as strong as ever with an extremely high level of very evenly matched competition at the front of the fleet. New teams continue to step up to challenge themselves at the highest level. In 2021 Thailand’s Team Vayu joined, Hong Kong’s Team Alpha Plus came in for 2023. In 2024 we welcomed two new teams France’s Teasing Machine and Brasil’s Crioula Team and now in 2025 we have the Italian flag flying proudly again as Andrea Lacorte’s Alkeda powered by Vitamina steps up to the plate for the first time after success in the Club Swan50s and other One Designs.

Originally the circuit grew from the ashes of the TP52 MedCup which hit the stops in 2011 when the principal sponsor withdrew.

The 52 SUPER SERIES was developed originally as an initiative by three key stakeholders, respectively the owners of Quantum Racing, Azzurra and Rán Racing who enjoyed their racing in the TP52 so much, and could see a future in which the owners dictated the direction of the 52 SUPER SERIES; embracing all that they had enjoyed about the class and making racing for like-minded individuals and crews available in locations and venues enjoyed by all. Now the circuit usually consists of five regattas per season in Europe with regular early year events in the USA and increasingly looking to events out with Europe.

The TP52 was adopted into Europe in 2005 when it was embraced by a group of owners who were disillusioned by IMS racing and the type of grand prix boats which the measurement system encouraged. These fast, light, very powerful monohulls felt more like high performance dinghies, raced in real time – first past the post wins – and yet complied to a box rule design. The box rule bound the boats to a set of key dimensions but still left the design offices and the race teams with scope to exploit their own ideas and initiatives. The careful management of the Box Rule has encouraged steady evolution of the TP52 so that it has progressively become faster and more exciting to sail with fewer crew, and fewer sails thereby keeping costs down.

How it works

The format, ruleset and more

What is the 52 SUPER SERIES?

The 52 SUPER SERIES is an in-shore, monohull, fleet racing circuit. It is based on a tightly controlled, carefully managed box rule. This measurement defines certain key speed producing dimensions – such as sail area, hull length, beam measurements, displacement, keel depth, rig height and weight, but leaves enough latitude for designers and teams to express their own ideas. It can be considered to be similar to the Formula 1 of monohull yacht racing because teams can design build and campaign their own boat to their own ideas, as long as it fits to the ‘horsepower’ and build rules. So every boat is different, even if the evolution of the rule means the current boats are very similar and sail at almost exactly the same speeds.

But, unlike handicap racing, the 52 SUPER SERIES races are on a simple first-past-the-post format, real time racing with no post-race time compensation. Owners and crews love the high speeds, the exceptional power to weight ratio, the dinghy-like feel on the helm and the need to pursue small incremental advantages to win races. It truly remains a unique proposition within the sport of sailing. The 52 SUPER SERIES is the best monohull racing in the world.

Competition Format

Each of the five regattas consists of around ten races, with a mixture of windward-leeward and coastal courses depending on the venue. Usually there might be four days of windward-leeward races and one day of coastal courses, but this may be more in a location where the coastal racing is special. Over the course of the season all results stand – there are no discards – and typically that means around 45 to 50 races in the season.

Windward-Leeward Races

Each windward-leeward course usually consists of four legs of a ‘sausage’ shaped loop. The upwind-downwind axis will be 1.5 to 2.2 nautical miles according to the wind strength. The fleet starts upwind and usually finishes downwind. Duration of each windward-leeward is close to one hour, upwind legs slightly more than 15 minutes and the faster downwind legs a bit less.

TP52

All about the class

The TP52 in Europe has come a very long way since it was designed to a box rule to produce a series of evenly matched lightweight high performance flying machine for the Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii.

In 2005 a group of renowned owners chose to build TP52’s to develop a new high performance class because they were no longer content to race on handicap.

It 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 fibre boats with powerful sail areas and deep slender keels remain very close in performance.

They are light, have a high power to weight ratio and most of all offer exceptional fun for the crews who enjoy the physical and mental challenge of the 52’s.

Downwind in stronger breezes they will regularly surf at well over 20kts.

The tight controls imposed by the design rules ‘box’ allow sufficient freedom for the different designers to express their ideas, yet the fleet has remained very closely matched.

Each year has seen subtle new ideas generated for each new design, ensuring that there is just enough incentive to keep building new boats. Over 60 have been built. And the purity of racing is in real time, first past the line wins is still at the heart of the new 52 SUPER SERIES.