Photography: © transpac52.org
Harm Müller Spreer was an interested visitor to Ibiza two years ago. The prominent German owner had seen and heard about the success of the 52 SUPER SERIES and wanted to see it for himself. After a spell away from top level grand prix racing his competitive urges were surfacing again and a return to the TP52 class was but one idea in his head.
As a stop gap, a step back into the racing arena before the new generation of TP52 builds really started he sailed a Premier Composites Carkeek C47 last season, something of a warm up for his 52 campaign.
His new boat, the third TP52 Platoon, was the first to be launched of the 2014-15 builds, in Dubai in February, undergoing a week of sea trials in a good range of wind conditions before being shipped to Spain for further training.
Harm Müller Spreer raced on the MedCup circuit with two previous 52s, tasting a good level of success but became disillusioned by the arrival of the Cup teams and all that they brought to the party. But having seen the flourishing state of the 52 SUPER SERIES, owner-owned and owner-driven he made the decision that this is something he wanted to get back into.
I am getting a little excited now, it is always so when you have a new project at this stage. It is very interesting to see what the new boats are like and what they are doing.
Harm Müller Spreer, owner Platoon
says Müller Spreer.
At the moment you just really don’t know how it will go. You can’t think about results or anything, and realistically it will be after Valencia and Porto Cervo before we will really know our level and what we can achieve.
The launch and testing in Dubai was really good, it is always hard to know much about the boat when you have no other boats around but honestly, for a first sail, the boat felt great and went well in all the wind conditions. And we had a good range of wind conditions.
Harm Müller Spreer, owner Platoon
He is back in the class because, he says, it really is the only game in town for him:
Honestly when you look at the changes made to the rule and the promise of stability now to the rule for the future and the fact the class is owner owned and there are so many owner-drivers I cannot see anywhere else I would rather be. The RC44s and Farr 40s for example are so old and dated, I just cannot see any other opportunities in monohulls. And with nine new boats and three or four ‘older’ boats it is going to be great. I have enjoyed this class since 2006 and love the first past the post wins, real time racing. There is no bullshit with handicaps but there is still the options to make small changes in sail design, in boat design, it gets down to how you sail and crew handling. You are looking at differences of a second or two a mile, just nothing.
Harm Müller Spreer, owner Platoon
He does not really know what his expectations are, but is shooting to win, for sure.
My only expectations are from knowing I have a good boat, I have sailed with most of the guys before and they are very professional. I expect big things from our team. It is a better team than we had in 2008 when I last raced. But honestly I don’t know what to say that I expect.” The Vrolijk designed boat was built in Dubai by Hannes and Max Waimer’s Premier Composite Technologies, their first recent generation TP52. ”They have done a very good job. The product they are making is great, the technology and factory they have is great. These guys are German and they know what they are doing, great engineering.
Harm Müller Spreer, owner Platoon
The Platoon crew is lead by Markus Wieser. The boat is due to arrive in Valencia this week with a training week due from 18th April. They will not race at Palma Vela as the crew dovetail with the Mini Maxi Momo and so will train on that boat then. Wieser introduces the crew:
We are eight different nations: Harm Müller Spreer who owned two previous Platoons will be the helmsman. Daniel Fong, Victor Morino and Noel Drennan are our trimmers, in the Powerhouse is Andrew Taylor, Michi Müller and Martin Kirketerp. On the bow as usual Sofuku, iin the cockpit we have Matti Mason and Holger Lehning and the afterguard is set up with Seb Col, Johan Barne and myself. It’s a good team, we are all excited to sail together. Our expectations are always high but let’s see how we start in Valencia.
Harm Müller Spreer, owner Platoon
