Saturday 22 January 2011

Audi MedCup: New build TP52 Container to compete on 2011 Audi MedCup Circuit


Mr. Udo Schütz - armador de CONTAINER © Schtz GmbH & Co. KGaA / team CONTAINER.

by Sabina Mollart-Rogerson

The new Container, owned by Udo Schütz from Germany, will debut in the world’s leading monohull class, the TP52 Series on the Audi MedCup in 2011. She will compete with an experienced, professional crew led by Markus Wieser, a European Champion and World Championship runner-up in the Dragon Class. Wieser is also experienced match racer and has frequently sailed in the afterguard aboard TP52s.

Udo Schütz’ Container, known for its campaigns recently in the Mini Maxi class and further back as a winner of the Admiral’s Cup as part of the German team, will campaign in the TP52 class of the 2011 Audi MedCup with a new Judel & Vrolijk design. The team will make its debut at the first event of the circuit in May.

“It is a great opportunity to lead the Container team into a new era – a highly skilled group of people, some of whom already have experience in the TP52 class,” said Wieser. “We remain realistic and we know that competition is very strong but anything can happen during the short windward-leeward races.”

“It was a logical step for us, based on our experiences from the Mini Maxi class”, explained Team Owner, Udo Schütz. “There is no higher professional way of sailing on monohulls in the world – the perfect environment to showcase and develop our products.”

Schütz is a successful businessman who’s state of the art technology is used in the construction of lightweight components for principally the aerospace and automotive industries.

The new TP52 Container is being built by Green Marine in Lymington, UK and is expected to be delivered in a record time of just four months. Container is the sistership to another new TP52 under construction at Green Marine, Niklas Zennström’s Ràn.

This is the first of a number of team announcements expected for the coming season.

Boat Specifications

CONTAINER
Class: TP52
Length: 15.85 m (52 feet)
Width: 4.42 m
Draft: 4.35 m
Weight: 7,300 kg
Mast Height: 23:80 m
Upwind Sail Area: 93,5 m² (main sail) and 65 m² (foresail)
Gennaker: 260 m²
Capacity: 13 crew
Design: Judel / Vrolijk & Co
Builder: Green Marine Ltd., Lymington/UK

Audi MedCup