Zen 52

As the Admiral's Cup draws closer, we caught up with Gordon Ketelbey, proud owner of Zen and Shane Guanaria, campaign manager of Zen, to hear about the team's journey, their evolution in offshore racing and preparations for representing Australia in this prestigious event.

For Shane, the story with Zen began long before the current TP52 campaign. "It all started back in 2006 when both Gordon and | were racing Sydney 38s," he recalls. "Gordon's Zen was up against my dad and me in the class. By 2008, we joined forces and started racing together."

Their time in the Sydney 38 class laid the foundation for what would become a long-standing partnership and friendship and in 2015, Gordon took the next step, purchasing a Farr 40. "He still has that boat at Middle Harbour Yacht Club and we've raced in the class all over the world- Sydney, Porto Cervo and Chicago for the Worlds."

After several years of competitive racing, Gordon and Shane started looking for a new challenge. Initially, they spent ten months searching for an offshore racing yacht and even considering building a 40-footer. "We went down the rabbit hole of looking for a TP52," Guanaria says. That search eventually led them to Zen, originally built as Synergy and at the time was known as Sorcha a 2011 Botin-designed TP52.

"Gordon found it in Palma and I had a few English mates who were racing on the boat that helped get the conversation started. We brought it to Australia in October 2018, refitted it for offshore racing and launched it just three weeks before the Sydney Hobart."

About racing in a TP52 Ketelbey shared: "Sailing a TP52 is an adrenaline booster, you're sailing fast especially when it gets a bit windy. At times it can be quite chaotic but they are great fun to Sail and actually easier than I anticipated. I found the Farr40 much harder to steer. The 52s love lots of power and once they get on the plane and are out the water they are the happiest."

Their offshore campaign, however, presented new challenges. "We had mixed results offshore. What we learned early on is that we were trying to take an F1 car onto a rally course - it just wasn't built for what we were asking of it."

While the boat initially performed exceptionally well inshore, particularly in the Gold Cup 52 fleet, the fleet soon caught up. "After four years of racing and refining the platform we had, we realized the boat was becoming the crew's limit. So, we started making changes."

The modifications have been significant. The team first machined the keel bulb down to a thinner, lighter version and added new carbon rigging. Over the winter of 2024, they revisited the bulb again, filling a few pockets and shaving off additional weight from the outside.

"With the additional weight of the structure and waterproofing required for the offshore racing, we knew the boat was sitting 10mm lower in the water than designed, so we had to work out how to get the boat back sitting on its lines without losing any of the boat's strengths," Guanaria explains.

"We have just re-launched the boat after another 6 weeks in Sean Langman's shed where he and his Noakes team have done an exceptional job preparing the boat to be shipped at the end of March. It is in the best shape the boat has ever been in and it has brought the two teams together and pulling in the same direction. I'm lucky enough to be managing and building the sail wardrobes for both boats so there is a lot of cross pollination of ideas and knowledge going on between the two CYCA team members".

On their performance Ketelbey told us:" Initially we did quite well uphill, but whilst we had the uphill strength, we lacked downwind power. Eventually the modifications made us all-round much stronger, we are still fast on the beat but downwind we can hold our own."

At a certain point, when the boat itself becomes the limiting factor, you either improve it or change boats entirely. We chose to improve it.

With Zen committed to the campaign, attention turned to assembling the right crew. "We're looking to bolster the team for this event," Guanaria says.

"We'll need some local knowledge, especially for navigation and tactics, but we're also keeping the core guys who've been with us from the start and know the boat inside out." Among them are Tom Barker and Dan Williams, who have been part of Zen's Farr 40 program and bring valuable experience to the team.

Ketelbey shared:" The key to the Admiral's cup is the Rolex Fastnet, it is heavily rated and it is a big variable. It is possible for us to do well in the Rolex Fastnet but there is a lot of tricky navigation to be done with the tides. In the W/L races we want do well, but the Fastnet will be the key.

"We are always chasing a podium place but the competition will be very stiff. With more modern TPS2s and other top IRC performers we might be sailing a bit on our own offshore. This doesn't trouble us too much because that means we get to Sail our own race."

With a strong foundation, key upgrades and a seasoned team, which includes Tom Addis, Alex Gough and Chris Nicholson, Zen is gearing up to take on the world's best in the Solent.