For Shane, the story with Zen began long before the current TP52 campaign. “It all started back in 2006 when both Gordon and I 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 longstanding 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 Farr 40 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 six 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 start of May. 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.”

About how the idea of competing came about Ketelbey shared: “Last year, we competed in the RORC Caribbean 600, one evening we were chatting about the Admiral’s Cup and Shane looked at me and asked if I was interested and that is where the whole idea started. A few months later, after seeing how well the boat was performing, we were all in. Every modification we’ve done since then – has been with the Admiral’s Cup in mind.”

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 team 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 TP52s 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.

When the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) approached Sean Langman about representing Australia in the Admiral’s Cup, he immediately saw an opportunity – not just to compete, but to honour Australia’s rich boatbuilding heritage.

“I looked back to the time when people still built boats in Australia to compete in the Admiral’s Cup” Langman recalls. “From the start, we had the basis of a team with Moneypenny – a group of sailors good enough to compete – so crew selection wouldn’t be too hard to figure out.”

Finding the Right Boat
Langman knew that selecting the right yacht would be both a financial and strategic decision. With a semi-base in Southampton, where he could work on the boat and spend time with family while cruising on Maluka, the idea of acquiring a smaller yacht made sense.

But it also provided something more personal: “The smaller boat gave me the opportunity to optimise it, which is a process that I thoroughly enjoy.” The search for a yacht led him to Khumbu, a Reichel Pugh-designed Fast 40. A crucial connection helped him in his search – Andrew Hurst, an old friend he hadn’t seen in 44 years. “Andrew and I worked together years ago, but we’ve always stayed in touch,” Langman says. “He helped me look for a boat and in the end, we came across Khumbu. I did plenty of research – historic results, conversations with the designers at Reichel Pugh and countless images of the boat’s condition.”

Langman’s approach to purchasing the yacht was, in true Langman fashion, a game of tactics. “I wanted to play tricks when making an offer and waited for a rainy, miserable day in the UK,” he laughs. “But for once, the UK actually delivered great weather – how ironic! Eventually, the rain arrived, I went to the boat yard and I made my offer.”

The purchase of Khumbu also brought an unexpected bonus. The boat’s broker, Nick Bonna, quickly became more than just a middleman. “We got on like a house on fi re,” Langman says. “So much so that he’s now joined the team and works for Noakes.”

Optimisation and Engineering Challenges
As with any racing yacht, optimising Khumbu for top performance became a priority. Langman compares the project to his previous work on Moneypenny. “We found the boat stored nicely it had good bones, but bad trim and centre of gravity,” he explains.

A conversation with Reichel Pugh’s designers confirmed what Langman had already suspected. “They said the bow wasn’t buoyant enough – exactly the same issue I had with Moneypenny.” To address this, an international collaboration was formed, spanning between Portugal and San Diego, to design a new keel, which is currently being built in Northern Ireland.

“It’s quite funky engineering, really,” Langman says. “We also did a full analysis on how this boat would have performed in the last Rolex Fastnet and realistically, it would have broken down on the last night. So, we’re reinforcing it, adding two extra longitudinals, a bulkhead and an extra laminate from the keel frame up to the topsides. Most of these changes revolve around the keel changes.”

The Name: A Tribute to Amy Winehouse
On the plane ride home after purchasing the boat, Langman found himself deeply moved by an unexpected source of inspiration. “I was watching a movie about Amy Winehouse to kill time,” he recalls. “It was called Back to Black, after one of her songs. It was an incredible movie, I bawled my eyes out on the plane.”

From that emotional moment came the boat’s new identity: Back 2 Black. Even the boat’s logo will draw inspiration from one of Winehouse’s tattoos, modified to make it more personal.

With a team of highly experienced sailors eager to prove themselves in the Solent later this year, Langman is ready for the challenge. “Bring it on, I say!”