Sweden’s Artemis, skippered by Torbjorn Tornqvist with Russell Coutts on tactics has won the TP 52 Rolex Global Championship. Eamon Conneely’s Patches with tactician Ian Walker finished second, and Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine with Ray Davies on tactics secured third.

An unstoppable Artemis consolidated a powerful performance throughout the TP 52 Mediterranean season, while the battle for third and fourth place in the 11-race series was between just two boats; Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine and Eamonn Conneely’s Patches.

Mean Machine has shown what she’s capable of in this Rolex TP 52 Global Championship, with a consistent and regular scorecard that saw the team sticking to the top eight in every race, with no “pinches”.

The faster speeds of the new generation boats didn’t scare Mean Machine this season. Mean Machine was the only 2006 boat to feature in the top five at this championship, and a finish on the podium in the last race for the Judel/Vrojlik Mean Machine number 19, certainly means the team sent the “old lady” out with a bang.

Peter de Ridder commenting after the racing said: “We’ve been fighting for second place, but a bad start meant we weren’t able to stay there, although we managed to recover quite a few positions out there. I was expecting a different result for Mean Machine 19’s last regatta. She’s a boat that’s given us a lot of joy and many victories. We were saying on board today that she’s a “happy boat”. Next year we’ll back with a new boat, and we’ll be back to win.”

Three windward/leeward races were programmed for the closing day of the championship, with light breeze on the racecourse. Roemmer’s Siemens won the first race of the day, followed by a powerful Artemis. At that point Mean Machine was defending her second position on the podium ahead of Stay Calm and Patches.

Both Patches and Stay Calm were close behind by Peter de Ridder’s team, although neither went in to fight for a lead in the race.

The deciding race wasn’t Mean Machine’s best. The team didn’t quite find the space to make a strong start and found themselves behind the rest of the fleet at the first mark. De Ridder’s closest rival Patches lead the race from start to finish. However, de Ridder’s good work saw the team climb positions in a race where finding some breeze was key.

The finishing line was crossed first by Ireland’s Patches, followed by Swedish boat Artemis. Mean Machine’s seventh place finish in the final race meant the boat with the pink flames rising from her black hull had to settle for third place on the podium, just half a point away from the second step.

Overall Results
1. Artemis Torbjorn Torqnvist. 22.25 pts
2. Patches, Stuart Childerley. 50.00 pts
3. Mean Machine, Peter de Ridder 50.50 pts
4. Siemens, Alberto Roemmers 55.25 pts
5. Stay Calm, Stuart Robinson 55.75 pts
6. Windquest, Doug de Vos 61.50 pts
7. Mutua Madrileña, Antonio Sordo 61.75 pts
8. Glory,John Buchan 69.00 pts
9. Cristabella, 74.75 pts
10. CAM, Fernando León 78 pts