Our Director of Sustainability, Lara Poljsak, reflects on the 2024 TP52 Super Series.
The Quantum Racing team is fresh off their 2024 Rolex TP52 Super Series championship win on American Magic. It was a hard-won title after 41 races and five different regattas over six months. One last event, The 52 Super Series Royal Cup, decided the championship on September 24-28 in Valencia, Spain.
Quantum Sails is a long-time sponsor of the 52 Super Series and the primary sailmaker of two of the top three boats in the 2024 series. In addition to American Magic, Tony Langley’s Gladiator — also 2024 World Champions — came in third overall for the series, sailing with a full Quantum inventory.
Sustainable Solutions in Action
The 52 Super Series is recognized as a leading international grand-prix monohull racing circuit. This prestige allows the event a unique platform to promote sustainable practices in their regattas and the events surrounding them. For years, the 52 Super Series has abided by the ISO 20121 Sustainable Event Management Standard. This standard guides organizations to implement sustainability in all areas of event planning and execution.
Quantum Sails' efforts toward sustainable practices extend beyond sailmaking and into every branch of our company, including the routines of our Quantum Racing Team. Preparation of food and water using reusable containers and quality ingredients can cut down on waste considerably. The team employs reusable water bottles, food containers, and lunch bags that protect freshness and are sterilized after each use to ensure longevity. We bring our bins to all events so that our team can guarantee all recyclables are separated and disposed of correctly. Our water filtration system is helpful for use during preparation and training days and whenever a class water dispenser is not available. When a sail is no longer of racing quality, we sell or donate it so that it may be reused or repurposed into something new.
The 52 Super Series considers sustainability in their races as well as the events surrounding them. At each regatta, the Super Series hosts a sustainability meeting for the participating teams, encouraging teams to act responsibly and offers ways to keep the environment in mind before, during, and after the regatta. At least one member of each team is encouraged to participate in these meetings. Quantum Racing appointed three sustainability ambassadors to ensure at least one person was present at every 52 Super Series sustainability meeting.
The Super Series events collaborate with organizations that have a focus on sustainability. At each event, the series features local businesses whose practices or wares focus on the production of repurposed products. Some partnerships are present at every event. Those include:
BlueWater has donated multiple water filtration systems to Series events. The current filtration system provides drinking water for the teams, organizers, and visitors. The water station travels with the fleet to every event and is available for teams to use for the duration.
EcoWorks Marine has supplied their MARPOL-compliant cleaning products to the fleet. The products are available to the teams to use after sailing wash-down.
KickOutPlastic is a non-profit media campaign that is fighting for a plastic-free world through the lens of professional sports. The campaign uses well-known athletes to promote its messages and spread awareness of sustainability.
The 52 Super Series has measured the results of a few of their strategies, showing the real change that can be achieved with foresight and prioritizing sustainability:
- 103,000 liters of purified drinking water to sailors and passers-by, filtered by the Bluewater water station
- 206,000 plastic water bottles substituted with that purified drinking water
- 62.45 percent of waste diverted from landfill
- 1,050 kilograms of trash collected at local beach clean-ups
- 2,318 people fed from unused food pick-up
- 903 kilograms of food leftovers collected
As sailmakers and stewards of the water where our sport takes place, sustainability is important to Quantum Sails. It is great to see our efforts and those of our partners go hand in hand.