Dibley Yacht Design

Dibley TP52

Dibley Yacht Design has had a long history in the TP52 story.
The Laurie Davidson designed Pendragon IV was commissioned by John Maclaurin who just sold his one tonner Pendragon 3. He wanted a fast boat that he could sail in Wednesday Night Races but also do short overnight races such as from California to Mexico (Newport to Ensenada, San Diego to Puerto Vallarta etc.…). The largest boat the California Yacht Club would let sail in their Wednesday Night Races was 52-feet, so Laurie decided the boat would be 52-feet long. In 1999 Davidson began the design process and Pendragon IV was born. She was beautifully built by Ian Franklin Boatbuilders in the South Island of New Zealand. Kevin Dibley managed the design and drafting throughout the design and build as Laurie was juggling with Americas Cup commitments.



Meanwhile, in California, a Technical Committee comprising of various designers, builders and industry leaders were working on a new box rule for a 52-footer that would be administered by the Transpac Yacht Club (TPYC). As they were working through the rule, one of the committee members remarked that the newly launched Pendragon IV was the perfect example of what they were aiming for and in 2001 the first version of the TP52 rule was written based on this new Davidson 52 design.



Once the new TP52 rule came out, Laurie was approached by Californian Bill Turpin to design a new yacht to the rule. Alta Vita was born and built at Cookson’s in 2002. At the time Laurie was working for Americas Cup Team ‘One World’ and was swamped timewise so Kevin Dibley again managed the Design and Drafting throughout the design and build process.



She was a very successful boat, getting 2nd in the 2002 SF Big boat Series and Won the Transpac on handicap 2004. She has since changed hands and had name changes many times. Dibley’s client in Hong Kong, Frank Pong, who already owned Juan K’s TP52 Mui Mui, eventually purchased her and Dibley was commissioned to design a new bulb, to cater for the lighter winds in Asia. She was renamed ‘Jelik 5’ and during Frank’s time won most of the races in the Asian Racing circuit including the Kings Cup and China Cup to name a few. She then sold to Ernesto Echauz from the Philippines and renamed ‘Standard Insurance Centennial 3’. Dibley redesigned the Sail Plan, Keel, Bulb and Rudder to cater for the latest IRC trends and she again dominated the Asian Racing circuit for many years. She is still in Echauz’s ownership and continues to race alongside his other yachts under the flag of the Philippines.





In 2024, Ernesto approached Kevin Dibley to design a new TP52 that would be competitive under IRC and offshore as opposed to the Super Series TP52’s racing out of the Mediterranean. The Super Series 52’s fitted the latest version of the TP52 rule but were day sailors as opposed to the original intent of the rule which was to design a yacht that could race from California to Hawaii. In June 2024, Kevin was in Newport, Rhode Island to sail on his LM46 design ‘Arcadia' in the Newport to Bermuda Race. During that time the Rolex TP52 World Championships were being held in Newport and Dibley was able to observe these race machines in action and meet some of the owners and crew who were at the top of their game in the racing circuits. Back in NZ, the design process began and during that time we put together a dream team comprising PURE Engineering, Nick Bice of Southern Spars, Neil (Coxy) Cox for Project Management, North Sails, Harken, McConaghy’s (Australia and China) and Magellan Design’s Simon Daly who managed the 3D modelling of the design as the plans were being produced. The result was a package that was par excellence.











Sadly, the design was put to a stop when our client had the opportunity to purchase the Australian TP52 ‘Celestial’ which won the 2022 Sydney to Hobart, at a fraction (1/10th) of the cost of a new build. Although it is difficult to break into this circuit as a new designer when there are so many good second-hand TPs on the world market.

Having been involved from the beginning in 2000, and we are confident that our time is here.