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TP52 Denali, enters the fray for Noakes Sydney Gold Coast.

Home 2023 TP52 Denali, enters the fray for Noakes Sydney Gold Coast.

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Don’t let anyone tell you Denali isn’t racing to win. She is. And according to owner Damien Parkes anyone out there racing on a TP52 is too.

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Hitting the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast yacht race, Parkes says he only missed the last Race because his Judel Vrolijk was ‘still in the shed being repaired from the Hobart’. Having missed it is simply giving this accomplished sailor greater impetus to crack the course. But just chatting this man gives off the scent of someone who’s prepping for a race-within-a-race.

The TP52 tension is brewing. “Sailing TPs is very satisfying,” Parkes explains. “They have many variables in the trim and mast set up which, when you get it right, it is fast.” Still, he reflects. “If you get it wrong you cannot fix it en route.” This is the true time racing, the Grand Prix of sailing and Damien Parkes is full throttle into it. “TP52S attract the very best of crew, and they are a delight to sail with,” he adds.

He won’t go over the boat’s history with me. It’s well known in the community, with Denali being one of the latest to join the fleet in Australia. Created in 2007 she was raced on the US TP circuit as Matador, before being updated to offshore standards and raced in the US as Denali. Parkes bought her in 2019 and has been putting her great use ever since. “The crew going to Southport is similar to the Hobart Crew, with key people being my daughter,  Annemarie, the current Australian Champion in J24s and my son Matt,  who is doing his first race.  It’s a family affair for the Parkes crew. “My other son Nick prepares the boat and maintains it and races in all races other than offshore,” Damien says.

Getting it right is a big emphasis for this man who has already devoted a good chunk of his life to the sailing, “I think I have done over 25 Southport Races. “Since 1984 I have owned and skippered my own boats.  “I have raced since I was a kid, and went through the JOG fleet, the half-ton fleet and then into the maxi boats, courtesy of Dave Kellet,” says Parkes.

He’s seen it all and done 32 Hobarts including winning line honours win on Vengeance in 1981, but he hasn’t seen enough. TPs are the latest adrenaline kick.

In getting ready for the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Race he knows it’s going to get technical.

“Southport is often a light race, where navigators excel with the prognostications of wind and current,” he says. But  in a sign of the times he acknowledges that more “just adds to the management issues.” Something tells me this skipper is keener than ever to get back out on the ocean racing circuit with Denali.

So, will this next race be fun, I am dying to know?

“There is no TP that is out for fun!”