52 Super Series: The second GER-TP is on its way – Brennecke joins the line-up

The 52 Super Series is set to welcome a second team flying the German flag! After seven years, two World Championship titles and five consecutive ClubSwan 50 season championships, Marcus Brennecke is now moving up to the top echelons of international keelboat racing. The new “Hatari” team will be in action at the very first two events in February and March 2027.

52 Super Series: Marcus Brennecke brings “Hatari” into play

The boat for this new challenge – initially set to last five years – has already been purchased: the 2026-built “Trinity” – Swedish World Championship runners-up and a strong fifth-place finisher this season – will become the new “Hatari”. The Botin design is based on the same hull form as Harm Müller-Spreer’s current season champion, “Platoon Aviation”, and also the British yacht “Alegre”.

“Trinity” is regarded as a fast boat with plenty of potential. Marcus Brennecke explains: “Whilst the other teams have taken time to optimise their packages for the 2025 boats, Botin has also continued to develop the design. It’s a good boat.” “Hatari” will compete in the first two Thailand events in early 2027 still sporting the current “Trinity” livery, as there isn’t enough time to redesign it in the blink of an eye. After that, however, “Hatari” will be given its own new look for the European leg of the 16th season of the 52 Super Series.

What prompted Marcus Brennecke to make the switch, and what is it that makes the 52 Super Series so appealing to him? “For one thing, the strong league, which now features 16 TP yachts at the final in Valencia. Then there’s the boat itself: the TP is a purer racing yacht. Everything happens faster. It’s on a different level. I’m simply drawn to the high-calibre competition,” explains the entrepreneur and private equity investor.

Young and dynamic: Brennecke inspires the next generation

How the three-time TP52 world champion and two-time league champions Like Harm Müller-Spreer, who grew up in Hamburg, Marcus Brennecke is a member of the North German Regatta Club and also of the Bavarian Yacht Club. He also has an L-boat moored on Lake Starnberg – a vessel that is as elegant as it is fast – which he sails with Jochen Schümann and project manager and 470 world champion Philipp Autenrieth.

At his two German clubs, Marcus Brennecke is also committed to supporting Olympic hopefuls and young high-performance athletes, such as the 49er crews Richard Schultheis/Fabian Rieger and Jakob Meggendorfer/Andreas Spranger, as well as iQFOiL windsurfer Theresa Steinlein and her sister Sophie Steinlein, who sails in the Olympic 49erFX class with Cathy Bartelheimer.

Marcus Brennecke has also given his own team a facelift following a somewhat lacklustre season last year. The team now features former 470 world champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis, who bring experience from the RC44 and Melges-24 experience, and 470 Olympic champion and multiple world champion Will Ryan, with experience from SailGP and classes such as the TP52, form a key trio for the new team in the 52 Super Series.

The ClubSwan 50 is leaving, the Cape 31 is staying, and the TP52 is arriving

Marcus Brennecke is still finalising the rest of the team line-up for the Take-off in the 52 Super Series. First, he wants to focus with his current crews on the two sporting highlights still to come this year. With the smaller “Hatari”, the Brennecke team will be competing in the Gold Cup for the Boom Cape 31 class in Saint-Tropez from 12 to 17 October. A total of 27 boats, including eight German ones, have been entered. Marcus Brennecke will be keeping his Cape 31 in future. “It’s a brilliant training boat and it looks just like a mini TP52.”

Marcus Brennecke and his eleven-strong “Hatari” crew are bidding farewell to the wonderful seven-year OneDesign Swan series at the ClubSwan 50 World Championship in Naples from 27 to 31 October. Afterwards, Brennecke intends to finalise the line-up of the 14-strong crew for the new TP52 “Hatari”. His goal is clear: “Of course I have high standards when it comes to sailing, but I’m under no illusion that everything will fall into place straight away in the 52 Super Series. We need to put together a top team and get to know the boat. Then we want to be competing at the front of the fleet.”

"I have an A-list and a backup list. Just as I do in business, I like to put together top teams. Where there is any doubt, and where candidates are equally qualified, the younger person is given preference." Marcus Brennecke

In keeping with the motto “Work hard, play hard”, the new “Hatari” team for the 52 Super Series aims to be “more than just a group of top individuals”. Marcus Brennecke says: “There will be a core group of people who have already sailed together. And a good atmosphere on board is also important. For me, it’s about working hard, but also having a lot of laughs.” The approach of continuing to involve younger German talent in the 52 Super Series in the future remains unchanged.

“One thing is how you put together a top team. The other is how performance develops. The result is good results.” Marcus Brennecke

To make his debut in the 52 Super Series, Marcus Brennecke has had to – and is willing to – do without two top sailors who have previously been key to his team’s success on the ClubSwan 50 “Hatari”: Michael Müller from Kiel and Gerd Habermüller from Austria. Both are sailing in the 52 Super Series on Harm Müller-Spreer’s “Platoon Aviation”, where they have just been crowned season champions.

52 Super Series: Harm Müller-Spreer wishes the newcomers the best of luck

“They’ve been sailing with Harm for quite some time now, and I respect that. That would be a ‘no-go’,” said Marcus Brennecke. Harm Müller-Spreer, who is himself using the winter break in the 52 Super Series to prepare intensively for the Dragon World Championships in Hong Kong at the end of November, began by sending warm greetings to his compatriot, whom he knows very well: “We wish Marcus and his team the best of luck.”

In the second week of February 2027, Harm Müller-Spreer and Marcus Brennecke will face each other for the first time at the season opener of the 52 Super Series in the Thai waters off Pattaya. Müller-Spreer’s “Platoon Aviation” will be competing as the best of the 2026 season Brennecke’s “Hatari” as the new challenger.

Replay! How the 2026 season in the 52 Super Series came to an end, with the series set to begin its 16th season in 2027: