WIZARD

THE BOAT:

DESIGNER:

BUILDER/ YEAR:

OWNER(S):

MANAGER:

HOME PORT:

YACHT CLUB(S):

WIZARD

Botin Partners

Longitud Cero, 2017

David Askew & Peter Askew

Charlie Enright

The Keys

Bayview YC & New York YC

“After several years of racing internationally, we look forward to returning to the Great Lakes and supporting the growth of the local 52 fleet.“
~ Peter Askew

WIZARD Owners Peter Askew and David Askew grew up sailing at the Bayview Yacht Club at Grosse Pointe, MI. They started in offshore sailing racing one and two tonners, and International 50 Footers in the 1980’s. David was involved with two Canada’s Cup campaigns; Stars and Stripes in 1984 and in 1988 with eventual winner Challenge 88. Peter was the boat captain on Stripes, a Santa Cruz 70, in the early 1990’s. Their focus shifted to family and business until 2006 when David and Sandy began competing in a series of boats named Flying Jenny. In 2013, the brothers began campaigning Wizard, a Reichel Pugh 74 in Southern California, winning the Transpac’s Barn Door Trophy that year. From there the team went on to set the race record in the 2017 Key West Race and won the Mackinac Trophy in the 2017 Chicago Mackinac Race.

In 2018 they bought the former Groupama, winner of the 2012 Volvo Ocean Race. Re-named WIZARD, they embarked upon a successful campaign with a class win in the Sydney Hobart Race, and overall wins in the Bermuda Race, Caribbean 600, Transatlantic Race and the Fastnet Race. As a team WIZARD won the 2019 Atlantic Ocean Racing Series, the Hempel World Sailing Team of the Year and was named Boat of the Year by the Royal Ocean Racing Club. In 2019 their performance was recognized by Bayview Yacht Club and the New York Yacht Club, where they were awarded the R.W. Jeffrey Memorial Trophy and the Mosbacher Trophy, respectively. They were also finalists for the 2019 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Award.

The WIZARD Team has sailed together since 2013 and includes some of the most successful sailors in the world including Charlie Enright who signed on as manager in 2017. They look forward to joining the GL52 fleet in 2024 and plan to compete in a mix of inshore and offshore events, wrapping up the year with the ORC Worlds in Newport RI. In early 2025, the focus will shift to more offshore sailing, returning to the Great Lakes for the second half of the year.