Brand new 'modified' TP52

Jim Farmer's latest IRC-optimised Georgia was taken from the mould of the Emirates Team NZ TP52

Direct from the drafting board of Botin & Carkeek, the duo that designed Emirates Team New Zealand’s Audi Med Cup winning TP52 comes the latest grand prix racer to join the New Zealand fleet.

The sixth in a series called Georgia, the boat, which an almost identical sistership to the Emirates Transpac 52, will be faster and more versatile, capable of achieving speeds of up to 25 knots thanks to 350sqm of sail area, a dynamic hull shape and lightweight engineering.

Owned by Georgia Racing, a company owned and directed by Auckland barrister Jim Farmer QC, it was launched at the Emirates Team New Zealand base on Thursday 8 October.

Farmer, who is a director of Emirates Team New Zealand, many of whose crew have sailed on Georgia Racing boats, launched his Georgia Farr 53 two years and even then was thinking about owning a TP52. “At that time the TPs were very similar in performance to the 53. However, it was obvious that it was a development class with owners building new boats every year - a process which accelerated with the establishment of Med Cup circuit in the Mediterranean. What I also liked about the TPs was that they were very good reaching boats as well as being fast upwind and downwind.”

Farmer says he discussed purchasing the ETNZ boat after its first year’s racing. “I had several discussions with Grant Dalton along those lines, and at the time, he was very keen to have the boat pre-sold before it was even built. However, in the end I thought a deal was unlikely - partly because of the extra costs I would be facing in bringing the boat back from Europe and then in modifying it from the TP class to IRC.”

Instead he decided to build a boat using the same hull mould, but customising it for IRC racing, which is popular in New Zealand and Australia, and adding more interior space.

“Because Marcelino Botin had designed the Emirates boat and is ETNZ’s America’s Cup designer and because of my own association with ETNZ, I was then able to put together this boat which achieved all the objectives of having a customised IRC boat but with the pedigree of a Transpac. The fact that, thanks to the Recession, Mick Cookson had no new boats under construction was also a great help and we were able to put together the project in a way that was cost effective for Georgia Racing and also enabled him to keep his best boat builders together.”

He was also enjoying racing under the IRC rule, newly introduced to New Zealand, and very popular overseas. “IRC is, in my view, a very good rule because it encourages fast boats with big rigs (such as a TP 52) but not lightweight flyers with no interior. It also encourages older standard boats such as Farr 1020s. Georgia One (43 ft) is actually a good combination of both - because it is an older design (designed and built in 1995 as an IMS cruiser-racer) and upgraded in 2006 with a bigger rig and modern keel to be a much stiffer and more powerful boat. That was proved by its winning of the New Zealand IRC championships. In other words, IRC is certainly accommodating of Grand Prix boats and of older boats provided in both instances that they are real world boats which can be sailed both inshore and offshore.”

When the ETNZ boat was being launched, Jim discussed with Mick Cookson the idea of building an IRC-optimised 52 from scratch, utilising the best aspects of the TP52, but gaining important benefits in terms of interior space, a larger rig and more sail area and a stiffer more powerful boat by moving all the lead ballast down to the bulb.

Internal ballast has been removed from the ETNZ design to accommodate a more comfortable interior, and a heavier bulb has been applied. The sail plan is slightly larger for a slightly lower overall displacement, and the deck and cabin top have been re-designed.

“I have always admired Marcelino’s designs, especially the design work that he has done for ETNZ on its America’s Cup boats. This design of the TP52 hull was very radical, by comparison with other current TP designs, and there were many who were saying that it would not be successful. The ETNZ results in this year’s Med Cup, where they annihilated the competition and the best sailors and designers in the world, has proved otherwise.”

For summer 2010, Georgia which, contrary to popular trends, is fitted with a conventional keel, will challenge other IRC racers in the HSBC Premier Coastal Classic, Bay of Islands Sailing Week, the New Zealand IRC Championships in Wellington, and BMW Auckland Regatta, building up for the prestigious Hamilton Island Regatta, taking place in September 2010.

Georgia Racing’s plans for the 2011 sailing season may include one or more of the famous Admiral’s Cup event, should it be reinstated, the Round Australia event, the Transpacific marathon between San Francisco and Hawaii, and the Big Boat Series in San Francisco.

The boat will be sailed by the team that Jim has built up over many years of local racing, and which includes Ricky Royden and George Hendy (who project managed the building of the boat), as well as some up and coming younger sailors. Two very well known America’s Cup sailors - who will have amateur status - will also race on the boat during the coming year.

“I think that it is a tribute to the boat that they are happy to sail with us on that basis,” says Farmer, who says he builds and races his boats to keep him from working 24/7, and to provide opportunities for young male and female sailors, as well older sailors who have missed out on international competition to race on a great boat.

Farmer describes the interior of Georgia Racing as inspired by the aesthetics of a high performance European sports car, metallic silver and polished carbon contrast with sumptuous red leather squabs 0 the one concession to comfort in a boat designed for racing.

The creation is streamlined, sleek and glossy: the inside of the hull a deep, unfinished black carbon, still rough to the touch, and set against metallic silver bulkheads, polished carbon cabinetry to house the round fridge and gas cooker and navigation table.

The exterior is finished in Grigio Ingrid, a colour from the famous Ferrari stable, and that used in the last two members of the Georgia Racing fleet. But this time the transom is a striking metallic black, and graphics are heavily stylised and aggressively striking, spelling out the boat’s identity in red and black.

Vital statistics:

- LOA - 15.85m.
- Beam - 4.5m
- Draft - 3.2m
- Displacement - 7.4 T
- Upwind sail area - 158 m2
- Downwind sail area - 350m2
- Max speed - 25Kn
- Designed by Botin and Carkeek
- Built by Cookson Boats
- Sails by North Sails
- Rig by New Zealand Rigging