News

Following a reasonable result at Bay Week in the Bay of Islands in January, we prepared for the annual Jack Tar Regatta in Auckland, conducted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron at the end of March.  The event was conducted over 2 days consisting of 4 windward-leeward races and one harbour race.
The regatta was characterised by light winds, which always make racing difficult and with the potential for large wind shifts.   Fortunately, we handled the conditions really well.   Our starting also improved from Bay Week and we were first on line in all 4 windward-leewards and second on line in the harbour race to MAYHEM.  Overall, we easily won the on line results and also won both PHRF and IRC.  In General Handicap we were placed 2nd to one of the smaller boats (CLOCKWORK ORANGE).   This was a very pleasing result and a reward for consistent efforts, led by George Hendy, to improve the boat and also crew performance.
We are now into the Winter series, every second Saturday afternoon.  The first race, in very light winds – and for us a bad start – resulted in a 3rd behind MAYHEM and WIRED.  The second race was better, a good start and a win over MAYHEM and WIRED.
Crew in the Jack Tar Regatta were:
Brad Butterworth, Stu Bannatyne, George Hendy, Jackie Hendy, Jim Farmer, Andrew Cooke, Denis Kendall, Chris Skinner, Eric Haagh, Keryn McMaster, Stefano Nava, Logan Andresen, Thomas Mellano, Tim Snedden and Mike Mottl.
Photos below from Jack Tar and winter series races.  First three photos are courtesy of Andrew Delves, RNZYS. Read more

For what must the be 11th or 12th time, Georgia Racing participated in the Bay of Islands Race Week.  The weather was magnificent – mostly light to medium breezes but not as much sitting around waiting for the Sea Breeze to kick in as last year.  In 2018 we won PHRF and finished second in IRC.  This year there was no IRC – more about that below – but PHRF and General Handicap. Read more

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2016 was a disappointing year for Georgia Racing with average results in both the Bay of Islands Race Week and Jack Tar regattas.  Our downwind speed was consistently good but against some of the other boats in the 52 fleet we always seemed slightly off the pace upwind.  Reducing the weight of the bulb for the typically light summer winds in these regattas and moving to a square top main a couple of years ago assisted but we were still falling short.  Our new Doyles gibs, designed by Richard Bouzaid, promised much but didn’t really deliver. Read more

In the last posting on this site, the weight of the boat in light winds compared with some of its new TP52 rivals was identified as the cause of the uncharacteristically average performance of GEORGIA in the Jack Tar regatta in March (and previously in Bay Week in January).   A decision had by then been taken to investigate the best way of remedying this, with the initial suggestion being two-fold – taking weight out of the bulb and deepening the draft (again). Read more

Photo courtesy of Ivor Wilkins.
The annual Jack Tar Auckland Regatta took place over the weekend of 21 and 22 March 2015.  The racing in Division A, consisting of 9 TP 52 style boats including 2 new acquisitions from abroad, promised to be exciting.  And so it proved to be with little between the whole fleet and inevitable close mark roundings which at times led to protests and penalty turns.  GEORGIA fell foul to a penalty turn on the first day (hitting the top mark) and was subjected to a protest on the second day for a claim that room was not given to the protesting boat at the bottom mark.  The protest was thrown out. Read more

Here we are half way through the summer and of course a great summer it has been. Division A has received a real boost from the arrival of 2 further new TP52s from abroad to add to Harry Dodson’s MAYHEM last year, which has generally knocked us off our perch and made us re-think GEORGIA’s configuration. Both boats – VIENTO and TEMPTATION III – are Judel Vrolik design, as also is MAYHEM. The result was an exciting and closely fought Race Week at the Bay of Islands annual regatta last month (more about which below). Read more

Long time "Georgia" crew member, Andrew Cooke ("Cookie") was one of 3 sailors rescued by the New Zealand Navy when the yacht "Django" that they were sailing back to New Zealand after the Auckland-Fiji race sank north of New Zealand in big seas. Click here to read the report in the New Zealand Herald. Read more

Click here to read the profile article about me in the latest edition of "Ocean" magazine entitled "Life in the Fast Lane". Read more

After an encouraging second day in the Targa with Jim and Rhonda familiar now with the processes and routines required before and after each special stage (racing) and on the tours between stages, hopes were held for continuing improvement on day 3, which was scheduled to run from overnight stop at Palmerston North, through 6 more special stages and on to Havelock North.  Jim was scheduled to drive the first half day as before with Rhonda navigating and then roles reversed for the afternoon.  Read more

What a difference a day makes!   Day One of the Targa for newbies Jim and Rhonda was tough going.  Learning the processes (including putting helmets and neck braces and audio links on and off in the confines of a roll cage was tense work yesterday.  Today it was almost second nature.  Gear on before line up for start of special stage and then getting it off again as soon as possible after end of stage – it’s really hot under those helmets.  The suits are cool (in fact and to look at) despite the 3 layers of fire resistant material. Read more

Day One of the Targa was a huge learning curve for Jim and Rhonda.  This event is not for the faint-hearted.  The 7 special stages were incredibly demanding with very few straight roads and when there was one breaking from 180 kph plus to take a sharp right hand corner at the end was a matter of fine judgment.  Cars started 30 seconds apart on those stages.  The intended relaxing tour between and service breaks proved to be anything but.  As a result of a delay on the second stage with a school bus found returning after the road had been closed, the organisers had to condense the rest of the day.  Lunch was restricted to 10 minutes and an arrival time at New Plymouth of nearly 7 p.m. after an early start meant early to bed.  Heavy rain on the last leg was also challenging. Read more

Today was scrutineering for the Targa which starts in the morning (Thursday).  It was hosted by Kim Dotcom at what he calls the Kim Dotcom mansion.  A fair description.  The scrutineering processes went very smoothly thanks to Robbie (Francevic) who is such a big name in the car racing world that doors opened and then closed smoothly.  In the meantime, while he was taking the car through all the technical inspections, Rhonda and Jim were in the queue for registration.  This was a very long queue and it took a long time to get to the front where they learned that they had been in the wrong queue – for the Targa Tour.  The Targa proper desk had no queue at all.  Read more

Weather predictions during the week were for strong, gale-force north-westerlies, swinging to the west up the coast and either on the wind or tight reaching all the way.  Though the winds were never much above 20 knots, it was pretty well as predicted with lumpy seas from Cape Rodney north until entering the Bay at Cape Brett.  With Jim Delegat’s new acquisition, GIACOMO (the Volvo 70 foot round-the-world winner GROUPAMA with a full professional crew) and a fleet of 4 52’s (GEORGIA, V-5, WIRED and KIA KAHA) plus AKATEA (Cookson 50) and EQUILIBRIUM (Botin and Carkeek 55), the monohull racing was predicted to be close after the Volvo 70.  And so it proved to be.  Read more

After 20 years of high end yacht racing, Georgia Racing shortly starts its first venture into motor racing on 30 March when the 2013 Targa Rally starts in Auckland.   Drivers Jim Farmer and Rhonda McCrea, husband and wife in their normal moments, will be driving a specially prepared 2009 BMW 135i Coupe, purchased by Georgia Racing last year with this event in mind.  Read more

In my preview of the 34^th America’s Cup, published on 1 July 2013, I predicted that the Match between the Defender and the Winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup would be likely to become a procession which would turn people off long before the end because one boat would inevitably, with a radical new boat class, be significantly faster.   I was wrong!  The combination of spectacular, foiling, fast boats and the drama of the Oracle Team USA “come back” leading to a 9-8 score line had New Zealanders glued to their television sets morning after morning for the best part of 3 weeks and excitement aplenty in San Francisco.  Read more

The Georgia Racing website, as it is headed, is “a website for the friends and family of Georgia Racing – Auckland New Zealand”.   Its focus is entirely on the racing activities of yachts that sail under the banner of “Georgia Racing”.  Currently, this is the 52 “Georgia” and the 43 “Georgia One”, both of which sail now only in New Zealand though in recent years they have also participated in a number of regattas in Australia.  Recently a BMW rally car was purchased and is developed for competition in the New Zealand Targa in October.   The point I am making, somewhat laboriously, is that Georgia Racing and its website is a local operation with no international pretensions.  Read more

It’s probably about time I said something about this year’s America’s Cup, now that it’s almost upon us with the first race due in a week’s time.  There has certainly been a lot said lately! Read more

The summer has been a busy one with both boats – GEORGIA, the 52, and GEORGIA ONE, the 43 – taking part in major regattas and the usual Wednesday night racing with the Squadron and with Richmond.  Read more

There were highs, and there were lows, but sailing the 52' Georgia home from Australia was, as ever, an experience to remember. Here is some spectacular footage, posted on Youtube, shot by crewmember Russell Macefield. Click here to view. Read more

The anticipated weather forecast proved correct with strong westerly winds building to over 40 knots at times.  Unfortunately Jim had taken ill the week prior so George Hendy and Will Tiller took charge of the helm.  Pre-race briefing was about sailing safe and making it to the finish as fast as we could without compromising the crew or boat.  Read more

Recently Georgia Racing purchased a specially developed rally car - a BMW 135i Coupe.  The car has had an engine upgrade (to 360 BHP from the standard 3 litre twin turbo car), stronger brakes, full roll cage, carbon floor, limited slip differential, full rally seats, special rally wheels and semi slick tyres etc etc.  All to racing car specification approval.  Plans are to start modestly with Targa Tours and track days etc. Read more

After her delivery back from Australia, the 52 has been restored back to her usually immaculate condition, with new antifoul and topsides polished in time for the Coastal Classic this Friday. Predicted weather is strong winds from the South West - conditions which will favour boats with big downwind sails and, as the race progresses to a reach, the canting keel boats. GEORGIA, still rated for IRC with no big sails, will be disadvantaged against boats like RAN TAN (an Eliot downwind flyer) and Rob Bassett's well performed WIRED. Read more

After her convincing win at Geelong Race Week in January, great hopes were held for 2012 Hamilton Island Audi Race Week, which for the Grand Prix Division 1 fleet doubled for the Australian IRC Championship.  Read more

Less than 5 weeks to until the annual Hamilton Island Regatta.  One of the best in the world for sure.  This will be the seventh regatta there that Georgia Racing has participated in beginning with the Corel 45 in 1999.  Since and including then, we have always finished between 2nd and 4th in the premium Grand Prix division save for the year when the 43 sailed in Division B, finishing 5th. Read more

George Hendy and delivery crew – Tom Kearney, Ian Millar and Mike Boyd - have begun the long haul from Melbourne to Mackay in Queensland in readiness for the Hamilton Island regatta (Australian IRC Championships) in August.  After an uneventful sail through Bass Strait and a short stop at Eden to watch the Warriors beat the Rabbitohs, they have now reached Sydney (see photo) where some minor repair and servicing work will be undertaken and some accessories that have been stored will be loaded on the boat. Read more

The BMW Regatta was held in Auckland from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 March.  GEORGIA ONE, sailing in Division A with a bunch of 40s and 50s, finished a creditable 2nd on General Handicap and 3rd in IRC, which doubled as the National IRC Championships.  She has finished either first, second or third in the Nationals for all but one of the last 5 National events. Read more

After a disappointing fifth at Hamilton Island last August, George Hendy and I sat down and reviewed where we might have been lacking - principally as to the boat, as our crew work remained consistently good.  Read more

"Festival of Sails - Georgia hits ball out of park" article by Lisa Ratcliff, writing for the Royal Geelong Yacht Club and New Tack. Photo by Teri Dodds Read more

Georgia's convincing victory at Geelong Race Week was signed off today with the boat's seventh podium finish, comprised of five wins, a fourth (which was dropped) and a second. The boat finished 13 points ahead of CALM, using the IRC rating system. Read more

After its second place to SHOGUN V in the Melbourne to Geelong race yesterday, GEORGIA had maybe its best day of racing ever today with 3 firsts in 3 windward leeward races to give her a commanding lead half way through the Regatta.  Read more

On Day 3 of Geelong Race Week, GEORGIA continued on her winning way with 2 firsts and a 4th, which put her in an unassailable position before the final race tomorrow.  Her series record is 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4 and 1.  The 4th is a discard and so her total score is 7 , 10 points ahead of CALM and 11 points ahead of SHOGUN V, with LIVING DOLL on 4th. In the first race today, GEORGIA led the fleet around the course and was only just headed by the larger LIVING DOLL on the line.   In Race 2, GEORGIA was caught up with other boats in the fleet and finished 4th.   The big mover was TERRA FIRMA, which won the race. Read more

The Geelong end of the Melbourne Festival of Sails Regatta started yesterday with the traditional Melbourne to Geelong race.  With over 150 boats on the startline – and another 180 on a further startline just behind – a good start was necessary for the 32 mile race.  GEORGIA got it and at the first upwind mark 4 miles into the race led the fleet just ahead of LIVING DOLL, SHOGUN V and CALM, her main opponents. Read more

The annual Geelong Regatta starts Thursday this week, beginning with a 28 mile race from Melbourne (Williamstown) to Geelong and then followed by 7 windward-leeward races over the next 3 days.  GEORGIA arrived at Williamstown in the early hours of Wednesday morning from Sydney.  George Hendy and his young guys had a largely downwind sail - a welcome change from the almost entirely upwind sail that they've had on most of the deliveries up and down the Australian East Coast.  Read more

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After a fourth place in race nine – another Island race – GEORGIA's overall fifth place at that point of the regatta proved to be her final place when race 10 failed to get under away with a complete absence of wind.  Read more

After eight races, GEORGIA is lying in 5th place, one point ahead of CALM, a well-performed TP52 from Melbourne and 5 points behind LIVING DOLL, a Farr 55 and winner 2 years ago.  The regatta leader is HOOLIGAN, the former ETNZ AudiMedCup winner, which is 6 points clear of LOKI, a Reichel-Pugh 63 and last year's Hamilton Island winner.  HOOLIGAN looks likely to take out the Australian IRC Championship, which is run over 4 regattas, Hamilton Island being the last of them.  Read more

Nearly midway through Hamilton Island Race Week, Georgia is sitting in fourth spot in the IRC Grand Prix division, after consistent performances in three races and, hopefully, breathing space to drop its worst result so far, an eighth in the windward-leeward longhaul course of Saturday's Lindeman Island race.  Read more

Georgia is in Mackay on the Northern Queensland Coast, gearing up for one of the team's favourite regattas: Hamilton Island Race Week.  Read more

Georgia trimmer Chris Funnell qualified for the invitation-only BMW Sailing Cup, and travelled to Portugal with his crew for the World final. Read more

Tom Blampied (22) is in Europe for his first season of international match racing, and, hopefully, the start of an illustrious professional sailing career. Nearly three months in to it, how is he getting on?  Read more

They are the young guns of the Georgia foredeck, and they bring the average age of the crew down by at least a decade. Tom Blampied (22) and Shaun 'Geeza' Mason (21) both seek careers as professional sailors, and soon will embark on a European tour which they hope will deliver big opportunities on the international circuit.  Read more

Twenty-two year old Georgia race crew Emma Hendy has grown up afloat, and now, like her father, she makes her living within the yachting industry.  Read more

Thanks to an all clear from her surgeon, the Georgia crew is very pleased to welcome Sabra Davies back to the boat. Read more

After a number of false starts - George Hendy finally managed to bring Georgia One back from the Bay of Islands (See earlier story about Bay Week). The delay in delivery meant that - once again - Jim Farmer was able to avoid doing a delivery trip. Apparently though it wasn't all hard work.  The photo showing George proudly holding his catch attests to that. Read more

The second round of the Audi Australian IRC Championship Event for 2011 took place last weekend in Sydney.  Hosted by the Middle Harbour Yacht Club, the regatta took the form of 5 windward-leeward races over the weekend, 5 and 6 March.  GEORGIA (Botin and Carkeek 52) finished 3rd overall, behind HOOLIGAN (the former ETNZ TP 52 winner of the Audi Med Cup) and LOKI, the Reichel-Pugh 63, which beat us into second place at Hamilton Island last year.  Fourth was the well-performed TP 52, SHOGUN, who finished ahead of LIVING DOLL (Farr 55) and WILD OATS X (Reichel-Pugh 67). Read more

Three days of excellent racing in varied conditions saw consistent performance by GEORGIA ONE in the annual Bay of Islands Race Week. Read more

What could be better than Bay of Islands Sailing Week? Read more

After her second placing overall in IRC Grand Prix at Hamilton Island in August in what must be the highest standard IRC fleet in the world, GEORGIA was expected to perform with equal distinction in the Sydney Rolex Trophy Regatta just completed.  However, it was not to be – she placed 6th, though there was only 1 point separating 3rd to 6th places. Read more

At the annual yachting awards dinner and prizegiving at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron on Friday 28 November 2010, the KORC Trophy, which goes to the winner of the National IRC Championships was awarded for the second time to Georgia Racing.  The 52 foot Botin and Carkeek yacht GEORGIA won the Nationals in February in a very windy Wellington regatta.  The Trophy and the Championship had previously been won by GEORGIA ONE, the Farr 43, in 2007.  With GEORGIA staying in Australia for the next 12 months after competing at Hamilton Island in August, GEORGIA ONE will carry the Georgia Racing banner into the 2011 Nationals at the Bay of Islands Race Week in January. Read more

Georgia Racing recently provided an opportunity to guests to sail on the 43 Georgia One in a Squadron Wednesday night race to the highest bidder at a fund-raising evening conducted by the Legal Research Foundation in Auckland.  The winner was Kelly Quinn, an Auckland barrister who practised in Hong Kong for 9 years where he met and married his Finnish wife Kaisla who worked for the Finnish Consulate.  Their mutual interest in sport was evidenced by the fact that they met at the famous Hong Kong Rugby Sevens! Read more

It took only a split second for Jim Farmer (Georgia), Rob Bassett and Brett Russell (Wired) to reply with a resounding YES, when asked to challenge the Aussies for the South Pacific Cup at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.  Wired arrived at Hamilton Island from Airlie Beach Regatta, wound up, ready for battle.  Georgia'sdelivery crew had suffered a long hard crossing from Auckland, but they still had their mighty racing machine primed for action.  Hamilton Island's Front Street was the relaxed introduction to a week of serious combat, yachties strolling the avenue greeting long-standing rivals.  Lots of laughter - kids everywhere. Read more

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While the 52 waits in Queensland for delivery to Sydney for more premier racing, Georgia One (the 43) has been retrieved from storage and will be relaunched next week. Read more

Jim Farmer – owner of the Georgia Racing boats and Director and Trustee of Emirates Team New Zealand - has been named as Director to the Board of the America's Cup Race Management (ACRM), the body charged in the Protocol with providing "neutral, independent, professional, and fair race management" for the next edition of the America's Cup. Read more

Moderate Hamilton Island conditions were close to ideal for the IRC52 Georgia, with the boat placing second in the Grand Prix IRC Division, and helping New Zealand take home the South Pacific Cup. Read more

With only the Linderman Island race to go, Georgia is sitting in third place in the IRC Grand Prix division in Hamilton Island. Read more

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By ROB MUNDLE - As the number of yachts entered for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 approaches the magical figure of 200 the New Zealanders have declared they are on a mission – they want the South Pacific Cup. Read more

Right now, Georgia is enroute to the Whitsundays in Northern Queensland, for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010. Here is the first report from the delivery crew, which departed Auckland on Thursday 5 August. Read more

Following the Bay of Islands Regatta in January, a delivery crew headed by George Hendy and with other crew members Sabra and Bryan Davies, Tom Blampied and Chris Funnell sailed the boat from Auckland down the East Coast to Wellington for the New Zealand IRC championships.  The delivery was far from straight forward with bad weather forcing the boat to put into Gisborne for a few days. Read more

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The new Botin and Carkeek 52 Georgia was launched in early October last year and has been raced consistently since.   Results to date are excellent with the promise, hopefully, of better to come. Read more

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By Ivor Wilkins Read more

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"There was a bang ... the rudder was ripped out ... she was going down" by Josh Gidney, Jacquelin Magnay and Edmund Tadros, The Sun-Herald, Australia Read more

By Ivor Wilkins, Breeze Magazine Read more

Issue 13 - Spring 2001 - Urbis Magazine - by Zoe Hawkins Read more

Seahorse International Sailing Magazine - Issue 250 - December 2000 Read more

Sailing New Zealand Magazine Read more

Following a very successful 1996 Kenwood Cup campaign, winning Division C ahead of Flash Gordon (USA), G'Net (Japan) and Quest (Australia), the overall cruiser-racer prize and the Molokai Race, Jim Farmer decided to cruise his Farr 43 Georgia from Hawaii back to Auckland, stopping at Palmyra and Western Samoa. Read more