It was over 30 years ago when the first Georgia Racing yacht – a Mumm 36 – was built. That boat, skippered by David Barnes and including a number of young sailors who later graduated to America’s Cup teams (Gavin Brady, Jeremy Lomas, Chris Salthouse, James Dagg, Grant Loretz, Grant Beck), represented New Zealand in the Southern Cross Cup in Sydney. It was built by Mick Cookson who later built further Georgia boats – a Farr 43 that won the Kenwood Cup in Hawaii, another Mumm 36 that represented New Zealand at the Admiral’s Cup and placed 4th in the World Championships in Italy, and the current boat, a Botin-designed modified TP52. In the middle of that, a fifth boat, a Farr 53, was built by Salthouse Boats.
These boats all competed in Australia a number of times at Hamilton Island with distinction. The TP52 won Australia’s largest regatta, Geelong Race Week, outright, winning all but one races. In addition, they won numerous New Zealand Championships.
The time has however come to call an end to this endeavour and the TP52 is in the process of being sold. To make the occasion, I have written a book entitled “The Georgia Racing Story”. It is published by Amazon and contains many photographs of the boats and crew.
It has been an exciting venture and a lot of friendships have been made over the years. I am grateful to all who sailed on the boats and to those (David Barnes, George Hendy, Jeremy Lomas, Ken Davern) who at different times managed the boats.
Jim Farmer