Cork Reports

From the winning 1720 Babbelaas Bach; Farr 40s; designer Mark Mills on Thunder's win; the Laser SB3s

Farr 40s

With a proliferation of racing elsewhere, just two Farr 40s took part at Ford Cork Week.

In an outstanding performance, husband and wife team Nick and Anne Haigh and the crew of Too Steamy gained a 6 point overall victory in the hotly contested IRMb Class. With a score line of three firsts, a second, third and fourth, their closest competition, Robbie Cameron-Davies' Kerr 11.3 I Site and Chris Thorne's Mumm 30 Tigger, were left floundering in their wake.

Helmsman Nick was ably assisted by tactician Geoff Carveth, a multiple past winner of the Endeavour Trophy and recent convert to the delights of big boat sailing. As well as winning IRMb Too Steamy also took fifth in the overall IRM series where they were up against many of the top professional sailors on the circuit. A genuine amateur owner-driver Haigh was delighted with his team's success and with how well the IRM rule is now working.

"The beauty of IRM for us with a Farr 40 is that though we bought it 18 months or so ago to go one design racing, here is a rule that really seems to give good close racing against similar boats." commented Haigh.

It should be pointed out that Too Steamy has been optimised for IRM with the sail wardrobe remeasured and 200kg of extra ballast so that she now rates within a point of the Ker 11.3s. The only other Farr 40 racing was Rob Godards' Farrfalina (the former Warlord) but it was their first regatta in the boat.