Big breeze and lumpy seas created some mind-boggling action at Cork Week on Day Three of racing.

Torrential rain in the early morning, gave way to some sublime sunshine giving the competitors some classic Irish sailing along the rugged coastline. 15-18 Knots of breeze from the south with wind over tide, created a mogul-field of swell with waves nudging three metres at times.

IRC Super Zero

The carbon-fibre flyers were racing on the tactical windward leeward course with the stunning backdrop of rocks near Roberts Cove. These boats light up in big conditions and the TP52s were an awesome sight surfing through the waves.

Gray and Laidlaw’s Solent based Farr 52, Bob and Austin Fragomen’s American TP52, Interlodge won a race each today putting pressure on Johnny Vincent, TP52, Pace who is still top of the class but Bob is now just two points behind them. Paprec Recyclage and Interlodge are tied for third place just behind the front two runners.

Many of the crew on Gray and Laidlaw’s Farr 52, Bob have sailed on the boat since she was first built in 2000. John Brinkers is one and was pleased with their performance today.

“That was tough going, especially the sea state, we got nailed a bit in the first race when the breeze died down for a stage of the race. The TP52s had made their time on us and in the fading breeze we couldn’t catch them up but we sailed well in the second race. Bob got a great start and managed to hang onto the TP52s upwind and rounded pretty much with them. The big call of the day came on the second lap. We spotted a shift and took a different side of the course to the other boats, we got right back at them to take our first win and put us right in the mix.”