TP52 Program

The 52 SUPER SERIES professionalised the TP52 circuit, bringing together the world’s best grand prix sailing teams in a structured inshore championship. Farr-designed hulls competed at the highest level of the series across multiple seasons. The combination of the Farr team’s deep understanding of the box rule and their experience building race-winning designs at every length gave owners a proven platform for professional-level competition.

TP52 box rule — Farr Yacht Design

Farr TP52 designs proved equally capable on the offshore circuit. The class’s combination of IRC-competitive proportions and a hull form optimised for speed made Farr’s TP52 designs formidable entries in events like the Fastnet Race, the Sydney to Hobart, and major inshore-offshore series across Europe and the Pacific. Several Farr TP52s claimed line honours or corrected-time victories in their respective circuits.

TP52 — IRC/ORC racing — Farr Yacht Design

Over the decade following the TP52 rule’s introduction, Farr Yacht Design drew more than twenty individual custom designs within the class. Each boat was optimised for its owner’s specific program — Mediterranean inshore, offshore passage racing, or a mix of both. The ability to tailor a design precisely within the box rule constraints, drawing on the office’s unmatched VPP methodology and ocean racing data, was the core of Farr’s TP52 value proposition.

TP52 custom designs — Farr Yacht Design

When the TP52 rule was first formalised, Farr Yacht Design was among the first major offices to commit to it. The decision reflected the office’s belief that the box rule would attract serious owners and eventually define a generation of grand prix racing — a prediction that proved correct. The early Farr TP52 designs established the office’s reputation in the class and created the customer relationships that would sustain more than two decades of commissions.

TP52 design #533 and beyond — Farr Yacht Design

Running parallel to the TP52 custom program, the Farr-designed Cookson 50 became one of the most successful production grand prix designs of the era. More than thirty hulls were built by Cookson Boats in Auckland, racing in the Sydney to Hobart, Fastnet, and offshore circuits across Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the United States. The Cookson 50 proved that Farr’s grand prix performance could be made accessible at production-boat scale — the same design philosophy that had driven the Farr 40 one-design, applied to a larger and faster platform.

Cookson 50 — 30+ hulls — Farr Yacht Design