Race 3 was sailed on 21 August 2012. The fleet sailed on Course ‘R’ in a North North East swinging North North West Wester of 15 to 25 Knots.
Lipton Cup 2012 Race 3. Start Time: 11:09:00
| Points | Sail No | Boat | Skipper | Bow No. | Club | Finishing Place | Comments | Points |
| 1 | 24 | RMS Harbour Lights | Greg Davis | 12 | RCYC | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | 7 | Team Intasure | Andrea Giovannini/Markus Progli | 1 | FBYC | 2 | 2 | |
| 3 | 79 | Orion B2G2 | Ricky Robinson | 10 | RNYC | 3 | 3 | |
| 4 | 30 | Southern Charter UCT Maverick | Neil Malan/Oliver Hobson | 16 | UCTYC | 4 | 4 | |
| 5 | 33 | Berthas Restaurant | David Shilton | 6 | DYC -WP | 5 | 5 | |
| 6 | 74 | PYC Choose Life | Richard Weddel | 4 | PYC | 6 | 6 | |
| 7 | 19 | Rijk’s Cellar | Dominique Provoyeur/Ken Venn | 5 | LYC | 7 | 7 | |
| 8 | 68 | Dynamic ID Systems | Lerroy Rudolf | 11 | ZVYC | 8 | 8 | |
| 9 | 31 | HMYC Colourpress | Craig Millar | 22 | HMYC | 9 | 9 | |
| 10 | 25 | Envirobiz | Tony Norris/Finn de Haan | 21 | TSC | 10 | 10 | |
| 11 | 36 | Bumbo | Randolph Verheij | 20 | TYC | 11 | 11 | |
| 12 | 41 | MBYC | Riaan Turner | 17 | MBYBC | 12 | 12 | |
| 13 | 71 | Intasure Hooligan | Alan Lawrence | 13 | FHBSC | 13 | 13 | |
| 14 | 52 | Black Marlin | Ashwin Daniels | 7 | DYC-BLD | 14 | 14 | |
| 15 | 60 | JML3 | Theo Yon | 15 | HBYC | 15 | 15 | |
| 16 | 78 | JML/RCYC/Lalizas | Murray Willcox | 18 | DCYC | 16 | 16 | |
| 17 | 43 | Team Escape | Rodney Tanner | 3 | GBYC | 17 | 17 | |
| 18 | 58 | Orion | Richard Rath | 19 | ABYC | 18 | 18 | |
| 19 | 38 | Bandito | Judy Provoyeur | 23 | IYC | 19 | 19 | |
| 20 | 62 | Foster Wealth | Barnard Farmer | 2 | SBYC | 20 | 20 | |
| 21 | 66 | KYC Challenger | Rob Clark | 14 | KYC | 21 | 21 | |
| 22 | 83 | JML2 | William Whittaker | 24 | MAC | 22 | 22 | |
| 23 | 3 | Welsh Witch | John Young | 25 | GLYC | 23 | 23 | |
| 24 | 50 | Cape Recife | Jonathan Cole | 9 | DYC-PTA | 24 | 24 | |
| 26 | 63 | Blue Tango II | Mark Goad | 8 | DYC-KZN | DNF-Out Of Time | 26 |