2015 Farr 40 Midwinters - Day 3

by Farr 40 Class Association on 7 Mar 2015 On the third day of racing, San Diego offered the Farr 40 Midwinter Championship sunny skies, flat waters and a steady breeze. 'The sailing conditions have just been spectacular, we could not ask for more,' said Geoff Stagg, manager of the Farr 40 Class. 'We've had two beautiful days of racing in the bay and now we're going to get three more gorgeous races on the ocean.'

Not only did the Bay Club Hotel and Marina Day of Racing bring competitors to a new venue, it brought them to a new order across the finish line.

If you took yesterday's scoreboard and flipped it upside-down, it might look similar to the finish line of Race seven. On the first upwind leg, Plenty, Enfant and a handful of others over stood the upwind mark, pushing them further behind the competition. Determined not to let one bad maneuver keep them out of the race, Plenty gained two boats on the downwind sprint to the gate, four boats on the second upwind leg and ultimately finished in third place.

Enfant moved from tenth place at the gate mark to finish in eighth place, an unfamiliar territory for the Italians. Previously, their lowest finish was fourth place and their race average was 2.1 points. The winner of the shake-up race was Flash Gordon 6, who took the lead early on in Race seven with a beautiful start. Close behind them was John Demourkas's Groovederci, with their best finish of the regatta.

If the surprising scores in Race seven aren't proof enough, it should be stated that the Farr 40 Class is a very competitive one. What might appear as a big difference in scores is sometimes only a matter of seconds out on the race course.

'It's a little known fact that the Farr 40s actually all have magnets in them,' joked Zoltan Katinszky, whose boat White Knight was the top-scoring Corinthian boat of the day. 'It's a very tight fleet. You can go from having a huge lead to being a part of a three-boat photo finish in any given race.'

In Race eight, Alex Roeper's Plenty led the class around the course, with Struntje light and Enfant Terrible following. It was Insanity, the current overall Corinthian leaders, who had the largest recovery of the race, overtaking four boats between the first upwind mark and the gate to finish in fourth. Flash Gordon's struggle to take down a spinnaker left them in seventh place.

Going into Race nine, the scores were close and the competition at an all-time high. 'We were neck and neck with Enfant Terrible, and we had already gained back six of the eight points needed to catch them overall. When we came into the gate mark, we went left. They went right, and really found a great shift.' That shift took Enfant all the way to second place, while Roepers and the Plenty crew finished in fifth.

At the end of Day Three, Enfant Terrible leads the class at 25 points with Plenty behind them at 30 points. Struntje light, Flash Gordon and Nightshift round out the rest of the top five spots. Tomorrow is the last day of racing, with two races scheduled to complete the 11-race series. With no throw outs available, every race will count. The first warning signal scheduled for 11:30am.

The Farr 40 Class thanks our generous and supportive sponsors; Race Day Sponsors Bay Club Hotel and Marina, Ferrari and Maserati of San Diego, The San Diego Yacht Club, Supporting Sponsor North Sails Graphics and Official Beer Supplier Coronado Brewing Company.