Farr 40 Midwinter Championship - Enfant Terrible tightens grip on lead

by Tink Chambers on 29 Mar 2014 There has been one constant during the Farr 40 Midwinter Championship, skipper Alberto Rossi and the Enfant Terrible team have sailed brilliantly and have steadily put a stranglehold on the top spot in the standings.

Beyond that, the four-day regatta has been tremendously competitive with numerous boats showing well at times and the results difficult to predict from race to race.

Enfant Terrible, the reigning world champion, continued to show tremendous consistency and extended its lead with a superb scoring line of one – two - two on Friday. Rossi and tactician Vasco Vascotto have been in perfect harmony while the crew work has been outstanding as the Italian entry posted five bullets, a pair of seconds and a third since finishing 10th in Race one.

Enfant Terrible has a low score of 22 points and holds a commanding 13 point lead over second place Plenty going into the final day of action. With two races planned for Saturday in the 16-boat fleet, the lead is not insurmountable but certainly rather imposing considering how well the Italians have been sailing.

'Enfant is executing very well. They are getting good starts and have very good boat speed both upwind and downwind. Alberto and his guys are just doing an excellent job and setting the tone,' Plenty skipper Alex Roepers said. 'Enfant has to show up tomorrow, but it will be very hard to beat them at this point.'

Plenty moved into second place on Friday and is two points ahead of Nightshift, skippered by Kevin McNeil of Annapolis, Md. Class veteran Terry Hutchinson is calling tactics for Roepers, who has also been quite consistent in finishing no lower than sixth through nine races.

'Nightshift and Struntje Light are sailing very well while Flash Gordon and Groovederci are still very much in contention,' said Roepers, a New York resident. 'None of the top six boats can be counted out. It's going to be really intense out there tomorrow because a lot of places are still up for grabs. We have not been starting well, which has forced us to battle back. So our focus (on Saturday) is to get off the line clean and fast.'

Struntje Light, the German entry owned by Wolfgang Schaefer, made a big move on Friday by winning Races eight and nine. Olympic silver medalist Morgan Reeser is calling tactics for Schaefer, who got great starts at the committee boat end of the line and posted wire-to-wire victories.

'We are very happy to have such a good day. We did not sail so well (on Thursday) so it felt good to bounce back,' Schaefer said. 'We were in a very good mode today. We had great starts and were able to tack when we wanted to do so. Our boat speed was good and the crew did a great job.'

Reeser is one of five new crew members aboard Struntje Light, which captured the 2013 Midwinter Championship off Miami. Schaefer said it has taken a few days for the team to jell.

'We are still getting to know each other and learning how to sail together. Communication is very important on the boat and we are improving in that area,' he said. 'Morgan is a great guy and I am enjoying working with him. We expected to get better every day and we have.'

Struntje Light overtook Flash Gordon 6 (Helmut Jahn, Chicago) for fourth place in the overall standings and Schaefer is hopeful of moving into second or third with another strong outing on Saturday.

While the top six places are occupied by boats that have been regular competitors on the International Circuit, several West Coast entries have distinguished themselves so far. Dark Star, skippered by Jeff Janov of Malibu (Cal.) has been quite impressive in securing the seventh place position. Morgan Larson is calling tactics for Janov, who closed out Friday's racing with his second third place result and now has four top five finishes.

'We are ecstatic. Morgan has been terrific on tactics and our crew work has been phenomenal,' said Janov, High Point winner within the West Coast fleet the last four years. 'We had no expectations coming into the regatta. We just wanted to sail as well as we could. We've had a few bad results, but we sure are happy with some of the good things we've done.'

Skipper Gordon Leon and his crew on Foil have also been doing good work, leading the Corinthian Division at the end of each day's racing. This is the third year in the class for Leon, a member of the host Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club.

'We're very pleased with how we're doing so far. We came into this with the intent of learning as much as we can from the pros. This class racing is so darn competitive and it is definitely making me a better sailor,' Leon said.

Chris Raab is calling tactics on Foil while Leon said he has great rapport with mainsail trimmer Kristy Lenehan. He had high praise for the job Samantha Herrin is doing on the bow.

'My crew has really been doing a great job,' said Leon, who holds an eight point lead over Temptress in the Corinthian Division. 'Chris Raab has done a great job of whipping us into shape and when we get into a good groove we sail very well.'

The Farr 40 Class Association would like to thank the following valued supporters: Gladstone's Long Beach, Yacht Club Vodka, Kelly Marine, O'Connor and Kay Inc., North Sails, Quantum Sails and Ullman Sails.

Farr 40 Midwinter Championship Results (16 boats):
1, Enfant Terrible, Alberto Rossi, Italy, 10-1-1-1-1-3-1-2-2=22; 2, Plenty, Alex Roepers, New York, 3-3-4-4-2-4-5-6-4=35; 3, Nightshift, Kevin McNeil, Annapolis, MD., 2-4-2-2-4-5-7-3-8=37; 4, Struntje Light, Wolfgang Schaefer, Germany, 4-2-5-5-6-11-9-1-1=44; 5, Flash Gordon 6, Helmut Jahn, Chicago, 1-9-7-3-9-2-2-7-13=53

Complete results:

 Farr 40 Midwinter Championship Preliminary Cumulative Results:

Bow   Sail Number Yacht Name Yacht Design Owner/Skipper Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 Race 9 Total Midwinter Championship Racing   One Design Division     Farr 40     1. 5 ITA 29141 Enfant Terrible Farr 40 Rossi Alberto 10 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 2 22.0     2. 14 USA 60059 Plenty Farr 40 Alexander Roepers 3 3 4 4 2 4 5 6 4 35.0     3. 12 USA 40076 Nightshift Farr 40 Kevin McNeil 2 4 2 2 4 5 7 3 8 37.0     4. 15 GER 40 Struntje light Farr 40 Wolfgang Schaefer 4 2 5 5 6 11 9 1 1 44.0     5. 4 USA 60002 Flash Gordon 6 Farr 40 Helmut Jahn 1 9 7 3 9 2 2 7 13 53.0     6. 9 USA 7289 Groovederci Farr 40 John Demourkas 5 6 8 6 3 7 6 9 5 55.0     7. 3 USA 80808 Dark Star Farr 40 Jeff Janov 9 5 3 9 10 6 10 4 3 59.0     8. 18 MEX 28269 Flojito y Cooperando Farr 40 Bernardo Minkow / Julian Fernandez 8 10 6 8 7 1 4 5 16 65.0     9. 1 USA 37 Blade II Farr 40 Michael Shlens 7 8 10 7 8 9 3 8 7 67.0     10. 11 USA 46957 JoAnn Farr 40 Steve Murphy 6 7 12 10 5 12 13 15 6 86.0     11. 8 USA 50060 Foil Farr 40 Gordon Leon 11 12 11 11 13 8 14 14 10 104.0     12. 16 USA 40050 Temptress Farr 40 Ray Godwin 13 11 13 13 14 10 12 12 14 112.0     13. 2   1211 Coquille Farr 40 Gary Ezor 12 17/DNF 9 12 11 13 15 13 12 114.0     14. 17 USA 888 White Knight Farr 40 Zoltan Katinszky 14 14 15 15 12 15 11 11 9 116.0     15. 10 USA 8881 Huckleberry3 Farr 40 Jim Murrell 15 13 17/DNF 14 16 14 8 10 11 118.0     16. 7 USA 104 Flyer Farr 40 Stanford Shaw 16 15 14 16 15 16 16 16 15 139.0

 Farr 40 Midwinter Championship Corinthian Teams - Preliminary Cumulative Results:

Bow   Sail Number Yacht Name Yacht Design Owner/Skipper Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 Race 9 Total Midwinter Championship Racing   One Design Division     Farr 40     1. 8 USA 50060 Foil Farr 40 Gordon Leon 11 12 11 11 13 8 14 14 10 104.0     2. 16 USA 40050 Temptress Farr 40 Ray Godwin 13 11 13 13 14 10 12 12 14 112.0     3. 2 1211 Coquille Farr 40 Gary Ezor 12 17/DNF 9 12 11 13 15 13 12 114.0     4. 17 USA 888 White Knight Farr 40 Zoltan Katinszky 14 14 15 15 12 15 11 11 9 116.0     5. 10 USA 8881 Huckleberry3 Farr 40 Jim Murrell 15 13 17/DNF 14 16 14 8 10 11 118.0     6. 7 USA 104 Flyer Farr 40 Stanford Shaw 16 15 14 16 15 16 16 16 15 139.0