Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship

by Dana Paxton on 18 Nov 2008
The world’s most popular one-design racing sailboat class returns to Miami Beach this week for the 2008 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship.

The regatta straddles two seasons – the concluding summer schedule in the U.S. and Mediterranean and the upcoming winter events in Florida. To date, eight of the 40-foot racing machines are registered to compete with nine-person teams of the world’s best sailors. Scheduled for November 21-23, the regatta will be preceded by the Farr 40 Match Race Invitational, November 18-19. Racing will be run by the Storm Trysail Club with Principal Race Officer Peter 'Luigi' Reggio and can be viewed in the waters off Miami Beach. At the conclusion of the Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship, the winning helmsman will receive a Rolex timepiece.

Defending champions Warpath, owned by Fred and Steve Howe (San Diego, Calif.), and the 2008 World Champion Mascalzone Latino, owned by Vincenzo Onorato (Portoferria, Italy) will not be competing. However, any of the boats have a chance at winning in this strict owner-driven, one-design class, including two-time World Cup holder Jim Richardson (Boston, Mass. /Newport, R.I.) on Barking Mad; 2003 World Champion Massimo Mezzaroma (Rome, Italy) on Nerone; and HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark on Nanoq, who finished fourth in the 2008 Worlds held on the same waters last April.

There will be plenty of Olympic, Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup talent throughout the competitive fleet, serving as tacticians and filling key roles for professionals, including Terry Hutchinson, who returns to his tactician role on Barking Mad after a successful season at the TP52 MedCup. No stranger to international competition is Jonas Werrer, the Olympic Gold Medalist in the 49er from Denmark, who will fill the role of tactician on Nanoq while regular tactician Bouwe Bekking helms his Telefonica Blue in the Volvo Ocean Race. Talented sailors in the fleet include Bill Hardesty and U.S. Olympian Debbie Capozzi on Donald Wilson’s Convexity (Chicago, Ill.), Morgan Larson on William Douglass’s Goombay Smash, Cameron Appleton and Volvo Ocean Race veteran George Peet on John Demourkas’s Groovederci, Tony Rey on Alex Roeper’s Plenty, and Vasco Vascotto on Nerone.

Making their debut in one design racing will be Sedat Gulcaglayan and Haluk Babacan, a dentist, from Al Tunizade, Instanbul, Turkey with their Farr 40 Team Oguzhan. To put together the team’s program they brought in North Sails’ Dave Scott, who went to Turkey this past summer to race with them in IRC-rated events. The team’s ultimate goal is to compete in the 2009 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship to be held at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo, Italy.

The Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship joins other prestigious Rolex 2008 events including the Rolex Miami OCR, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Swan Cup, Rolex Big Boat Series, Rolex Farr 40 World Championship and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. For more information about the Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship, including results, please visit www.farr40.org.

2008 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship

Preliminary Entry List

1. Barking Mad, Jim Richardson, Boston, Mass./Newport, R.I., Terry Hutchinson (T), Morgan Trubovich, Skip Baxter, Zack Hurst, Linda Lyndquist, Derby Anderson, Marty Kullman, Curtis Florence, Tony Rankin

2. Convexity, Donald Wilson, Chicago, Ill., Bill Hardesty (T), Hanz Pusch, Mel Parker, Jonathan Farrar, Matt Cassidy, Debbie Capozzi, Sarah Renz, Lars Hansen, Krista Paxton

3. Goombay Smash, William Douglass, Morgan Larson (T), Marco Constant, Brian Fisher, Andy Estcourt, Jim Munks, Brian Keeshan, Jesse Fielding, Stu Pollard

4. Groovederci, John Demoukas, Santa Barbara, Calif., Cameron Appleton (T), Luke Malloy, Brett Jones, George Peet, Johnny Goldsbury, Nate Campbell, Brian Pistay, Diego Gomez Hall

5. Nanoq, HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Jonas Warrer (T), Anders Myralfs, Theas Palm, Carl-Erik Kjaersgaadard, Kasper Helweg-Larsen, Jesper Riise, Emil Wester, Christian Jensen

6. Nerone, Antonio Sodo Migliori / Massimo Mezzaroma, Rome, Italy, Vasco Vascotto (T), Massimo Bortoletto, Victor Marino, Paolo Bottari, Cesare Bazzetti, Jacopo Bagnaschi, Simon Cardinali, Giulio Scarselli

7. Team Oguzhan, Sedat Gulcaglayan / Haluk Babacan, Al Tunizade, Instanbul, Turkey, Arda Baykal (t), Bilge Kerem Ozkan, Burak Zengin, Zahit Sozen, Kaya Dinar, Serdar Caliskan, Dayra Kinik, Dave Scott

8. Plenty, Alex Roepers, Greenwich, Conn., Tony Rey (T), Chris Bush, Steve Inman, Darren Jones, Jon Upton, John Traut, Alan Nakanishi, Van Walke, Jaqueline Schmitz

Title sponsor of the Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship is Rolex Watch U.S.A. with support from SLAM and Harken as well as Edgewater Boats and Southern Spars, both divisions of North Sails.

About Rolex Watch U.S.A. Since Rolex Watch U.S.A. first presented timepieces to America’s Cup defenders in 1958, the company has consistently recognized and encouraged excellence in every important arena of competitive sailing, including elite athlete preparation, US SAILING championships, disabled sailing, and offshore, one-design and women’s events.