Farr 30 World Championship day 2 - Near perfect conditions

by Farr 30 Class Association on 4 Aug 2012 On day 2 picture perfect conditions greeted the 132 racers competing for the 2012 BMW Farr 30 World Championship. The Northern sun and consistent 10-13 knot winds from the Southwest providing an action-packed, three race day for the 19 boat fleet.

Two time Swedish Olympic sailor Martin Strandberg (Malmo, SWE) launched Farr Bar 2 off the line in the first two races, holding on for victory in both and pushing the long time catamaran sailor into the overall Championship lead after five races, if only for a short time. 'We had great boatspeed all day, and our tactician was just 100% on today,' Strandberg said. 'We definitely found our groove in these conditions, a bit lighter and with more stable wind than the opening day.'

Strandberg had another spectacular start on the final race of the day, though it was maybe a little too good. 'We weren’t sure whether we were over the line early, but we couldn’t take the chance so we went back to the start, and that’s where the battle began.' Farr Bar 2 would lead an amazing comeback, sailing through the fleet from last place all the way to sixth at the finish.

As the Swede faltered, yesterday’s leader and current World Champion Groovederci (Deneen Demourkas, Santa Barbara, California) recovered from two sub-par performances early to win Race 6 convincingly, wresting the lead back from Strandberg. Mainsail trimmer and triple Farr 30 World titleholder Darren Jones felt his team’s positive attitude helped them stay focused. 'We got caught on the wrong side, had two terrible starts, hit a guy at the top mark and took a penalty, and things weren’t looking so flash,' he said.

'But I told [tactician] Cam ‘hang tough, we have plenty of cards to play’, and we came back from near last to fourth on the second race, and set up a strong finish to the day.' Jones doesn’t think Groovederci’s four point lead gives them much breathing room though. 'It’s incredibly hard to defend here. 'You just have to sail your own race and play these tough shifts the best you can; four points is one wind shift.'

The final leg of Race 6 saw Groovederci on the right side of just such a shift; Demourkas went from fourth to first in the last 400 meters of the racecourse.

Barking Mad skipper James Richardson (New York, NY) still sits five points behind arch-rival Demourkas despite being over the line in Race 5. 'It could have been a better day for us, but getting back to a fifth in that race felt really good,' he said.

Richardson got caught on the wrong side of a shift on the last leg of Race 6; until that point he looked to have closed the gap to Demourkas. 'It always hurts to end the day on a downer, but this beautiful place helps to take the sting out of that,' said Richardson, who knows there’s plenty of racing left. 'We haven’t put our best foot forward yet but we’re still in the hunt.'

Three races are scheduled for Saturday beginning at 1100 local time, with a similar forecast to Friday’s racing.

2012 Farr 30 World Championship website