Barking Mad heads to Sydney for Rolex Trophy Series

by Sam Crichton/Sail-World on 5 Dec 2003 Past Farr 40 world champion, American Jim Richardson, will bring his successful Barking Mad from the USA to compete in the Farr 40 One Design fleet at the three day Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Rolex Trophy Series to be sailed next weekend.

Richardson, who won last year's Farr 40 event in Sydney, will bring a number of his US crew to sail in the three-day regatta including Volvo Ocean Race Winner, Stu Bannatyne, who was part of Richardson’s winning crew last year, mainsheet hand Skip Baxter and jib trimmer Morgan Trubovich.

Baxter was a member of the Prada 2003 America's Cup campaign, while Morgan sailed with the most recent Stars and Stripes challenge. Before joining Barking Mad, Morgan was a trimmer on John Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti's 1999 Farr 40 World Championship team.

Dave Scott, a North Sails program designer from Annapolis, is also on the crew coming with past America's Cup and Whitbread Race experience.

Skip, Morgan and Scott have each sailed on Barking Mad for the past three years whilst bowman, Steve Inman, of Portland Oregon, joined Richardson last year.

The crew will be complimented by a couple of experienced Australian crew in Victorian Glenn Ferguson, Matt Drake and Campbell James.

Neville Crichton, recently awarded the Sir Bernard Fergusson Trophy as the new Yachting New Zealand Sailor of the Year following his many wins in Australia and internationally over the last 12 months, makes a welcome return to Farr 40 racing after an 18-month absence.

His maxi Alfa Romeo has won every Rolex sponsored sailing event in the last year, the most recent being the Rolex Middle Sea Race.

Current leader on the Australian Farr 40 circuit point score, Marcus Blackmore and his successful crew on Emotional Hooligan, along Lang Walker’s Kokomo, will also race the Rolex Trophy series along with Rob Skinner’s Weapon and Dick Voorderhake’s Rapscallion.

Two regattas remain on the Farr 40 circuit pointscore, the Joico Regatta and the Rosemount Farr 40 National Championship, both to be conducted in March 2004.

The Joico Regatta will follow the Alfa Romeo Twilight Series that will be sailed over four evenings in late February and used for training for the final two regattas of the year.

Current positions in the Farr 40 Australian circuit point score:

1 M.Blackmore 10

2 R.Perini 12

3 R.Skinner 13

4 L.Walker 13

5 S.Ellis 15

6 D.Voorderhake 25

7 D.McDonald 29

8 S.O'Rourke 37

9 K.Miller 39

10 M.Allen 48

11 P.Hyland 49

12 W.Weickmann 51

13 T.DeMulder 52