Perini wins 2006 Hamilton Island Farr 40 Australia

by Sam Crichton on 5 Mar 2006 Richard Perini has won the title of Hamilton Island Farr 40 Australian Champion for the second year in a row. Perini’s scorecard of 5,1,1,2,1,2,1,1, 2 shows the consistent sailing of his world champion crew onboard Evolution over the last three days.

Going into day three Perini’s Evolution led Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban by six points with Ray Roberts’ Quantum Racing a further seven points back in third.

Racing commenced off Sydney’s Palm Beach under grey skies in a ten knot sou’ east breeze as the deciding day of racing was played out. The lumpy seaway from the two previous days racing flattened out to provide optimum sailing conditions for the fleet.

In Race seven of the series the fleet was away with a clean start. On the second leg of the race, the race committee had to change the course to the left as the breeze swung back towards the east. Series leader Perini established a good lead to take the win, with Allen holding off Lang Walker’s Kokomo, to take second and Walker the third place. Brett Neill's White Cloud improved from an initial eighth place to cross the line in fourth.

As the skies cleared race eight was underway and once Perini moved into first on the first downwind leg he then led the fleet around the course. Leon Christianakis’ Cydon showed signs of their day one performance to finish in second place with Michael Milne’s Blacksnake appearing in the top three again.

Racing was extremely close with the race committee having to keep a very close eye on a number of very close finishers. 'We’re really pleased with our first and third day results. The crew work has been fantastic and the team is really coming together. Today we managed to recover from dead last to fourth over the line so we know we have the boat speed now we have to iron out the small problems,' commented Christianakis dockside.

The final race of the series and Roberts manoeuvred to the front of the pack to lead them around the course for the last time. Perini sat on his stern for the entire race to cross the line in second while Allen improved his first mark rounding position of fourth to finish in third. 'I’m really proud of my team and the supreme effort they have put it in. To be able to sail with the same team who won the worlds and go back now and defend is fantastic', said title winner Perini.

The crew onboard the winning boat Evolution are Hamish Pepper, Darren Jones, Jason Rowed, Peter Ryan, Trax Gordon, Chris Cook, Michael Dunstan, Nick Cleary and Tristan Eldershaw. The 13 boat fleet racing over the last three days has had representatives from New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.

The winner of the Australian Farr 40 Circuit point score for 2005-2006 is Richard Perini with Ray Roberts taking second and third place going to Lang Walker. Perini has now won the Australian Farr 40 Circuit for the last three consecutive years.

Final Results Hamilton Island Farr 40 Australian Championship 2006

1 Evolution Richard Perini RSYS 16
2 Ichi Ban Matt Allen CYCA 31
3 Quantum Racing Ray Roberts CYCA 43
4 Cydon Leon Christianakis RSYS 46
5 Kokomo Lang Walker CYCA 56
6 Blacksnake Michael Milne CYCA 58
7 Rushcutter Don Telford CYCA 58
8 Sputnik Ivan Wheen RSYS 59
9 White Cloud Brett Neill RNZYS 65
10 Panther Steve O’Rourke CYCA 79
11 War Games David Urry CYCSA 92
12 Eurocentral Hughie Lewis RYCT 105
13 Short Shipped Matthew Short CYCA 112

Farr 40 Australian Point Score Circuit 2005-2006 (top five):
1 Richard Perini 9
2 Ray Roberts 18
3 Lang Walker 20
4 Leon Christianakis 26
5 Don Telford 30

The Farr 40 Australian class would like to thank regatta sponsor Hamilton Island and the sponsors who have supported the class over the 2005-2006 class season. Also to be thanked for this event is host club Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and their race management team and staff.