Australians lead Farr 40 Pre-Worlds after day one

by Dana Paxton on 2 Sep 2006
At the end of the first day of the Belle Mer Farr 40 Pre-Worlds, it was the defending World Champion from Australia, Richard Perini and his Evolution that held a one-point lead over the 2004 World Champion, local sailor Jim Richardson and his team on the brand-new Barking Mad.

However, no one team dominated the day, with Evolution leading on scores of 25 points (3-16-6) and Barking Mad on 26 points (18-1-7) and no one is any clearer about who will win the forthcoming Rolex Farr 40 World Championship.

The moderate wind blew from the east on Rhode Island Sound today, an unusual direction for the area, and there were many different teams who made an appearance at the front of the 38-boat fleet.

In the first race, Prince Frederick, HRH Crown Prince of Denmark steered Nanoq into the lead, with Eivind Astrup's Norwegian Steam close astern. The two Scandinavian teams broke away from the pack, with the Norwegians eventually usurping the Danes for a surprise victory. Evolution climbed through the fleet to third.

The next race saw another surprise leader with Jeff Siegal winning the pin end of the start line on Appreciation and converting that advantage into a good lead over the pack, with just Barking Mad in contention. These two sailed out to an enormous lead, but down the final run Richardson engaged the leader in a gybing duel that saw Barking Mad snatch a last-gasp victory by mere inches from Appreciation.

Deneen Demourkas did a great stand-in helming job aboard Takashi Okura's Japanese boat Sled, picking her way through the fleet to finish third in this race, relegating Helmut Jahn's Flash Gordon to fourth place.

After two races, only two boats had scored inside the top 10 on both occasions, with two fourth places giving Flash Gordon a significant lead at this stage.

However Flash Gordon couldn't get off the start line cleanly for the last race, and only managed a 21st. Ernesto Bertarelli had had similar problems in the previous starts, but this time he steered Alinghi nicely off the middle of the crowded start line and sailed the Swiss boat out to a very comfortable lead which he would hold to the finish.

Bertarelli isn't the only Ernesto who is beginning to make his presence felt in Newport.

Tropical storm Ernesto has been tearing its way up the east coast of the USA and tomorrow the forecast is for winds of 25-35 knots, gusting to 40 at times with 6-8 foot seas. With that sort of forecast there may not be many teams prepared to head out into boat-breaking weather just days before the Worlds begins.

If there is no racing tomorrow, teams will spend more time analyzing today's three races to feed into their game plan for the Rolex Farr 40 Championship which begins on Wednesday, September 6.

Australian Rob Brown, calling tactics on today's winning boat Evolution, commented: 'The pleasing part of the day was getting off the line in good shape. We were pretty good around the course too, but it's so easy to make mistakes out there. This type of racing is all about trying to eliminate the mistakes. A little bit of fortune can go a long way in this kind of regatta, but whoever wins this World Championship is going to thoroughly deserve it.'

Social activities for the Rolex Farr 40 Championship will take place at New York Yacht Club's Newport clubhouse Harbour Court, Belle Mer, and culminate at the Rolex Awards Party, held at the historic Gilded Age mansion Marble House on Bellevue Avenue.

During the Belle Mer Farr 40 Pre-Worlds and Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, Belle Mer will host competitors and officials taking part in both events as the Regatta Village. Over the 11 days the venue will be the central location for the daily social events in the Farr 40 Lounge, the Media Center, and serve as a home away from home to over 400 competitors from 12 countries across the globe including the Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, the U.K., the U.S., and Switzerland.

The Rolex Farr 40 World Championship is in its ninth year and will celebrate its 10th anniversary in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007. The World Championship has been sailed in North America, Europe or Australia every year since the class was established in 1997. The Rolex Farr 40 World Championship joins other prestigious Rolex-sponsored 2006 events including the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Swan Cup, Rolex Big Boat Series and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Overall top 10 (38 entries) - Friday, September 01, 2006 :

Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, R1-R2-R3, Total points
1. Evolution, Richard Perini, Sydney, AUS, 3-16-6, 25 points
2. Barking Mad, James Richardson, Boston, Mass/Newport, RI, USA, 18-1-7, 26
3. Fresh Guidance, Simon Williams, Greenwich, Conn, USA, 7-9-10, 26
4. Flash Gordon, Helmet Jahn, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 4-4-21, 29
5. Warpath, Fred & Steve Howe, San Diego, Calif., USA , 14-7-8, 29
6. Heartbreaker, Robert Hughes, Ada, Mich., USA, 16-13-2, 31
7. Phish Food, Alexis Michas, New York, NY, USA, 9-14-9, 42
8. Ichi Ban, Matt Allen, Sydney, AUS, 5-25-3, 33
9. Alinghi, Ernesto Bertarelli, Valencia, ESP, 11-23-1, 35
10. Pegasus, Philippe Kahn, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 21-10-5, 36