Rolex Farr 40 World Championship

by Susanah Bourne on 15 Sep 2001 A second successive wind for Ernesto Bertarelli
and his Swiss America's Cup squad aboard Alinghi kept him firmly on top of
the leader board after the 4th race of the Rolex Farr 40 World
Championship.

Bertarelli and his tactician Russell Coutts, sailed with flair and tenacity
carefully blended. The North West breeze was anything but stable in
strength and direction and the choice of the correct shift was of paramount
importance for ultimate success.

In view of the late start to enable the 22 competing teams the opportunity
to observe a 3 minute silence for the lives lost in the terrorist attack on
the Unites States, the Royal Yacht Squadron race committee decided to hold
the racing over short courses of 4 legs each of 1.6 miles. A change of
course because the wind had veered caused another delay and the delay was
further exascerbated by the fleet being early at the gun which necessitated
a general recall. Finally with an 'I' flag to require premature starters
to go round the end, the fleet was away although Tony Buckingham's A Bit of
a Coup and Renato Mazzeschi's Zzenzero were called back.

Boats on the right hand side of the course found better pressure but Dr
Wolfgang Schaefers' Struntje Light came from the middle to round the
windward mark in the lead, 30 seconds clear of Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone.

Early gybe's on the run, gybe sets even, found boats with a little more
speed from the extra pressure on the left side of the run and there were
many place changes. Tony de Mulder's Victric 5 rounded the leeward gate
just ahead of John Calvert-Jones' Southern Star.

On the next beat, Alinghi took over the lead from Victric 5 and while she
temporarily lost it on the run to the finish Coutts made the criticcal call
to gybe for the finish line at just the right time and sneaked in 10
seconds in front of Victric 5 with A Bit of Coup third, a good recovery
after being recalled at the start.

RESULTS FROM RACE 4

POSITION/BOATNAME/SAIL NO/POINTS

1/ALINGHI/USA51641/1.00
2/VICTRIC/GBR5R/2.00
3/SOUTHERN STAR/AUS1770/3.00
4/BARKING MAD/USA50955/4.00
5/TOO STEAMY/GBR1640R/5.00
6/WARLORD VII/GBR7400R/6.00