Farr 40 OD start at Sailing South Regatta

by Peter Campbell on 20 Dec 2007 The five Farr 40 One Design yachts now racing on Hobart’s Derwent River will clash for the first time in a regatta when they contest the Huon Aquaculture Sailing South Regatta from 3-5 January 2008.

The regatta committee last night agreed to give the Farr 40s a group start, separate from starts for the IRC, PHS Divisions 1 and 2 and the Under 8m division.

The regatta committee also announced Huon Aquaculture, which farms Atlantic salmon south of Hobart, as the major sponsor for the 2008 event, with Mariner Boating Holidays a supporting sponsor for the regatta as well as the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s twilight series from 17 January to 30 March.

The close boat-for-boat racing between these high-performance Farr 40s is certain to be a highlight of Sailing South, although the IRC division is expected to be keenly contested by local and mainland boats racing to Hobart from Melbourne and Sydney.

The Farr 40s are one of the world’s most prestigious one-design classes, being an ‘owner-driver’ class with crew restrictions on professional sailors. The five Farr 40s racing in Hobart are:
- Eurocentral, skippered by Hughie Lewis from Bellerive Yacht Club;
- POW, owned by Craig Clifford, Richard Fader and Michael Cooper, from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania;
- War Games, skippered by Wayne Banks-Smith, RYCT;
- Wired, skippered by Stephen Boyes, RYCT;
- Voodoo Chile, owned by Andrew Hunn and Lloyd Clark.

Interstate entries already received include last year’s IRC winner Limit (ex Flirt) now owned by West Australian Alan Brierty, who this week was named the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Ocean Racing Rookie of the Year. His sailing master is expat Tasmanian Roger Hickman who has competed in every Sailing South since its inception.

Also entered are the Farr 53 Georgia, owned by wellknown Victorian yachtsmen John Williams and Graeme Ainley, and the Sydney 47 Endorfin, to be skippered by David Kellett, another longtime supporter of Sailing South.

Other interstate boats are expected when entries close on 30 December.