Australian Farr 40's set to sprint

by Sam Crichton on 13 Feb 2008 The annual Farr 40 Sprint Series regatta being hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia this weekend February 16 and 17 will be used as a warm up event for the upcoming 2008 Hamilton Island Farr 40 Australian Championship. Ten teams from New South Wales, Queensland and New Zealand will race on a course that is a windward leeward sprint one nautical mile in length.

The race course will be outside Sydney Heads on Saturday and inside the iconic Sydney Harbour on Sunday and it will be intense racing with four races scheduled for each day. Crews in the past have commented this is one of the most exciting class regattas as it is close one design racing at a fast pace over the short course.

After five regattas in the 2007-08 Australian circuit completed, the current leader is Martin Hill on 17 points with Guido Belgiorno Nettis in second on 21 points and 2006-07 circuit winner and 2007 Australian Farr 40 Champion Lang Walker in third on 22 points.

Joining the Australian Farr 40 fleet for the first time will be two new owners and teams, Queenslander Russell McCart's Night Nurse and from Sydney Graeme Wood's Wot Now.

'We're excited and delighted to be joining the fleet in Sydney and looking forward to a couple of weekends of good racing on the harbour. Hopefully it will be better weather than what we've had up here lately. We have a couple of Farr 40s up in Queensland now and hopefully will have some class racing in Brisbane soon', said McCart from Brisbane today.

Three of the teams racing this weekend, Marcus Blackmore's Hooligan, Lang Walker's Kokomo and Lisa and Martin Hill's Estate Master, will take advantage of the second last 2007-08 Australian Farr 40 circuit event to work on crew work skills as they prepare to represent Australia in Miami in April at the 2008 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship.

2008 Farr 40 Sprint Series Entry List

Boat Name	Sail #	Skipper	Yacht Club
Estate Master	615	Lisa and Martin Hill	MHYC
Hooligan	5077	Marcus Blackmore	RPAYC
Kokomo	8883	Lang Walker	CYCA
Night Nurse	9009	Russell McCart	RQYS
Orion	6038	Michael Blumentals	CYCA
Revolution Edake	51408	Jeff Carter	MHYC
Sputnik	5868	Ivan Wheen	RSYS
Transfusion	6422	Guido Belgiorno Nettis	MHYC
White Cloud	40063	Brett Neill	RNZYS
Wot Now	6508	Graeme Wood	CYCA