BYC Farr 40 Pennant - A close one indeed

by Peter Campbell on 21 Mar 2011 Bellerive Yacht Club Farr 40 Pennant - Obviously, racing in the Farr 40 class is most always close however, deciding the winner of BYC 40 class pennant for the season last Saturday really did come down to the wire for Stephen Boyes and his crew of Wired.

When the small but highly competitive fleet lined up for the final two races of the season at Bellerive, either Wired and Andrew Hunn’s Voodoo Chile could have taken out the pennant.

War Games, helmed by Wayne Banks-Smith, kept the series open by winning the first race from Wired and Hughie Lewis’ Tilford Auto Group, re-named and in new livery.

However, in race two, Boyes steered the red-hulled Wired to a decisive victory from Tilford Auto Group, with Hunn placing third, the result being that Voodoo Chile and Wired were equal on 11 points.

This left Bellerive Yacht Club officials having to decide the pennant on a countback of placings. The count back of first places failed to break the tie, nor did the countback of second or third placings.

In the end, the pennant went to the boat with the best result in the final race on Saturday, with Wired notching up a first to Voodoo Chile’s third placing. Third overall was Tilford Auto Group.

Saturday’s final pennant at Bellerive Yacht Club decided the AMS inshore championship and the pennants in the Half Ton, nine meter, Division Two, Division Three and the Cruising division.

The Division One fleet sailed to windward/leeward races when racing finally got underway in a light seven to ten knot breeze that swung between south-east and south-west after a delay of more than an hour because of lack of wind.

Harold Clark’s Farr 1104 Invincible won both races on AMS handicap to win the pennant and the AMS inshore championship for Division One boats

Tony Harman’s 11-meter Morgan design, Masquerade, won the final race to win Division Two of the AMS inshore championship but had to be content with second place to The Saint (John Lewis and Nick Broadbent) in the Division Two AMS pennant – the margin was just one point. The PHS pennant for Division Two went to Miss Conduct (Brian Fleming)

In the Half Ton division, David Wyatt’s Silicon Ship finished second in the final race but took out the pennant. In the nine meter division, the syndicate-owned Wild Fire won both races on Saturday but the pennant went Stewart Geeves’ Young 88 Footloose with a second and fourth on the final day.

In Division Three, the pennant went to Octopussy, skippered by Danny Cunningham.

In the Cruising division, Mike Brazendale’s Jelly Roll finished second in the final race to win the pennant, with Vite (Bob Wilson) winning the final race.

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