Farr 40 One Design Trophy at Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club - Day 1
by Jennie Hughes 1 Dec 2018 03:00 PST
1-2 December 2018
The first four races of the Farr 40 One Design Trophy hosted by Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club took place today off Mereweather Beach and Boat of the Day went to Jeff Carter's Edake having scored two bullets and two fourth places.
It's been a big season of Farr 40 sailing for Jeff Carter, who recently returned from the Farr 40 Worlds in Chicago and rarely misses a regatta on the Australian circuit. "It's a huge commitment. The hardest thing about being Corinthian is organising the crew, boat transfers and equipment servicing but days like today make it all worthwhile."
The day didn't start as well as it finished for Carter who lost his famous grey Ozhat in the water at the NCYC dock this morning. "My hat was sinking and I had to save it, so I had no option but to jump in fully clothed and rescue it. I turned up to the Skipper briefing looking like a wet t-shirt contestant."
On today's racing Carter added, "The racing today was very close. It was critical to get a good start and to have slick crew work. Harry Price has joined our team this weekend as tactician. Harry is moving up the world rankings in match racing and said he really enjoyed the closeness of the Farr 40 racing."
Tom Quick and the Outlaw team are on joint points with Edake in second place and Melbourne team Nutcracker are closely following in third.
Race Officer Ted Anderson and his wonderful team of volunteers enjoyed the day. "We had a slow start. The breeze was 160 from the time we got out there. As soon as the boats arrived, it clocked left for an hour or so. We had a couple of changes of course and ended up with some good racing. Anderson continued, "Tomorrow's forecast shows temps over 30 degrees, so we will start early and go for as many races as we can".
The Class would like to thank Andrew Miller for stepping in as Substitute Helmsman for Gordon Ketelbey on Zen. Miller put together a very last minute team of youngsters, including his son and others whom had not sailed on a Farr 40 before. Andrew and the team had a great day and enjoyed some Farr 40 hospitality at the regatta party at NCYC this evening.
Full results available here: www.farr40.asn.au/results