1   LIVING DOLL             Farr 55      Michael Hiatt        19.0     2.0     2.0     1.0     3.0     2.0     1.0     7.0       [8.0]     1.0
2   EVOLUTION RACING    Cookson 50 Ray Roberts         25.0     1.0     4.0     6.0     1.0     4.0     2.0     3.0       4.0     [7.0]
3   WOT NOW                 TP 52        Graeme Wood      31.0     3.0     5.0     2.0     5.0     1.0     [8.0]   5.0      7.0A     3.0
4    LIMIT                              RP 63        Alan Brierty           33.0     5.0      1.0      4.0      7.0      3.0      9.0       1.0        3.0      [9.0]
5   SCARLET RUNNER       Farr 52      RobertDate          35.0     4.0     8.0     7.0     4.0     5.0     [10.0]  4.0       1.0     2.0
6   WILD JOE                 RP 60        Steven David       48.0     6.0     7.0     [10.0]     8.0     6.0     5.0   6.0       5.0     5.0
7   SHOGUN                  Cookson 50 Robert Hanna       50.0     10.0     6.0     3.0     2.0     8.0     3.0     9.0       9.0     [10.0]
8   LOKI                       RP 63        Stephen Ainsworth 50.0     8.0     3.0     [9.0]     6.0     7.0     6.0    8.0       6.0     6.0
9   BLACK JACK             RP 66        Peter Harburg       54.0     7.0     9.0     5.0     10.0     10.0     7.0    2.0      [10.0]     4.0
10  WILD OATS X           RP 66        Bob Oatley          59.0     9.0     10.0     8.0     9.0     9.0     4.0     [10.0]     2.0     8.0 

Tremendous racing conditions with a building Mistral and a lumpy sea, made worse by the constant attention of the spectator fleet. Porto Cervo laid it on thick and the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds 2009 delivered. None more so than the new World Champions Barking Mad (USA) and runners up, Nerone (ITA).

Two races were sailed in winds from the northwest that gusted to the mid-twenties and stretched the already tired crews on the last day of competition. The scene was fit for a Championship finale and the two leading contenders made sure the curtain did not fall on the regatta without a flourish from those on stage. Nerone put her marker down to win the first race of the day and set up a winner takes all, second and final race - the tenth in this intensely fought series. Mascalzone Latino, the three times World Champions won the race, but the all-too significant result was Jim Richardson and Barking Mad crossing the line ahead of Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone to secure the title for a third time. The first time an American boat has won outside of their home waters.

The day was all about who would cope best with the pressure. Without question both the two leading teams wanted the win desperately. Even Joe Fly (ITA) - runners-up in 2008 - could not be discounted. A sixteen-point gap to the front could easily be bridged if those ahead failed to keep their heads to the end.

Nerone went out all guns blazing. Once again she took the left side of the course popping out from the pin; tactician Vasco Vascotto relying on his vast experience in these waters to take the initiative early, “I've sailed here for twenty years and usually with these kind of conditions you need to go left.” He could not have been more right. First to the windward mark, Nerone led around the track to win from Giovanni Maspero's Joe Fly and Helmut Jahn's Flash Gordon (USA). Barking Mad, meanwhile, had opted for the centre and according to Richardson, things did not go as well as intended, “the first race today we probably started a little too conservatively and got in a bad spot, in too close to another boat. We had to do a clearing tack, and then got tacked on a few times, and we were deep for a while.”

These are the moments that championships are won and lost. Rounding the top mark mid-fleet, the American crew may have briefly wondered if this was the regatta slipping away from them.

But Richardson and crew had a game plan and were not about to give up on it just yet, as Hutchinson chips in, “without question we felt we could win going into the start of the week. But feeling it and doing it are two completely different things. When we lined up on the first day we had a mode that we have not had in a while. We had a game plan of being safe and the mantra all week on the boat was that we just want to get on base, we didn't want to hit any home runs, just keep getting on base and advancing the runners.” To get back 'on base' in this race was going to take some effort.

If doubts were creeping-in none were shown. “We showed a lot of fortitude to sail back through the fleet to finish sixth which kept us one point in the lead,” said a relieved Richardson.

The minds of both crews must have been buzzing heading to the start of the final deciding race and Mezzaroma takes up the story, “for the last race we were one point behind and the game was who came home in front would win the Worlds. It rarely happens in sailing and after nine races with 250 points that you could gain or lose, just one point between us was very exciting.”

Again, it was all down to keeping one's head and applying the game plan. Nerone headed left once more. Mezzaroma confirmed their strategy did not change because of their relative position to the leader, “we were one point behind and were not in a position to control them. So we had to make our own race.” On Barking Mad, the lure of the left was not so strong. This was a conservative crew after all…

According to Richardson, immediately before the start, “we just looked at each other and said this is why we're here. We're here for an opportunity to win the regatta on the last race. What more could you want.” Any self-doubts were kept private, though post-race Richardson confessed to some troubled thoughts, “I never doubted my team's capability. But leading wire-to-wire puts a little bit of extra pressure on each and every race. In 1999, we led going into the last race and ended up third, so that was in the back of my mind. I felt pretty comfortable that we were going to be able to get a good start in the race and get around the course in good shape. We certainly weren't giving up. We knew we had our hands full, but we knew we had to sail well and that is what we did.”

As the initial beat unwound, the crew of Barking Mad found themselves in second place, hot on the heels of Alessandro Barnaba's Fiamma (ITA) and overtaking them at the offset mark with a textbook spinnaker hoist. Those watching the racing started counting back to Nerone. The left had clearly not paid. In fact, it had bitten the Italian crew hard. The miraculous recovery of the previous day that kept them in the hunt was going to have to be repeated. That was a Herculian task. Barking Mad were not sailing as though their lives depended on it, they did not need to. They just needed to keep between Nerone and the finish, as Hutchinson explained, “the team responded brilliantly. We got a great start. We got a little break from Plenty, who let us tack across them. From there it was into a good lead and extend. Fortunately Nerone was back. They gained on us on the second beat, but we were safe down at the bottom mark. At that point it was about minimising damage and sailing a good clean race through to the finish.”

With Barking Mad home and dry in second, the finish of Nerone was immaterial, although eighth was good enough to hold onto the runner's-up position overall.

A feature of the Farr 40 fleet is the friendly rivalry between crews on and off the water. Vascotto and Hutchinson have been adversaries for many years, but they found time to speak this morning before heading onto the course, as Hutchinson remarks, “I saw Vasco this morning and we chatted for a couple of minutes. Nobody was around and it was a nice time to talk.” And, it is evident that the competitors hold each other in a regard rarely seen in other sports. “Sailing against somebody like Vasco makes you a better sailor and we hold the highest respect for that team,” he adds.

Both Hutchinson and Richardson knew they had been engaged in a battle royal. When they last won in San Francisco it was by 40-points. Mezzaroma echoed the quality of the contest, “it was a great competition sailing against all these good crews, these good boats. It is the key of the Farr 40. The level is always so high, it becomes higher and higher every year.” Vascotto, too, was gracious in defeat, “I think we did a fantastic championship: three firsts, two seconds, two eighths - usually you win with these kind of results! This time we found in front of us Barking Mad, sailed in a perfect way. We tried our best, but this is sport.”

For Richardson, it is a dream come true, “We're very, very happy. Coming to Italy and winning this World Championship in Porto Cervo is an amazing feeling for us. There are so many good teams out there, particularly the Italians and to be able to win in their home waters is a great thrill for us.

We tried to stay calm all week. It's easy to get too wound up and too hyped up. Our basic philosophy throughout the regatta was not to take chances, or take risks. If necessary we ducked boats rather than try to force an issue. Our point-score is a tribute to how well we sailed the boat, without taking any risks. Our worst race was a sixth and that is pretty good.” He is not kidding, no previous winner of the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds has averaged less than four points for the Championship. As Vascotto pointed out, even Nerone's score would have won in all previous years.

For Vincenzo Onorato, the outgoing, three-time (in a row) World Champion, who laughingly remarked that his last race this year was the first race of his 2010 Rolex Farr 40 Worlds campaign, this was “a wonderful story for the Class.”

After four days of competition, played out in an exceptional venue, we'll allow the winners to sum it up: “there's nothing better than this, that's for sure!”

1st - BARKING MAD - Jim Richardson - USA   

2nd - NERONE - Massimo Mezzaroma - ITALY    

3rd - JOE FLY - Giovanni Maspero - ITALY    

4th - MASCALZONE LATINO - Vincenzo Onorato - ITALY    

5th - FLASH GORDON - Helmut Jahn - USA    

6th - PLENTY - Alex Roepers - USA    

7th - TWINS - Erik Maris - FRANCE   

8th - TRANSFUSION - Guido Belgiorno-Nettis - AUSTRALIA    

9th - ESTATE MASTER - Lisa & Martin Hil - AUSTRALIA

10th - TWT - Marco Rodolfi - ITALY

11th - MONICK - David Holm - DENMARK

12th - CALVI NETWORK - Carlo Alberini - ITALY

13th - FIAMMA - Alessandro Barnaba - ITALY

14th - GOOMBAY SMASH - William Douglass - USA

15th - NANOQ - HRH Crown Prince Frederik - DENMARK

16th - KOKOMO - Lang Walker - AUSTRALIA

17th - ENFANT TERRIBLE - Alberto Rossi - ITALY

18th - STRUNTJE LIGHT - Wolfgang Schaeffer - GERMANY

19th - GOOD FELLAS - Ettore Morace - ITALY

20th - ATALANTI - Stratis Andreadis - GREECE

21st - ALEPH - Hughes Lepic - GBR

22nd - MANGUSTA RISK - Andrea Canavesio - ITALY

23rd - ARCTUR - Vasyl Guryev - UKRAINE

24th - VANITAS CUBE - Martin Strobel - SWITZERLAND

25th - HOOLIGAN VI - Edward Broadway - GBR

 Guy Stening and his team including Tom Slingsby, Darren "twirler" Jones, Paul Wyatt, Tristran Eldershaw, Abby Ehler and Curtis Florence have claimed the 2009 Farr 30 Australian Championship title for the second consecutive year.

The current world champion had the regatta won before the final race of the series and headed back to shore early to begin the celebration.

The regatta was held on the waters of Moreton and Waterloo Bays east of Brisbane at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (RQYS) based at Manly.

'The standard of racing has been very competitive, close and fast which always makes for a great regatta,' said Stening.

'Thanks must go RQYS’s team of volunteers and Denis Thompson for running doing a sterling job out on the water.

'I’ve sailed all over the world and the facilities and infrastructure at RQYS are state-of-the-art. Having a motel on location certainly made logistics easy and the regatta less stressful. We will definitely be back racing here again in the future,' continued Stening.

This was the first time the Australian Championship has been held outside of Victoria and New South Wales with the Queensland sailors securing third, forth and fifth overall.

Three times Australian Champion Bruce Eddington (K2) finished second just one point behind Optimum due to the series having all 10 races count towards the overall result. This is the second year in a row Eddington has finished behind Stening and Optimum.

'This has been a fantastic regatta and the race committee need to be congratulated for hosting a great regatta. Like Guy, we certainly want to race on these waters again soon,' said Eddington.

Today’s forecast was an increase on the previous days with gusts of 26 knots hitting the fleet. The crew work was at a premium for the short sharp courses the race committee set to finish off the regatta.

Over the three day regatta the conditions were considered 'perfect' by the sailors. Consistent wind angles and pressure ensured racing was about skill and determination and not cast by the hand of Hughie’s whim.

'There were dicing moves by some of the boats with plenty happening on board at each mark rounding. The wind and swell made for some great spectator highlights,' said PRO Denis Thompson.

Third overall was RQYS sailor Colin Loel and his Asterix crew.

'I’m puffed!' said Loel. 'I’m stoked with our result, but am really glad it’s done.'

While Optimum, K2, Rumbo, Don’t Tell Mumm and GOA pack their boats, Asterix, Immigrant and Synergy are preparing for the Queensland IRC Championships which are being held at RQYS next weekend the 28/29 March.

 

                                              Total      R10      R9       R8        R7       R6       R5       R4        R3       R2       R1       

1    Optimum    Guy Stening        19.00     9.00S    1.00     1.00     1.00     1.00     1.00     1.00     2.00     1.00     1.00
2    K2             Bruce Eddington   20.00     1.00     2.00     4.00     2.00     2.00     2.00     2.00     1.00     2.00     2.00
3    Asterix       Colin Loel           36.00     3.00     4.00     2.00     3.00     5.00     5.00     3.00     4.00     4.00     3.00
4    Synergy      Alex Douglas       43.00     2.00     3.00     7.00     5.00     4.00     4.00     6.00     5.00     3.00     4.00
5    GOA          Chris Tyquin        46.00     7.00     5.00     3.00     4.00     3.00     3.00     4.00     3.00     9.00F     5.00
6    Rumbo       Clark Holbert       60.00     5.00     7.00     5.00     8.00     6.00     6.00     5.00     6.00     6.00     6.00
7    Don't Tell   Gary Hobson        65.00     4.00     6.00     6.00     7.00     8.00     8.00     7.00     7.00     5.00     7.00
8    Immigrant  Jeffery Paul         73.00     6.00     8.00     8.00     6.00     7.00     7.00     8.00     8.00     7.00     8.00
 

 

 

 

After two days and eight races in wet and cold conditions on Sydney Harbour Ivan Wheen’s Sputnik has won the annual Farr 40 Sprint Series.  Both days of racing were intense with soggy and shifty conditions being served up on the iconic Sydney Harbour. The swell just inside Sydney Heads made  for tough tactical decisions on Saturday and the swinging breezes on Sunday created headaches for  the race committee.
 
“I wasn’t really sure how we would go this weekend but this win is because of my crew.  They did a fantastic job over two days of tough racing with every race close and hard work in the shifty and wet conditions,” said Wheen after racing.
 
After Saturdays four races it was extremely tight at the top of the leader board with Sputnik and Graeme Wood’s Wot For tied in first on 14 points and Lang Walker Kokomo and Guido Belgiorno Nettis’s Transfusion tied in second on 15 points. Lisa and Martin Hill’s Estate Master in finished day one in third place and Jeff Carter’s Edake was in fourth.   
 
Winning their first race in the Farr 40 class in race three of the series was Chris Way and Ian Burns' Easy Tiger II.  Easy Tiger II joined the Australian Farr 40 fleet in 2008 having a very successful track record in one design class racing in the Mumm 30 and Sydney 38 classes.
 
The nine teams from New South Wales, Tasmania and New Zealand displayed fantastic crew work as they raced on a shortened race track for day two with the course being set amongst the busy harbour traffic on Sydney Harbour.  
 
Wot For took the gun for the first race of day two and New Zealander Brett Neill’s White Cloud sailed their best race for the series in race six to take the gun.  Estate Master pulled it all together for the final two races to win both as the breeze built and swung through forty degrees on the compass.
 
After six regattas in the 2008-09 Australian Farr 40 Circuit Guido Belgiorno Nettis has moved into the lead on a count back from Lisa and Martin Hill.  All nine teams will be lining up again this weekend for the final event in the 2008-09 Australian circuit, the 2009 Hamilton Island Farr 40 Australian Championship which will be held February 20-22 and will be hosted by Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.   
 

 

 Results

Australia has a new sailing world champion as of two hours ago here in Newport.

Sydney’s Guy Stening and his team, consisting of Darren Jones (Mainsheet), Steve Maconaghy (Tactician), Tristram Eldershaw (Pitman), Curtis Florence (Bow), Steve Quigly (trim and strategy) and Tim Davis (trimmer), sailing aboard Optimum, won the event by four points from Jim Richardson’s talented team aboard Barking Mad.

Optimum went into the last day with a nine point advantage over Barking Mad, with Farr 40 legend Vincenzo Onarato in third place overall. Optimum’s advantage was due to some very steady and fast sailing over the previous three days of moderate to (very) fresh conditions.

For the three races on the last day, the race committee opted to race in the waters of Narraganset Bay, citing concerns over a left-over sea state from yesterday’s 30 knot winds. The racing too place in winds from the west quarter at 7-14 knots. Barking Mad, being a local boat exploited this oppurtunity to impressively claim three wins today, which saw them win the final four heats of the regatta. Optimum had a ten point day over the three races, which was enough to secure a very solid victory. It was a hard earnt win, with the difference in wind direction between max right and max left being eighty degrees over the course of the racing.

Asked of his expectations for the event, Stening commented 'We came here to win, no doubt about it. Our team has put a heap of work in since the last worlds, where we placed fourth. We are a very close team and we are absolutely over the moon at the moment. This is huge!'

Tactician Stephen McCongahy told Sail-World a few minutes ago 'We sailed conservatively today, We had really good starts and we did what we had to do. A few more grey hairs, but a great day and a great regatta. '

Race committees are often criticized for not running races in big breezes. PRO Peter Reggio sent the fleet up the bay today and managed to deliver two additional races in this World Championship.

The big breeze delivered a wild ride today in Newport as the fleet of M 30s battled to keep upright in steady 23 to 27 knot west-southwest winds. Reports of 30 knot gusts were affirmed throughout the day and boats that chose their fractional kites kept the most control. Teams choosing their masthead spinnakers were faster, but the speed was often costly resulting in multiple wipeouts on every downwind leg.

Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad proved once again they know how to handle the big breeze, posting finishes of 4th and 1st to take Boat of the Day honors.

Due to a collision which resulted in damage to Australian Lewis Perrin’s Superfly at the start of today’s second race, Mascalzone Latino retired from Race 8 and would appear to be out of the running for the title of this no throw-out event. The regatta now seems to be Australian Guy Stening’s to lose. Stening is sure to be covering Richardson and Barking Mad tomorrow.

 Date: 01/10/2008