 2006 Farr 40 New England Regatta FINAL RESULTS 2006  Jim Richardson's “Barking Mad” Wins Farr 40 New England Regatta August 13, 2006 NEWPORT – Newport, RI sailor Jim Richardson with Tactician Vince Brun of San Diego and their crew on “Barking Mad” decisively won the Farr 40 New England Regatta with ten points to spare. “Barking Mad” closed up the regatta with two fourth place finishes today in the last two races of three-day series. Helmsman Jim Richardson said, “this was a difficult regatta with all of the wind changes. We just concentrated on keeping on top of the many shifts to keep the boat going.” He also added, “It was very gratifying to win under such tricky conditions.” The first race of today was postponed by 20 minutes due to a finicky 8 knot northwesterly. The top three boats going into the last day of racing were “Ichi Ban,” the Australian boat with driven by Matt Allen and tactician Grant Simmer, leading by four points, “Barking Mad” and “Opus One,” with German Helmsman Wolfgang Stolz and tactician Tim Powell. “Barking Mad” and “Opus One” were also in a four-point spread for second and third place overall. At the first gun of the day, anxious boats over early included Italy’s “Mascalzone Latino” driven by Vincenzo Onorato with Kiwi tactician Russell Coutts, and “Le Renard” the Maryland entrant with Steve Phillips at the helm and Mark Reynolds of California calling tactics in the back. After a costly last place finish in that race, “Ichi Ban” could not hold onto the lead in the overall standings. Even though the crew aboard “Ichi Ban” dialed it up to capture a second place in the last race, the team finished second overall in the regatta. “Phish Food” helmed by Alexis Michas of New York City with tactics called by Stewart Neff of Marblehead, MA, grabbed the first mark easily and held on to the lead in the first race today up until the critical last quarter of a mile to the finish. “Kokomo” with Substitute Helmsman Leon Christianakis and Tactician Colin Beashel, both from Australia, carefully edged “Phish Food” out of the win on the downwind finish leg and snatched first place. Not far behind “Phish Food” was “Fresh Guidance,” the CT-based boat with Helmsman Simon Williams and New Zealander Cameron Appleton calling tactics and surpassing “Barking Mad” to take third place. During the last race of the series, the breeze continued to march left of the course. During the first leg, the wind shifted fifteen degrees. At the next mark, the wind had shifted another fifteen degrees to the left. By the finish leg, the wind had gone an additional thirty degrees to the left amounting to a staggering 60 degree overall wind shift from the start to the finish line in that race. The Race committee worked quickly to adjust the course in the shifty conditions. Mark changes were made at every rounding mark of the four-leg, eight-mile race. “Nerone” worked quickly to adjust to the shifting conditions and they led the fleet at the windward mark, the bottom gate and again at the second windward rounding. “Nerone” finished the race first by an impressive seven minute lead over the second place boat “Ichi Ban.” The spectacular performance by Italian Helmsman Massimo Mezzaroma and tactician Lorenzo Bressani with their crew on “Nerone” moved them from seventh to fifth overall, but not enough to place in the top three overall. The standings finished with “Nerone” winning the tiebreaker for fifth place over “Twins” with the French team of Helmsman Erik Maris and Tactician Philippe Mourniac. Final standings after winner “Barking Mad” included “Ichi Ban” with 56 points in second place and “Pegasus” with 60 points who was awarded the third place trophy. Philippe Kahn’s “Pegasus” was driven by substitute helmsman Terry Mclaughlin of Canada and tactician Chris Larson. Next up for the Farr 40s is the pre-word and world championship scheduled for September 1-2 and 6-9 in Newport. “Ichi Ban” Grasps Second Day Lead at New England Farr 40 Regatta Report: Prior to protest results. NEWPORT, RI – Challenging conditions prevailed for the second day of the 2006 Farr 40 New England Regatta. PRO Peter Reggio and the Race Management Team from Sail Newport battled the oscillating northerly breeze and were able to complete three races, bringing the series total to seven. Today’s race course was located approximately two miles southeast of Brenton Point. The 20-boat fleet sailed in a shifty North-Northwesterly breeze that ranged from 5 – 14 knots throughout the day. Matt Allen of Sydney, Australia and helmsman of “Ichi Ban” said “today’s conditions were good, but very tricky.” He added, “Finding the pressure vanes moving down the course, while working towards the edges was the key to getting into the top of the fleet.” This strategy proved to work well as “Ichi Ban” captured two second place finishes to help move them into first place for the day. Race one of the day got off to a jumpy start with “Heartbreaker,” “Ichi Ban” and “Opus One” over the line early. This turned out to be a critical moment in the regatta as “Ichi Ban” was able to salvage the race by finding the pressure and sailing through the fleet to an impressive second place finish. Day 1 leader “Opus One” failed to recover from the costly mistake and took a tenth place for the race. Phillipe Khan’s “Pegasus” with tactician Chris Larson sailed to an early lead and extended throughout the race to take the win. In race two of the day, helmsman Erik Maris along with tactician Phillipe Mourniac aboard “Twins” took first place after handling the shifty breeze that resulted in one change of course. “Ichi Ban” sailed smartly and captured another second place finish. The final race of the day featured the most consistent northwesterly breeze of the day but had seven boats over early. The aggressive over early group once again included “Opus One.” However, helmsman Wolfgang Stolz sailed fast in the steady conditions and finished fourth. Winning the race was “Nerone” with helmsman Massimo Mezzarona and Lorenzo Bressani both from Rome, Italy. The second day of racing concluded with “Ichi Ban” in first place, “Barking Mad” four points back in second place with 38 total points and “Opus One” in third with 42 points. The regatta will conclude on Sunday with two final races scheduled to be started offshore. -0- German Team "Opus One" Leads New England Farr 40 Regatta Report (8/11/06): Prior to Protest Results NEWPORT, RI - The sailing conditions couldn't get much better than in Newport today as nineteen Farr 40s completed four races on the first day of racing in the 2006 Farr 40 New England Regatta presented by Rolex. Sail Newport provided race management with PRO Peter Reggio. The race course was located about two miles southeast of Brenton Point. The picture-perfect day included a 12 knot Northerly and moderate one to two-foot seas. The Northerly breeze stayed surprisingly steady throughout the day which enabled the fleet complete four races. Three races were four-leg contests and a fourth race capped off the spectacular New England sailing day with an upwind finish and return to NewportHarbor. Race one today began with three over early boats including "Twins," "Temptress" and "Flash Gordon 5." Jeffrey Siegal (Riverside, CT) and his crew on "Appreciation" was first to round the windward mark and kept up his lead in the next three legs to take first place. The Australian team lead by Matt Allen on "Ichi Ban" with Tactician Grant Zimmer finished a very close second and the Italian Team of Massimo Messarona and Lorenzo Bressani onboard "Nerone" captured third place. In Race two, twice as many boats jumped the starting gun and had to return to the start line. "Opus One" was one of the half dozen to take the tough setback. However, Helmsman Wolfgang Stolz and tactician Tim Powell steered the boat to climb back up in the fleet to surpass twelve boats for a seventh place finish. It proved a valuable comeback as the German Team ended up in first place after day one with 17 points. Stolz said after the day's racing, "We had terrific conditions today, and we were extremely pleased with the consistent weather and crew performance." Stolz reported that "Opus" is a brand new boat which was built by Portsmouth, RI boat manufacturer U.S. Watercraft and launched only four days ago in Newport, RI. "More often than not, our new boat was able to go higher on the other boats," He added. After suffering a first race over early start, the French boat "Twins" made a clean start in race 2. The "Twins" crew dialed up the speed on the boat early with Erik Maris at the helm and Tactician Phillippe Mourniac and won. Finishing in second place was "Flash Gordon 5" a Chicago, IL boat with the helm team of Helmut and Evan Jahn and tactician Mark Ivey. The crew onboard 'Heartbreaker" finished behind "Flash Gordon 5" with Helmsman Robert Hughes and Tactician Bill Hardesty, both of Ada, Mich. In Race 3 today, Newport sailor and frequent Farr 40 victor, Jim Richardson, got his boat in place and out front early. By the gate, "Barking Mad" was in the lead and held on to first place until the finish. Richardson tapped San Diego sailor Vince Brun as tactician and "Barking Mad" squeezed out "Opus One" which took second place in that race. Third place went to Philippe Kahn's Hawaiian boat "Pegasus" with helmsman Terry McGlaughlin. In Race four, Team "Nerone" won its first race of the day, followed by "Barking Mad" and "Opus One." The day concludes with "Opus One" in first place and "Barking Mad" only one point behind in second position with 18 points. In third place is "Ichi Ban" with 23 points and two days of racing yet to determine the final standings. PRO Peter Reggio reports that this regatta is a testing ground for the suspension of RRS 42 which prohibits pumping at will on downwind legs. The Race Committee suspended the rule for the first two of the four races today. The first two races had a bit more pressure so pumping was allowed. In the final two races, the breeze had slighted abated, so the Rule was left in effect. The verdict is still out on waiving RRS 42 as today's racing had fairly flat water in the offshore breeze. -0- |