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The Fabulous 40s compiled by Bob Fisher. World Championship Farr one design yacht race sponsored by Rolex.
Citation preview
3
“The Farr 40 is a unique class. Unique in being One Design with the approved owner steering; unique in providing the thrill of exceptionally close world-class racing and unparalleled comradeship in spectacular
locations around the world.”
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
4
Cowes
Copenhagen
Porto Cervo (2)
Nassau
Casa de Campo
Newport (2)
Miami (2)
San Francisco (2)
Sydney (2)
WOrlD champiOnship lOcaTiOns
Chicago (2012)St-Tropez TBC(2013)
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
6
contents
This first edition published in 2011©2011 south atlantic publishing and Farr 40 class association
south atlantic publishing. The studio, Booker’s Yard, The street, Walberton, arundel, West sussex. Bn18 0pF, Englandwww.southatlanticpublishing.com
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission of the publisher.
library of congress cataloging-in-publication Data
Bob FisherThe Fabulous 40sFarr 40 class associationisBn 978-0-9531044-2-0 hbk 1. The Fabulous 40s, rolex Farr 40 class, etc 1. Title
Designed by Greg Filip and Kayleigh reynolds/pplTypeset centennial lT std by pplillustrations by Farr Yacht Design and Greg Filip/ppl
printed and bound by printo Trento s.r.l, Italy
Con T e n T s
7
contentsForeword .................................................................................................................. 11
Concept and Genesis ................................................................................................ 12
Designer’s description of the Farr 40 ....................................................................... 16
Construction ............................................................................................................. 19
Farr 40 one-Design specifications ........................................................................... 24
stagg’s leap of faith .................................................................................................. 33
World Championships.......................................................................................................... 44
The Trophy ............................................................................................................... 46
1998 Miami............................................................................................................................. 49
1999 san Francisco............................................................................................................... 52
2000 newport ........................................................................................................... 59
2001 Cowes ............................................................................................................... 64
2002 nassau ............................................................................................................ 73
2003 Porto Cervo ...................................................................................................... 82
2004 san Francisco .................................................................................................. 94
2005 sydney .......................................................................................................... 109
2006 newport ......................................................................................................... 124
2007 Copenhagen ................................................................................................... 135
2008 Miami ............................................................................................................ 146
2009 Porto Cervo ................................................................................................... 159
2010 Casa de Campo .............................................................................................. 171
2011 sydney ........................................................................................................... 185
2010 european Championship ............................................................................... 196
2010 north American Championship ..................................................................... 206
2011 Australian Championship .............................................................................. 212
Canada’s Cup .......................................................................................................... 216
The tacticians have their say ................................................................................. 218
FARR 40 one Design - Register .............................................................................. 228
Roll of honour ........................................................................................................ 234
Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 240
Con T e n T s
9
The fierce loyalty to the Class is reflected in the yacht’s
design - fast, responsive, user-friendly, honest for
competition - and in the personalities of its owners -
entrepreneurial, competitive, value-driven, fun-loving,
challenge seekers on land and sea. A winning combination
for the last 15 years!
Mascalzone Latino - Vincenzo onorato, just ahead of Barking
Mad - Jim Richardson, both three times world champions
Mascalzone Latino - Vincenzo onorato just ahead of Barking
Mad- Jim Richardson both 3 time World Champions
FoR e WoR D
11
of four professionals and usually five or six non-paid sailors
depending on overall weight of the total crew.
As the old saying goes, the proof is in the pudding. because all
the boats are identical and play by the same rules, a truly level
playing field exists. There is no question that a steady hand at the
helm is key. The exhilaration for the owner/driver and tactician
is the challenge of making responses as to sea, wind, weather,
and strategic positioning with only inches to spare between your
boat and that of a competitor.
Right from the start, the association of owners kept true to its
bottom line – to make sailing fun. To do so required managing the
Class like a business with forward planning, meticulous controls
over measurement and sound financial controls. Geoff stagg has
helped to hold a firm hand on the tiller of Class management for
which all of us are indebted.
Who wouldn’t want to join a class that prides itself on
sportsmanship and comradeship and finding venues around
the world with good weather, a challenging course, delightfully
enticing locations, and a sponsor of international repute. Rolex
has been the principal Farr 40 sponsor since 2001. There are a
lucky few of us who are proud recipients of a first-place finish
Rolex watch – a watch that operates as smoothly as does the
Farr 40 under full sail. Rolex has lent its name and many of
its photographs to this publication. For all its generosity and
support, we as a Class, are most grateful.
John Calvert-Jones
ForewordI invite you to step inside this book and experience the visual
thrill of the Farr 40 Class and its distinctive place on the platform
of world-class, one-design sailing. The fierce loyalty to this
Class is reflected in the yacht’s design - fast, responsive, user-
friendly, honed for competition- and in the personalities of its
owners - entrepreneurial, competitive, value-driven, fun-loving,
challenge seekers on land and sea. A winning combination
for the last 15 years!
The Farr 40 found its beginning in 1997, in bristol, Rhode
Island. Its designer, bruce Farr, is a master craftsman if ever
there was one. Ruskin, the 19th century british author noted
that “men who cannot enter into the mind of the sea, cannot
for the same reasons enter into the mind of ships.” bruce Farr
was able to do both and then to design a boat that kept the sea
in mind without diminishing the sleek beauty and practicality
of his design.
The boat’s international appeal was immediate. The first ten
boats were delivered to five different countries. The Class remains
robustly international with 152 boats now from 19 countries
worldwide. Why its international success? “It’s awesome to
sail,” noted Judge betsy Alison as she awarded the boat of the
Year prize in 1998 to the Farr 40. All who have sailed in this
Class agree that the boat takes the sea in its stride. It is fast,
very fast, with marvellous responsiveness and manoeuvrability
and high structural integrity.
There are few if any Classes which specify that the owner, an
amateur helmsman, must have his/her hand on the helm. The
Farr 40 sets the bar and distinguishes itself in this regard.
Amateur can imply a newcomer to the Class or someone with
finely tuned knowledge of the boat as well as years of tested
sailing experience and know-how to lead an experienced team
John Calvert-Jones, former Class
President, 2000 Farr 40 World
Champion. and first life Member
of the Class
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 2
concept and Genesis
The question of just how the Farr 40 came into being could only
be answered by the designer, bruce Farr. he describes it as an
evolution from previous forays in the one-design arena. “It came
on the back of the success of the Mumm 36, which was designed
under IMs and later became a one-design. After that came the
Mumm 30, which was a step into what I consider, a purer boat
that needed very little attention when it came to considering
handicapping.”
The next step in this evolutionary process, in which both Geoff
stagg and barry Carroll were involved, was the Corel 45, of which
the designer said, “It was another boat that was trying to be
both a one-design and a successful handicap boat, but we tackled
both simultaneously, rather than bolting on the one-design
to an IMs boat.”
only after the Corel 45 was on the water did the process of the
40-footer begin to take shape. Farr International had previously
bypassed the 40-foot zone because there were so many other
boats of this size in the market. bruce had promoted the idea
to Geoff, and while they both considered other ideas of slightly
lesser overall length, or even slightly bigger, reason kept pointing
to 40. In britain, Peter Morton was interested in a boat close
to this size and had been talking to the Annapolis offices
of both bruce and Geoff.
ConCeP T A n D Ge n esIs
13
We had to have a boat that was reasonably
easy to handle, but at the same time quite high
performance.
Two time World Championship Nerone - Massimo
Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori at speed
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 4
The experience of bruce, Geoff and barry in this business was
sufficient for them to have the confidence to proceed and to do
it without the need for it to be influenced by IMs. “We believed,”
said bruce, “that we should just design the boat we wanted and
we did not need to have a successful IMs boat to achieve a critical
mass. so, the decision was made to do it with only a passing view
of IMs and we looked at Channel handicap too for a potential
place within those handicap systems.”
The principal concern was that it should be ‘a good honest boat.’
That decision went hand in hand with another – that it should
be an owner/driver boat. The latter decision was made early in
the concept, and so, in bruce’s words: “We had to have a boat
that was reasonably easy to handle, but at the same time quite
high performance. That meant we had a nice shaped boat,
reasonable beam so that it had some stability, deep vcg keel,
quite big rig and with Geoff’s insistence perhaps, a little bigger
rig than we would have chosen because that was always Geoff’s
mantra – ‘add sail, add sail area’. Then we developed these ideas
through the latter part of 1996 and the final lines were drawn
in november that year.”
A group of individual investors (principals, interested individuals
and prospective owners) was formed to support the building and
the initial development of the marketing, and the team began to
market aggressively what was agreed to be a good boat. bruce
added: “There was some serendipity in the thing. The 40 foot
size turned out to be good because it was a manageable size
for a lot of owners, and straightforward to sail in mechanical
terms. one of the key decisions was going with the runner-less
rig so the boat could be more or less bullet proof between a rig
which did not rely on runners and a carbon mast. It was at a
time when everybody’s boat had runners and skinny masts,
and racing a boat was a pretty expensive exercise – you went
through a lot of stuff.”
Top: Kokomo - lang Walker
Right: Endorphin at speed- erik Wulff
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 6
It is light displacement but not ultra-light and it has good horse-
power upwind even though it is not of super sophisticated
construction. one of the key issues was to control costs to make
it viable for a whole range of people. You can’t have a full-on
carbon structure since that limits how light you can make the
boat. It is powerful enough upwind and light enough to plane
downwind, but it is not a downwind specialist ultra-light
displacement boat. All round attributes are probably key. It has
a big enough sail plan to be a good lively boat, even with short
footed headsails. Geoff pushed hard to make sure the boat had
enough sail area to be fast in light airs, which broadens the
horizons on where it can be sailed and be fun.
In terms of the hull shape, it is a good wholesome hull shape.
It is not extreme. It is not too big in the back. There is a nice
degree of fineness in the bow so it gets through chop nicely. It
is a boat that will do well in all conditions, enough freeboard to
keep people’s feet out of the water, and be able to tackle big sea.
Probably the most important factor when it was designed was
that it was not compromised for a rating rule or measurement
system. because of that, it is a nice boat that has stood the test
of time.
Designer of the Farr
Designer - bruce Farr
40
ConsT RuC T Ion
19
construction
barry Carroll, who was an essential ingredient in the mix that
produced the Farr 40, describes the genesis from the very
beginning: “My involvement with the Farr 40 goes back to a us
sailing IMs meeting in Texas in the early 90’s. Tink Chambers
was there representing Farr International, and I was there for
my company, Carroll Marine. We got to talking about race boats
naturally, and that always leads to the ‘next boat’. Carroll saw a
market in the mid 30ft range, and so too did Farr. That led to the
development of the Farr IMs 36 which became the Mumm 36.
To meet Farr Yacht Design’s demanding design and engineering
standards, the boat had to be built with the materials and
techniques one would normally associate with a custom one-
off. That meant epoxy/vacuum bag/ foam core construction/oven
post cure, and extremely tight weight control. At that time, there
were no other production boats being built with those techniques
or to those standards.
“The straws that stirred the drink were Geoff stagg, Tink
Chambers, and the team at Farr International. In the first
place, they, along with Russ bowler and his team at Farr Yacht
Design, worked hard with our team in specifying materials and
techniques to build ‘production boats’ to custom boat tolerances.
Geoff gave us some very clear goals: build it light, build it strong,
build it to a consistent standard.
“The result of the first collaboration among the design group, set
the bench mark for the modern offshore one-design. That same
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 0
troika established not just the build techniques, but the class
management system that maintained and controlled those one-
design standards against ever increasing outside pressure. The
more successful a class is, the higher the international profile,
the more pressure there is from competitors to find an edge.
“The Mumm 30 was next and came with many new facets, some
of which drew severe criticism. Virtually every sailmaker and
expert we spoke to said the boat would never work without
overlapping jibs – not enough sail area for light air, and no
runners so you couldn’t control the sail area you had. The boat
bruce drew was flat-out gorgeous, and we had a lot of early
interest. The only problem was that when we were in our last
pre-production design meeting, I got cold feet. so many people
had called and told us that a runnerless, non-overlapping jib boat
would never work, that I was reluctant to commit Carroll to the
project. During that last meeting bruce calmly pointed out two
things: first, swept spreader, runnerless rigs were nothing new.
With good design and mast engineering they were simple and
easy to use. They just weren’t fashionable at the time. second and
most importantly, the power from a boat comes from sail area,
not jib overlap. A boat with non-overlapping jibs can have as
much or more sail area as a boat with a 150% lP jib: just go taller
with the rig. he went on to explain that increased aspect ratio
and leading edge provided more drive per given area: that in fact
we would be surprised at how effective the Mumm 30 sail plan
would be. he was so calm, cogent, and assured that we all agreed
to give it a go. The Mumm 30 was a resounding success, and it
has led the way to the modern race boat rig. It was a triumph of
good design and engineering over fashion, and cold feet!
“The development model was well established. We wanted
the international one-design control that we had developed in
the Mumm 36. The Mumm 30 had conclusively demonstrated
Farr’s vision for fast easily handled modern rigs; so the new 40
would have a similar rig, sail plan, and super clean deck plan.
It would be built with proven techniques and efficiency and be
half the price of an equivalent IlC-40. Modern, fast, extremely
competitive, great value for money, and solid proven marketing
Mascalzone Latino – Vincenzo onorato
Barking Mad – Jim Richardson crosses Plenty – Alex Roepers
ConsT RuC T Ion
2 1
and Class management were the attributes of the Farr 40. In
retrospect, its success was almost inevitable.
“our in-house engineers and builders developed a great
relationship with Russ bowler’s team. over the projects, Carroll
learned a lot about race boat engineering, and Russ’ team learned
a bit about blending high end construction with efficiency and
cost effective techniques. It was a cross pollination of ideas, and
it was fun and productive.
“As a builder and engineer, one of the most interesting parts
of the Farr 40 story was the evolution of the one-design rule.
There was a technical side: what needed to be controlled? how
strictly it would be controlled: what were acceptable tolerances
versus actual changes in performance? What would be the cost to
control tolerances: the smaller the tolerance the greater the cost,
and at some point the cost / benefit doesn’t make sense. how to
measure and maintain tolerances? That means not just in the
shop when we can measure and weigh individual components
before assembly, but how do we check the completed boats after
years in service? And finally how do we do it within a strict
budget and without upsetting Class members?
“Finally, as we closed in on a possible solution to an issue we
would ask ourselves, ‘oK how do we get around that rule if we
wanted to cheat?’ someone would suggest a way around the rule
and the rest would work on it until we closed that door. I think
we came up with some pretty clever solutions to the technical
questions that have led to the strength of the Farr 40 Class.
“That led to the most important aspect of the Farr 40 Class
success: the management and leadership of Geoff stagg and
his team, first at Farr International and then at stagg Yachts.
Geoff had to be a combination cheerleader, snake oil salesman,
technical guru, holiday camp counsellor, judge, jury and
sometimes executioner.
“The owners of Farr 40s are typically over-achievers who are
not used to people telling them ‘no!’ no matter how polite, how Struntje Light – Wolfgang schaefer
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 4
Farr One-Design specifications
Design: Farr Yacht Design
loA 40.72 ft 12.41 m
lWl 35.27 ft 10.75 m
beam 13.22 ft 4.03 m
Draft 8.53 ft 2.60 m
Displacement 10,902 lbs 4,945 kg
ballast 4,960 lbs 2,250 kg
RMC 1,266 ft/lb 175 kg/m
40
FA R R on e-DesIGn sPeC I F IC AT Ion
2 5
Construction: epoxy/e-glass/foam/balsa composite, Wet Pre-preg, post cured in oven.Keel: Cast iron fin, lead bulb, epoxy coated.
sail Area 1,109 sq/ft 102.8 sq/m
I: 16.20 m 53.15 ft
J: 4.71 m 15.45 ft
P: 16.70 m 54.79 ft
e: 5.90 m 19.36 ft
IsP: 18.30 m 60.04 ft
sPl: 5.20 m 17.06 ft
ConsT RuC T Ion
2 7
“The owners of Farr 40s are typically over-achievers who are not used to
people telling them ‘NO!.’ No matter how polite, how diplomatic, telling
an owner that his boat or crew conflict with Class rules was never easy.
The Class exists for the benefits of its members, the owners.
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 8
diplomatic, telling an owner that his boat or crew conflict with
class rules was never easy. The Class exists for the benefits of
its members, the owners. That principle, more than any other
has kept the Farr 40 Class in the forefront of international
sailing for so long.
“The Farr 40 is oven-baked, not like the Pillsbury Doughboy, but
cured to perfection in an accurately controlled environment to
create the most rigid and torsionally stiff hull possible.”
Russell bowler, the structural engineering partner in Farr
Yacht Design, was critical to the decision-making process
when the design was first mooted. The construction and its
ramifications were his bailiwick; his responsibility was deciding
the main criteria employed in putting together the specification
for the boat.
bowler remembered: “It was worked out in discussion with barry
Carroll who had developed certain ways of building boats in Rhode
Island. he had his techniques and they had to be incorporated in
the laminates and the way we put it together. The boat had to be
economical in order that it would work in the market place, so we
had to look at economical ways of producing it, while at the same
time providing consistency in the production. so, there was a
good exchange between barry and our guys on the construction
systems and we looked at some fairly basic items.
“For example, the aluminium frame that holds the keel on,
seemed to be a good solution because it gave consistent stiffness
to all the boats. It is a fairly robust arrangement so the boats
could be transported on trailers, dropped every now and then,
and occasionally hit the bottom, and survive those fairly well. It
is a more consistent way of producing a large number of boats, as
well as a more consistent way of getting extreme stiffness in that
area of the hull. so that, combined with a straightforward interior
framework and sandwich laminate, met the bill all around and
gave us a laminate that could be produced consistently and
relatively economically.”
left Actur – Vasyl Guryev
right Flash Gordon – helmut Jahn
opposite Calvi – Alberto Alberini
ConsT RuC T Ion
3 1
because consistency is really the keynote to the potential success
of a one-design, it was important that rules for the Class had to
be in place during the conception. The rules for the Mumm 36
had already been developed, and while these worked fairly well,
the group had some fresh ideas from that experience and these
were incorporated into the Farr 40 rules.
Consistency of manufacturing was seen to be of paramount
importance and bowler recalls: “We had a maxim that you are
going to have to be able to drive one of these out of the factory
on a Friday night and be competitive on the saturday morning,
as opposed to a lot of other one-design classes where you have
to buy the boat, take the keel off, fair it and re-arrange this and
that. so there were tolerances placed on the positioning, size and
weight of things.
It was fairly tight, particularly at that time in the production
industry, but it was all done with one goal in mind of trying
to get these boats to be purchasable and raceable. In terms of
structures, it is a fairly conservative design, but not overly so,
because in the early years, these boats still had to go out and
compete well under IMs and whatever club racing was going on
at the time, until fleets became established.”
Farr 40s are all designed and built to Abs standards, and as
they never go out into the broad oceans, they are relatively low
stressed boats in terms of panels and panel sizing. so, close
margins are not run on those. The keel and the mast step are
both tied by an aluminium frame, which provides enormous
reserves of strength.
It is possible when designing a one-design class that weight can
be placed in these areas without a performance penalty relative
to the rest of the Class. As bowler remarked: “It is not like
trying to design to a rule where you are trying to compete with
someone else and shifting weight to beneficial locations within
the framework of the rating rules.”
At the back of the minds of the team responsible for the Farr
40 was a philosophy of protecting the owners from themselves
– avoiding the sailors that would devise schemes to make the
boats quicker that were expensive and therefore contrary to
Class policy.
In bowler’s view, this was a major factor and could be achieved in
the way that the boat was built and the rule structure, and said:
“I think the success of the Farr 40 is largely due to the success
of that philosophy, although they still find ways of putting more
rig tension than the other guy, but there is not a lot you can do to
hot up your Farr 40.”
one benefit in having what is provided and allowing little else, is
that the Farr 40 is not a throw-away boat – they were designed to
remain competitive for many years – they do not get old and soft.
The design and construction has dispelled that myth. Treated
well, they will remain competitive and the designers believe they
have probably done themselves, the builders and the marketers
out of follow-up business!
Easy Tiger 11 - Chris Way and Ian burns
Close action - Mascalzone Latino - Vincezo onorato sandwiched between
Barking Mad - Jim Richardson and Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma and
Antonio sodo Migliori
sTAG G’s l e A P oF FA I T h
3 3
The leading progenitor of the Farr 40 Class was undoubtedly
Geoff stagg. he was the marketing force with the original
ideas and ability to corral the talents to take the project from
conceptual stage to reality. Fifteen years later, he recalled the
key issues.
“The real issue was progressing what we had done before. We
developed the Mumm 30 and we were looking at the next product
to do. of course, the Mumm 36 was really the start of all our one-
design class developments. Then we did the Mumm 30 and after
that we were looking at a bigger boat. Peter Morton came up with
the suggestion of a 38-footer, but we all thought that 40 feet was
the magic size. We finally settled on 40, and along similar lines
with what we had been doing with the Mumm 30.
“First we settled the boat and then used a progression of the
Mumm 30 rules – later adding a clause that would limit steering
to an owner/driver to counter an unhealthy trend that began
with some owners getting very good group 1 helmsmen to drive
their boats. That was not what we created the Class for.
“I said to barry Carroll that this was going to be for owner/drivers
only and we set up a committee to review the eligibility of each
stagg’s leap of faith
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
3 4
owner. It was starting to get ugly until we ‘grandfathered’ the
previous boats - maybe four or five. The result was incredible.
We sold 35 boats in less than two weeks. suddenly, there was a
Class in which true owners, who had to go through an eligibility
committee to get that stance, driving their own boats.
“We turned down several high profile owners who did not meet
the requirements of the owner/driver rule. The rule dictated that
the owner/driver could not have competed in the Admiral’s Cup,
America’s Cup, olympic Games, or any IsAF World Championship
within the last eight years as a helmsman. It was all based
around the us sailing of Group 1 sailors, which is now the IsAF
Group 1 code, so we were the first Class to pick up and run with
that code. It has gone through a few generations since, but the
whole concept is great. I know there was a lot of dissent at the
time, because I am under group 3 of that programme, and have
a bit of an issue with that, but you can’t have your cake and your
ice cream at the same time.
“We made two exceptions to people being group 2 helmsmen
because they had accepted prize money at a previous regatta,
in another Class. one of them was Alexis Michas. he had won
a spinnaker at a Mumm 36 regatta two years before we built
the 40, and IsAF had coded him under group 2. We had built
some flexibility within the rule to allow the committee to decide
borderline cases. It has given me incredible satisfaction to see
these owners develop and become outstanding sailors. look at
Dutchman, Peter de Ridder. he went out and won the Transpac
52 Class after spending four years in the Farr 40 Class. These
guys are good!
“Putting the boat together from the very start was interesting
in all interpretations of the word. We had three people with
very strong opinions – bruce, barry and myself. I had a clear
idea of what I wanted. I got that without having anything to
do with the design of the boat. I worked on the concept and
where we wanted to place the boat in the market. This often
goes way back. I remember going down to new Zealand in
the 1990s and sailing with Kim McDell on a new trainer boat
he had built in Thailand called the Platu, (it subsequently
became the beneteau 25).
“I took it out on Auckland harbour for the Wednesday night
race. It was a cool kind of a boat, but not a training boat. she
was difficult to steer downwind, and having a cast iron keel, did
not have a lot of stability. nor did it have a carbon rig. but she
had a really gorgeous shape. I bought one and brought it back to
the states, and it became the genesis for the Mumm 30 Class. I
took all of what I perceived to be the negatives: lack of stability;
a rudder that was too small and not enough sail area, and
developed the concept of the Class from there. now, the biggest
discussions always zero around sail area, stability and whether
the rudder is big enough.
“Designers are all driven by their programmes for the IoR,
IMs and Chs; programmes that work in a perfect world. That
is, for example: ‘What size should the rudder be?’ Well, the test
is whether an average helmsman coming to the top mark can
bear away - something you could not do in the Platu if it was
Geoff stagg, the leading progenitor
within the Class.
sTAG G’s l e A P oF FA I T h
3 5
blowing hard. With an owner at the helm you have to have a
forgiving boat that will dip under the stern of another boat with
the main still full on, without stalling out. Will it go any slower?
It does not matter when it is a one-design boat, but technically, a
larger rudder will add only a miniscule amount like a quarter of
a second a mile. normally, designers like bruce are looking for
everything they can get to have a second off here or there, but
I was calling for a more forgiving, controllable design. I didn’t
want keels to fall off for the sake of 5 kilos. strict one-design
boats have got to be bullet proof.
“We had an issue about specifying carbon rigs. barry was
convinced that boats with non-overlapping jibs would be dogs.
Two decades ago non-overlapping headsails were unheard of on
a big boat, so we put a lot of sail area into the rig to get over the
misconception that the boat would be slow in light air, and then
made sure it had truckloads of stability to be a good boat in a
breeze too. The Mumm 30, 36 and the Farr 40 are great boats.
bruce listened and did a marvellous job.”
safety was also paramount in their thinking behind the
development of the Farr 40, because of the sailors who would
be buying and racing them, but that had been the case in earlier
classes with which Geoff had been associated.
“This whole development began with the Mumm 36. At the time I
didn’t know what a one-design big boat was – I just fell into it. The
RoRC appointed me to be on the 1993 Admiral’s Cup selection
Committee. John Dare was both Commodore and Chairman of
the Committee and at the first meeting in london, said, ‘This is
what we are going to do. We must pick three boats that we can
all agree on, that will maximise the number of countries that
can come. one of these boats will be a 36 foot one-design and
it will be called the Mumm 36.’ ‘What is a one-design?,’ I asked
myself.
“At the same time Tink Chambers and barry Carroll had been
working on the lines of the Farr 36. It was an IMs boat when
IMs was in its better days – fast, had stability and sail area. I
Groovederchi
– John Demourkas
sTAG G’s l e A P oF FA I T h
3 7
We have a + 100 kg weight tolerance and shoot for the middle. A builder will ballast a boat up to make the minimum weight, and that is it. After a year we re-weigh them, and they find ‘Wow - we can get rid of a few kgs’, Boats always get heavier; they always get all sorts of extras poured on them.
Twins – erik Maris
Nerone – Massimo Mezzaroma
and Antonio sodo Migliori
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
3 8
thought: ‘if we are quick about it, we can turn this boat into a
one-design. It was before they took the IMs Rule back to where
IoR had been at the end – slow, distorted pigs, with the bilges full
of lead. except for small amounts of corrector weights used to
meet the very strict hull weight limit, there was not an ounce of
internal lead ballast in the 36. It was an incredible boat.’
“Two items needed review: strengthening the rig and enlarging
the rudder. It was good for top-end guys but not the average
punter. If you did not have an excellent main trimmer on board
you were at a huge disadvantage. If you left the leeward runner
on with a few turns around the winch and you dumped the
main and the boat heeled, you were in trouble. so, getting the
rig, stability and rudder right was the biggest part I played in
the development. We were pushing the boats out into an area
where bruce Farr really wasn’t that comfortable because the
computers and the programmes were telling him ‘no.’ ‘That is
too much sail area, that is too much stability. You don’t need that
much rudder because design was so dominated by the science
of the rule at the time.’
“When we did all these boats I made sure bruce was 100% focused
on doing the lines and all that stuff. he is a genius. When you get
him committed to do something there is nobody better. To this
day, the diversity of what he has done is mind boggling really.
“They were really fascinating days. barry Carroll did an awesome
job setting up the Farr 40 production and taking it to a new level.
even today, people are still struggling to get an all-epoxy, cored
vacuum bagged boat to such strength – and one-design to such
tight tolerances. our job is such that when the owner leaves the
dock for the day he can feel that his boat is the same as the other
boats. It is up to him, his boys, his sail programme and all the
other variables - but not the boat.
“We have a + 100 kg tolerance and shoot for the middle. A builder
will ballast a boat up to make the minimum weight, and that is
it. After a year, we re-weigh them, and they find ‘Wow - we can
Kokomo – lang Walker
Backbone - Thomas Kiær
sTAG G’s l e A P oF FA I T h
3 9
get rid of a few kgs’. boats always get heavier; they always get all
sorts of extras poured into them.
“There were always differences of opinion but everything was
open to discussion. It always got resolved and I think because we
had such a varying range of skills and mind sets it just worked.
bruce Farr always asked incredibly penetrating questions, until
we agreed on what we wanted him to deliver. That is another
amazing talent he has. Russell bowler worked with barry on the
engineering, and Jim Andersen, Russ, barry and I developed
the rules. We had these written before the first boat hit the
water, so there was no catch up. everybody knew what they
were getting into.
“It’s an owners’ class - that’s what really sets this class apart.”
says Peter ‘luigi’ Reggio, the Farr 40 Principal Race officer since
2002. “ Its strength is in having the rules established before
owners bought the boat. They did not form a class and then
decide what the rules were going to be. People bought the boats
knowing what they were getting into. The rules were there and
the boats were kept as even as possible. The owners love that
part of it.”
The Farr 40 class was instrumental in paving the way for more
acceptable racing for the owners. experience showed that an
offset mark was necessary at the end of the windward leg in
order to avoid collisions. Insurance companies were threatening
other classes but none had the initiative to implement this move.
The same was true of a ‘gate’ instead of a single leeward mark to
avoid the procession from this point.
For the benefit of the owners, the class moved to extend the
‘overlap’ at marks from a two to a three-boat length circle, three
years before the idea became accepted by IsAF. It also dispensed
with flag signals, insisting instead that every competitor listen
on an open radio circuit for instructions. on-the-water judging
was introduced with the jury members blowing a whistle when
an infringement was spotted. The jury would expect penalty
Twins – erik Maris
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
4 0
turns to be taken or a protest to be lodged. A 720o penalty turn
was mandatory for infringements within the three-boat circle
and 360° turns for all others.
The final blow to the ‘establishment’ came with the banning of
jackets and ties on all official boats including that of the Race
Committee. “This was to be an owners class, not one run by
blazered officials - that was another first.” says Geoff stagg.
“Getting the rule right was number one,” Adds stagg. “In 2005 I
tried to put masthead spinnakers on the boats but got shot down by
a number of owners. We have been very good about retaining the
one-design nature of the boat and not doing anything too stupid
or radical. but when we finally went to masthead spinnakers, the
first time they tried it, they all loved it. In fact, the Farr 40 had
always had a masthead spinnaker halyard built in. The fractional
spinnaker was the only sacrifice we made to IMs. It was very last
minute because in the beginning, we had nowhere to race other
than under IMs, which crucified sail area, and forced us to opt for
the smaller sail. I finally got the masthead kite through in 2007
and it transformed the boat. It still looks remarkably modern
for a decade-old design.”
“none of the owners has complained. In fact all of the guys
who were making noises initially, have since come up to me
and said, ‘You are right. You are right. The boat is so much
nicer.’ What they could not understand was that the masthead
spinnakers make the boat easier to gybe especially in strong
conditions. That is because the boat is up on a plane going fast,
with less load on everything, and is less prone to stop/start or
load up. They are out there carrying these mastheads in 35
knots, even though it is mandatory to carry a fractional 0.85
ounce on the boat.”
“I don’t know what bruce Farr and Russell bowler think, but I
believe they have got a lot of satisfaction from what we all did
together. bruce gets the majority of the credit because his name
is on the boat, but it was very much a total team effort.”
The Barking Mad that Jim Richardson chartered for hamilton and hayman Island
Race Week 200o
sTAG G’s l e A P oF FA I T h
4 1
Estate Master – lisa & Martin hill – dips Mascalzone Latino –
Vincento onorato and Good Feeling – eduardo Ramos
sTAG G’s l e A P oF FA I T h
4 3
When we finally went to masthead spinnakers, the first time
they tried it, they all loved it!
When we finally went to masthead spinnakers, the first time
they tried it, they all loved it!
sTAG G’s l e A P oF FA I T h
4 5
Mascalzone Latino –Vincenzo onorato, a 3-time world championMascalzone Latino - Vincenzo onorato
3 time World Champion at speed
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
4 6
The World Cup is the trophy for the winner of the World
Championship. It began life as the International Cup, the trophy
for the season-long series of the IoR 50-foot Class until the mid-
1990s. It was in the possession of Wictor Forss, one of the Class
leaders and was not being used when Geoff stagg approached
him on september 21st 1998.
Geoff, in his own admission, was: “desperate to get two appropriate
trophies for that year’s Mumm 30 and Farr 40 one-Design World
Championships.” he felt that the IoR 50 International Cup would
be perfect for the Farr 40 Class, and wrote to Forss asking if
he would consider deeding the International Cup to the Farr 40
Class for: “their World Championship for the life of the Class and
presenting the Cup at their first event in november?”
Geoff ’s offer to Forss was that he retained ownership of
the trophy but that the Class could use it for their world
championship: “for as long as it can maintain the IsAF numbers
or a period of time with which you are comfortable.” by mid-
october 1998 an agreement had been reached and the trophy
was deeded to the Farr 40 Class. It was agreed that the name
of the trophy should become “The World Cup” and that the
name of the event should be: “The Farr 40 World Championship
for the World Cup.”
The trophy was insured by the Class for $10,000 and an
annual lease fee of $700 was paid to Wictor Forss, on
agreement that should, at some later date, the Class purchase
the trophy, the accumulated fees would be deducted
from the purchase price.
The World Cup was presented by Forss to Paul henderson, the
President of IsAF, at the Annual General Meeting of the Federation
in Palma, Mallorca in november 1998, at the same time that the
Class received its International status. It was first raced for in
Miami a few days later.
Almost five years passed before the final purchase of the trophy
by the Class from Wictor Forss took place. It changed hands for
$5,000 with the following message from the original owner:
“Congratulations to the fantastic development of the Class. It
is very close to what I had once wanted to do with the 50 foot
Class. The trophy is now in the right hands and the best of
luck to you all. Wictor.”
The Farr 40 World Championship
trophy began life as the IoR 50
International Cup, that once had
similar aspirations to provide
competitive inshore racing for its
owners.
The Trophy
1998 M I A M I
4 9
1998 Miami
Within days of IsAF confirming full International status for the
Farr 40 Class, a world championship was held off Miami. The
racing was held from south beach Marina, off Government Cut
and controlled with alacrity by Mike “Grizz” Thompson, whose
previous experience of dealing with the IoR-50s, made him an
instant choice. nineteen boats competed in eight races over
windward/leeward courses with two-mile legs and the scoring
gave no discard – the pattern of the Class was established.
From the outset the Class demanded that the owners should steer
their own boats and limited the number of ‘professionals’ on board
to four per boat. With the short courses, Grizz went for an offset
mark at the weather end of the course and a ‘gate’ at the leeward
mark as required by the class. “Training wheels for the amateur
drivers,” declared one case-hardened professional, but they were
essential for good racing in a fleet of one-designs.
Consistency proved to be the keynote for overall success – seven
different boats won races, while the eventual winner had nothing
lower than 7th in the score line. Generally easterly winds of 8-15
knots that backed with the effect of the sea breeze provided the
real challenge for the tacticians. The list read like a who’s who
of sailors and included Grant simmer, ed Adams, Tom Whidden,
Gary Weisman, Terry hutchinson, Dee smith, Robbie haines, Jim
brady, Dave Dellenbaugh and Adrian stead.
John Kilroy in Samba Pa-Ti slipped past John Thomson’s Solution
on the second beat of the first race and held off challenges from
Alexis Michas’ Phish Food and steve Garland’s Wired to take the
first gun. Kilroy, despite a recall, was among the leaders at the
first mark of the second race, but Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad
led from Charles Tompkins in Bandit. Finding clear air, Richardson
went on to win by almost three minutes from John Calvert-Jones’
Southern Star and George Andreadis in Atalanti XI.
A 4th place put Kilroy in the lead overall, but a 14th in the
next race took him off the top of the leaderboard. Michas
sensed the left hand swing in the breeze before the rest and
led by four boat’s length at the weather mark in the third race.
Despite a spirited chase by steve Kaminer’s Predator, Michas
hung on to win and a 3rd for Barking Mad put Richardson
into the overall lead.
Consistency proved to be the keynote for overall
success, with seven different boats winning races
during this inaugural world championship.
Dancers added colour to the post-race
celebrations aboard John Kilroy’s aptly
named yacht Samba Pa Ti.
Solution – John Thomson- leads
the f leet.
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
5 0
In the second race that day, bill Ziegler’s Gem, with Dee smith
calling the shots, found four wind shifts one after the other, to lead
at the end of the first beat, but the downwind speed of skip Purcell’s
Alliance was too much for Gem. A 4th for Barking Mad, behind
Solution, confirmed Richardson’s lead in the championship.
The conditions were good enough for a third race and steve
Garland’s Wired looked set for a runaway win. but as the Class
builder, barry Carroll, crewing aboard Wired explained: “We blew
ourselves away. We were ahead and to windward on the final beat
and tacked away rather than going to the starboard tack lay-line.
We could have pinned them outside us.” bill steitz’s Flyer and
edgar Cato in Hissar went past, leaving Wired 3rd. Carroll later
added: “We were in an insurmountable position – and then we
were surmounted!”
skip Purcell gave the fleet a starting lesson early on the next
day, coming to the line at the committee boat end at full speed
and leaving the f leet gasping as he sailed into a two-boat
lead in the first ten seconds. Wired was first to the windward
mark and never headed, taking the winning gun ahead of
Southern Star and Hissar.
The penultimate race was held over five legs and Hissar led
Southern Star at the first mark with Samba Pa Ti in 3rd place.
Southern Star took over the lead on the second beat, holding on
to win despite a late challenge from Kilroy. In the final race, the
next day, the Australian skipper was able to repeat his success,
finishing the regatta with an impressive 2,1,1 score, but the 4,7,7
of Richardson’s Barking Mad proved that his consistency was the
overall telling factor.
“It’s a wonderful feeling,” said Jim Richardson, “going in we felt
like we could compete, but I never imagined we’d win.” At the prize
giving, Geoff stagg remarked: “The best guys won today. For the
last two days the Aussies have been untouchable.” Calvert-Jones
smiled wryly when he explained where things had gone wrong in
typical Australian style: “on Thursday, we went walkabout!” The
10-5-11 placings that day would seem to bear out his statement.
Wired – steve Garland
Flyer – bill steitz and Wired –steve Garland
1998 M I A M I
5 1
stagg added: “but you have to say that the Barking Mad boys [and
one girl] have sailed so consistently.” he then brought the house
down by saying that the new advertising slogan for the Class was
going to be: “If Jim Richardson can win the world championship,
so can you!” Jim led the laughter.
Results:
1. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA) 6 1 3 4 7 4 7 7 39 points
2. Southern Star John Calvert-Jones (Aus) 12 2 10 5 11 2 1 1 44 points
3. Wired steve Garland (usA) 3 8 12 7 3 1 5 8 47 points
4. Hissar edgar Cato (usA) 10 10 5 12 2 3 4 3 49 points
5. Solution John Thomson (usA) 4 7 13 3 8 9 10 5 59 points
6. Alliance skip Purcell (usA) 1 4 14 19 4 15 2 13 62 points
above: Jim Richardson
top right: Barking Mad
bottom right: John Calvert-Jones and steve Garland
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
5 2
Carrying a Chad logo from more than 50 years earlier on the
stern, as did his father on his Kialoas, John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti
won the world championship after a down-to-the-wire finish in
a nine-race series on the berkeley Circle area of san Francisco
bay, beating Vincenzo onorato’s Mascalzone Latino by a single
point by edging home a length clear of him in the final race. Jim
Richardson, the defending champion, was 3rd.
Jim Richardson started as he left off in Miami a year earlier,
posting a 1st and 2nd in the two 10-mile races, but that put
him only one point clear of Kilroy – those roles were reversed
in Miami at the end of the first day. Kilroy remembered that:
“We kidded Jim about how it was then, and maybe the same will
happen this year.”
butch Tompkins in Bandit led Richardson for one round in 10-
12 knots of breeze, but on the second beat of the opening race,
he went to the front to win by 32 seconds with Samba Pa Ti
3rd. The wind was up to 15-18 for the second race and Kilroy
timed his start to perfection, just to windward of Barking
Mad. In turn, Richardson had Doug Mongeon in Flyer affecting
him to leeward – “We felt like the ham in a sandwich,” said
the Barking Mad skipper.
he had to wait for John Calvert-Jones in Southern Star to tack
before he could clear his wind. When he did so, Barking Mad
appeared to have a speed advantage and was 2nd behind Kilroy
at the weather mark, with Southern Star 3rd. With the latter two
boats engaged in a personal duel, Kilroy was free to extend his
lead and finished a little over a minute ahead.
on the second day, Richardson made his one mistake of the
championship – his tactician, Adrian stead, took the blame:
“I thought there was an opportunity to gain tidally out on the
right, and went that way early on the second beat, but as we
came to the end of the tack, the wind went further left than it
had been all day.” Vincenzo onorato with Mascalzone Latino
increased his lead on this shift to take the winner’s gun from
Kilroy and Calvert-Jones.
1999 San Francisco
We kidded Jim about how it was then, and maybe the
same will happen this year.”
1999 sA n F R A nCIsCo
5 3
With the wind up to 13-16 knots for the second race of the
day, onorato made a perfect pin-end start and benefitted
from the left hand shift to lead at the first mark from Barking
Mad. Kilroy tried to force in on port tack, acknowledged his
foul with a 360º turn and dropped back. Richardson overtook
the Italian on the second beat while Tomkins’ Bandit and
Walton logan’s Blue Chip took up the chase. These positions
remained unaltered to the finish, where Kilroy was 6th, so
that he and Richardson were tied on 12 points after four races
with onorato on 14.
The breeze was fully charged for the third race of the day and the
seas had increased too. Richardson and his crew found this to
their liking and were soon heading the fleet with Phillippe Kahn’s
Orion and Mascalzone Latino. Orion made it to the weather mark
1st and held on downwind. At the gate, stead called Richardson
to go to the right hand buoy and head right to the now favoured
side. At the top mark the second time, Barking Mad led from
Mascalzone Latino and Southern Star. on the final beat Calvert-
Jones went past onorato.
on the third day when Doug Mongeon’s Flyer was top scoring
boat, each of the top three boats had a less-than-starring finish.
It began in light airs and Mongeon emerged from the pin end and
went left. Kilroy went right and the breeze shifted 32º (according
to his tactician John Kostecki) to the left, dumping Samba Pa
Ti – she finished 15th. Mongeon led at the first mark from Jack
Woodhull’s Persephone and Tom neill’s Nitemare. Flyer’s lead
stretched and only onorato made gains to pass Persephone on
the third beat to claim 2nd place.
The wind increased to 16 knots for the next race, a seven-leg
course, and for the second time, Flyer nailed the pin end. At the
weather mark, Flyer was well clear of the pack led by helmut
Jahn’s Flash Gordon. Samba Pa Ti was clear and Barking Mad
came from the left, Richardson dipping Kilroy’s stern before
tacking for the buoy. onorato approached on port tack, fouling
David Thomson’s Peregrine and had to make a 360º penalty turn
and rejoined the race in last position.
Close at the start...
Flash Gordon - helmut Jahn ...still close on the second beat
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
5 4
At the end of the second beat, Mascalzone Latino was 10th and
Kilroy was challenging for the lead. At the finish Samba Pa
Ti led Peregrine with Richardson just able to hold out Richard
Marki’s Raging Bull for 3rd place while onorato snatched 6th
from Michael Condon’s Endurance.
The last day was one of strategic sailing for the leaders and
a change that the right hand side paid early in the first of the
two races. Persephone went that way and was rewarded with
the lead from Kilroy, Richardson and Calvert-Jones. onorato,
who had gone left, was 17th. Southern Star led for the whole
of the second round but was overtaken by Samba Pa Ti on the
final beat. Raging Bull was 3rd just ahead of Barking Mad.
Mascalzone Latino’s spirited recovery was rewarded with 9th.
There was 20 knots of breeze for the final race in which
onorato took the start at the committee boat and immediately
tacked out to the right, while Richardson went for the pin. A
right hand shift after ten minutes put Mascalzone Latino in
the lead at the first mark followed by Samba Pa Ti. Downwind
Peregrine went ahead and held her lead to the finish ahead of
Kilroy who closely covered onorato to take the championship
by a single point from the Italian. Richardson was five points
further away, 3rd.
Results:
1. Samba Pa Ti John Kilroy (usA) 36 points
2. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA) 37 points
3. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA) 42 points
4. Southern Star John Calvert-Jones (Aus) 50 points
5. Flyer Doug Mongeon (usA) 63 points
6. Blue Chip Walter logan (usA) 67.5 points
John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti - the champion by 1 point...
...from Vincenzo onorato’s Mascalzone Latino.
20 0 0 n e W P oRT
5 9
2000 Newport
It was appropriate, perhaps, that newport, RI was chosen for
the third championship when 28 boats from six nations took
part. The Class was growing fast with more than 100 boats now
built. It didn’t, however, start in typical weather for that part of
new england. Classic the nor’easter may have been but 18-25
knots with gusts even stronger, accompanied by rain squalls can
hardly be described as regular in June.
These suited the defending champion, John Kilroy, with Samba
Pa Ti, who turned in back-to-back 1st places. “I grew up racing
offshore, so I am comfortable sailing in a lot of breeze,” he
commented. “I saw the forecast yesterday and I was really
looking forward to today.”
There were two general recalls before the fleet was away cleanly
and the early leader was Massimo Mezzaroma with Invicta-
Nerone. he was unable to hold this lead and Vincenzo onorato’s
Mascalzone Latino led at the first mark from Samba Pa Ti and
John Thomson’s Solution. From there the only major place change
was that of Kilroy passing onorato on the final beat.
Kilroy led at the first mark of the second race and managed
to keep the boat on its feet as a 30 knot gust came through
on the run. Further back, there were shredded spinnakers
and wipe-outs. In this Jim Richardson rolled through onorato
to take 2nd place.
The nor’easter continued to blow and with 35 knots on the
course a two-hour postponement was necessary on the second
day. After that it moderated to 12-18 knots and was noticeably
shifty, mainly from the north-west. George Andreadis’
Atalanti led at the first mark and was still ahead at the end
of the round, but Tony de Mulder’s Victric 5 took advantage
of a major left shift on the run to move into a close 2nd place.
upwind the british boat went ahead to win from Atalanti with
Dick scruggs’ Gunsmoke 3rd.
In a backing and lighter breeze, eduardo de sousa Ramos in
Phoenix led John Calvert-Jones’ Southern Star in the early stages,
but the Australian passed the brazilian on the run. Southern Star
held this lead tenaciously to the finish. Phoenix won the boat of
the Day as she had been 4th in the first race, and was the overall
leader after four races, by a single point from Phillippe Kahn’s
I grew up racing offshore, so I am comfortable sailing
in a lot of breeze,”
Invicta-Nerone – Massimo Mezzaroma
and Antonio sodo Migliori
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
6 0
Orion. The following day saw massive changes after three races
were held in mixed breezes. There was nothing strange in the
order at the front of the fleet in the first race of the day when
Atalanti won from Barking Mad and Southern Star, but in the
next it was George hinman and David elwell with Richard
Wardiger’s Conspiracy taking the win from Tony buckingham’s
Bit of a Coup and Massimo Mezzaroma’s Invicta-Nerone.
In race three, Richard Perini and his mixed Australian/American
crew on Corinthian Doors managed to hit a 15º right shift early
on the first beat and was never challenged. Alexis Michas’ Phish
Food was next and the fast finishing Invicta-Nerone again 3rd.
That placing together with her earlier 6th and 3rd places made
the Italian top boat for the day, but it was Australia’s Calvert-
Jones who moved into the overall lead with Southern Cross by 6
points. The skipper remarked, after finishes of 3,10,7:“This fleet
is so good that you can only go out and try your best, because it
doesn’t take much to get pushed out of the back.”
What newporters describe as a “smoky sou’wester,” greeted
the fleet for the final day. Phish Food and Mark bregman’s Total
Eclipse led at the first mark, while Southern Star and Samba
Pa Ti, her nearest rival for the championship, were deep in the
pack, as was Mascalzone latino. Calvert-Jones managed to pick
his way through by careful use of the shifts into 3rd place by the
finish but had Kilroy right behind, so it was all on in the final
race and in the Australian’s words: “If you’re not off the start line
first, you’re dead.”
Southern Star started well and was 3rd at the first mark behind
Orion and Barking Mad. Calvert-Jones covered Kilroy, four places
further back, for the rest of the race, and this rivalry allowed
Richard Marki’s Raging Bull into 3rd place. The championship
changed hands with the defending champion runner-up to the
Southern Cross team. A clearly ecstatic Calvert-Jones said: “This
regatta has been very tough as we have more boats and more
competition than ever before. our team was fantastic, and Grant
simmer did a superb job of getting us around the course.”
Results:
1. Southern Star John Calvert-Jones (Aus) 16 8 8 1 3 10 7 3 4 60 points
2. Samba Pa Ti John Kilroy (usA) 1 1 9 19 13 4 12 4 8 71 points
3. Atalanti George Andreadis (GRe) 10 20 2 10 1 8 10 17 19 88 points
4. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA) 13 2 13 16 2 14 4 26 3 93 points
5. Solution John Thomson (usA) 4 17 5 9 8 24 11 14 6 98 points
6. Mascalzone Latino
Vincenzo onorato (ITA)2 3 DsQ 3 4 5 15 19 20 99 points
Total Eclipse – Mark bregman ahead of Diana – George Carabetta
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
6 4
In 2001, a major force was added to the Farr 40 class when
the world renowned watchmaking company, Rolex, realised the
potential of the highly impressive one-design and its international
racing programme. Adding Farr 40 racing to its yachting portfolio
proved to be an outstanding benefit to both parties.
This took the Farr 40 class to a new dimension of public interest.
Rolex has been associated with yacht racing at the highest level
since the 1950s and each event displays improved perception as a
result. The charisma of the Farr 40 international championships
immediately improved.
Rarely is the world championship a one-sided contest, but in
september at Cowes, ernesto bertarelli and some of his Alinghi
America’s Cup crew defeated the defending champion, John
Calvert-Jones by 15 points in the nine-race series held in the
eastern solent. The gap was even bigger, 22 points, to the 3rd
placed Philip Tolhurst.
bertarelli had Russell Coutts, simon Daubney, Warwick Fleury and
Curtiss blewett in his crew and said of them: “I just put the bow
straight and simon and Warwick steer the boat for me.” his win
came hard on the heels of his other world championship victory
on these waters – he had also triumphed with the 12-Metre, South
Australia in the championship held during the America’s Cup
Jubilee Regatta, during which he navigated while Coutts steered.
“The 40s win is better than the 12s,’ he said, “because I was
steering and had more to do with the winning.”
Racing was under the auspices of the Royal Yacht squadron over
windward/leeward courses with legs between 1.5 and 2 miles
in predominantly westerly breezes. nine races were scheduled,
and a re-scheduling took place after the second day when winds
rose above the limit for racing after only one race had been held.
This led to three races being run on each of the last two days. A
3-minute silence was held by competitors in the 21 yachts and
many others visiting the West Cowes Marina that day, as a mark
of respect for the thousands to have perished in the attack on the
World Trade Centre the previous day.
To win three times in the series might be thought of as an
impossible task in this Class, but bertarelli managed to do that,
and added two 2nd places, two 5ths, a 6th and a 7th to average a
3rd place throughout. John Calvert-Jones, the defending champion,
who in a fleet of 28 the previous year had averaged only slightly
better than 7th, had an average of 5th as runner up and 3rd placed
Philip Tolhurst averaged 7.5.
The first race, in 16-24 knots of breeze, saw Jim Richardson with
Barking Mad win from Massimo Mezzaroma’s Nerone and John
Coumantaros’ Bambakou. In the second race, Tony buckingham’s
Bit of a Coup led Aleph steered by hughes lepic throughout.
buckingham said that his win was due to tactician Michael Coxon’s
choice of headsail, a code 4 with a shorter luff. “It was well done
Cocko,” he said.
I just put the bow straight and Simon and Warwick
steer the boat for me.
2001 Cowes
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
6 8
There was more wind on the second day with the breeze reaching
27 knots over the three-round course that saw several boats
lead at various marks. At the windward mark the second time,
buckingham’s Bit of a Coup was up with the angels, but when
trying to slip around the buoy on port tack, fouled Alinghi. After
taking the penalty turns, buckingham, like browning’s thrush,
‘never could recapture that first fine careless rapture.’ At the third
weather mark, Alinghi was ahead of Warlord and Barking Mad,
and there were no further place changes to the finish. That put
Alinghi on top of the points table, a point clear of Barking Mad.
on the third day there were three short races. After one lap, Tony
de Mulder’s Victric 5 led from Southern Star, but on the next beat,
Coutts found the right lanes for bertarelli to move ahead of this pair
and retained the position to the finish in the lightest wind of the
series. The next race saw Mark heeley’s GBR-25 win from David
Palmer’s Bit of a Fling with Alinghi 3rd. The breeze continued
to fluctuate for the third race of the day, but that proved to be to
Richardson’s liking and he won from oscar strugstad’s Dawn Raid
and Southern Star.
With the wind up to 18-20 knots, three races were possible on the
final day. Alinghi won the first from Victric 5 and Nerone. In the next
race there was a serious collision close to the windward mark for
the second time, when Renato Mazzeschi’s Zanzero, coming in on
port tack, ducked two boats on starboard but had not noticed Mark
Timbrell’s Forza, also on starboard. There was indecision aboard
the Italian boat and with the mainsheet hard in, Mazzeschi was
unable to duck Forza and his bow hit the british boat 3 feet in front
of her chainplates. bowman, stuart Miller, had his foot crushed and
was thrown into the water by the impact. one man from each of
the boats dived into the water to help the painfully injured man,
who was transferred to a fast motorboat and taken to hospital for
emergency surgery. Forza was in grave danger of sinking as the
gash on her port side ran from the waterline almost to the centre of
the deck. GBR-25 won this race from Victric 5.
The final race, over five legs, was held in 20 knots of wind and
Southern Star won from Alinghi with GBR-25 making late ground
for 3rd. The 2nd place was more than enough to give bertarelli
the championship, while Southern Star’s win was a consolation for
Calvert-Jones.
A week earlier, the warm-up event, the european Championship,
went to oscar strugstad’s Dawn Raid by ten points from Barking
Mad with Tolhurst’s Warlord VII 3rd.
2XL passes astern of the starboard
tacker...unlike Zzanzero with Forza.
Results:
1. Alinghi ernesto bertarelli (suI) 5 7 1 1 2 5 1 6 2 30 points
2. Southern Star John Calvert-Jones (Aus) 4 4 7 3 3 3 15 5 1 45 points
3. Warlord VII Philip Tolhurst (GbR) 11 3 2 6 16 4 6 15 4 67 points
4. Victric Tony de Mulder (GbR) 13 9 6 2 18 18 2 2 5 75 points
5. GBR25 Mark heeley (GbR) 8 15 4 23 1 4 9 1 3 78 points
6. Aleph hughes lepic (GbR) 9 2 16 14 9 6 14 10 7 87 points
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
7 2
Bottadiculo - Giovanni Arrivabene and Raffaele
Mincone leads Assegai - leo Christianakis and
Chris hutt off the start line
20 02 nA ssAu
7 3
2002 Nassau
The choice of venue for the 2002 championship was not made as
a direct result of the name, but Paradise Island in the bahamas
could deliver more than that for sailors, and it did for the 25-boat
fleet that used the Atlantis Resort as a headquarters. The Class
management, together with the storm Trysail Club, organised
the racing in near-perfect conditions.
It opened with a straightforward race that rewarded speed off the
starting line. Canadian Terry Mclaughlin led the intense fleet by
20 seconds at the first windward mark and was still holding the
same lead after two laps around an eight-mile course. his Defiant
beat Giovanni Arrivabene and Raffaele Mincione’s Bottadiculo by
that margin on the line, with eivind Astrup’s Norwegian Steam
finishing 3rd.
The second race appeared to be going Defiant’s way too, with
Mclaughlin leading at the first two marks. Then a rainstorm,
which packed 20-knot breezes, rolled in like a freight train to
disrupt his performance. “We weren’t really set up for it,” said
Mclaughlin, who was the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in Canada.
“We lost two places in it and another on the last leg, but I’ll take
the 4th we ended up with.”
In driving rain, the fleet sailed on its ear to a windward mark
that could barely be seen. The last downwind leg of the course
was exhilarating for many, and disastrous for others, as huge
waves created surfing conditions. While some broached, two
boats shredded spinnakers in this mini-maelstrom.
After two races, Defiant led Nerone by two points from Antonio
sodo Migliori’s Nerone, the Farr 40 european champion, who won
the day’s second race and earlier the Mees-Pierson bahamian
championship, in which Defiant finished 2nd.
It appeared at first that the second day’s racing was going to be
another good one for Terry Mclaughlin’s team aboard Defiant, but
the evening proved tough in the protest room. Defiant had won the
first and third of three races but the two victories were threatened
by two protests involving incidents at the start. In race three, the
Race Committee protested helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon for fouling
the anchor line of the committee boat. A resulting chain of protests
worked back to Defiant, the source of the problem. In race one,
Crocodile Rock, owned by Alex Geremia and scott harris protested
Defiant for barging at the start. both protests went against Defiant
and she was disqualified from both races.
We lost two places ... and another on the last leg, but
I’ll take the 4th we ended up with.
Solution – John Thomson leads
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
74
“It was unfortunate,” said Mclaughlin about the jury’s decision.
“of course I think we were correct in each case, but we either
didn’t have the right witnesses or didn’t present our case well
enough. In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done anything different on
the race course.”
“The f leet is very aggressive,” said Crocodile Rock’s tactician
Robbie haines, an olympic Gold medallist, “consistency and
staying out of trouble is the key here.” With finish positions of
12-10-2, Crocodile Rock rose from 9th to 3rd overall in the ideal
20-25 knot breezes. Also making huge gains was steve Phillips’ Le
Renard, when he posted finishes of 1-7-9 to move up from 8th to
1st overall. “As much as everyone wanted to win today, you just
have to say that a 2nd is fine,” said tactician Mark Reynolds, before
the protest results were known. he explained that Le Renard had
been winning the first race on the water until the last quarter of
the last downwind leg. It was then that Defiant passed them. “I’ve
learned from experience that in this Class, you just need to be
in the top 10 every race.” under that premise, Reynolds, a Rolex
Yachtsman of the Year and three-time olympic medallist, was
satisfied with Le Renard’s two other finishes of the day. “In
both those races, we were much deeper at times and much
better at other.” The day’s second race was won by Vincenzo
onorato’s Breeze. he came straight to this championship after
being eliminated from the America’s Cup challenger races in
new Zealand. Breeze rose in the standings to 13th.
After three light-air races on the third day, Le Renard
remained the leader, with 52 points over Antonio sodo
Migliori’s Nerone. owen Kratz’ Joss was the day’s best
performer with the lowest combination of places from a 1-9-
5 scoreline. The team had been sailing together for 14 years,
but only started Farr 40 racing at the beginning of the season
when Kratz bought his boat.
he moved from 14th to 5th in the overall standings. “I think
it had to do with our learning curve, in that we finally found
“It’s anybody’s ball
game. That’s what
makes it so much fun
in this Class.”
Nitemare – Tom neill
Deneen Demourkas steers Groovederchi
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
7 6
Samba Pa Ti - John Kilroy and Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori
Solution - John Thomson leads f leet into a squall line Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori lead fleet
20 02 nA ssAu
7 9
our boat speed in light air at this regatta,” explained Kratz, who
gave credit to John Kolius for calling “brilliant” tactics.
Two other new race winners emerged as well: John Coumantaros’
Bambakou, and the regatta’s only woman skipper Deneen
Demourkas with Groovederci. Demourkas passed the leader
of the third race, Crocodile Rock, on the last leg to claim her
victory and add it to a 13th and a 2nd. It moved her to 4th place
overall behind Crocodile Rock. “It’s anybody’s ball game,” said
Demourkas, who was within striking distance of the top three.
“That’s what makes it so much fun in this Class.”
A 1st and an 8th in the last two races was more than enough
for steve Phillips to win the championship with Le Renard.
Phillips turned in single-digit finishes in all but one of ten races,
which proved the key to his success. “It was our strategy to
stay in the top ten in every race,” said Phillips, “because the
teams here are tremendous and it’s very competitive, we took a
17th in the first race, but after that we sailed consistently and
stayed out of trouble.”
Phillips, who had also won the Farr 40 east Coast championship,
credited his tactician Mark Reynolds, with keeping everyone on
track to victory. “I’d hate to play poker with that guy, he stays so
cool,” said Phillips, “he doesn’t let us get in difficult situations.”
Phillips finished with 61 points overall and a 22-point lead over
2nd placed Deneen Demourkas’ Groovederci. she and would-be
3rd place finisher Crocodile Rock, skippered by scott harris,
were over early at the start of the second race, and in their
battle to earn respectable positions, encountered problems at a
congested mark. both boats were protested by Nerone. Crocodile
Rock lost the battle in the jury room to fall from 3rd to 5th. As a
result, John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti moved to 3rd, with Nerone also
gaining a position to finish 4th.
but for the two protests against Terry Mclaughlin’s Defiant on
the second day, the Canadian skipper would have been an easy
winner, but this is a tough fleet in which rule observance is high.
Results:
1. Le Renard steve Phillips (usA) 17 2 1 7 9 3 4 9 1 8 61 points
2. Crocodile Rock Alex Geremia
and scott harris (usA)8 19 16 2 3 13 2 1 7 12 83 points
3. Grooverderci Deneen
and John Demourkas (usA)12 5 7 8 12 6 7 16 6 4 83 points
4. Samba Pa Ti John Kilroy (usA) 6 1 15 3 20 5 3 8 13 14 88 points
5. Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma
and Antonio Migliori (ITA)11 9 11 10 1 12 6 2 3 Dsq 91 points
6. Pegasus Philippe Kahn (usA) 19 8 19 6 5 4 12 6 10 3 92 points
Barking Mad - Jim Richardson
behind Pegasus - Phillippe Kahn
and Crocodile Rock - Alex Geremia
and scott harris
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
8 2
Porto Cervo can provide perfect sailing conditions and for the
first day of the championship, that was readily evident to the
37 competing owners and crews. It was also a great day for the
defending champion, steve Phillips and the crew of Le Renard.
They led the fleet at the end of the day after two races.
There was a 45 minute delay to the first start to allow time for the
committee boat to anchor in the strong wind. once underway on
the 2-mile windward/leeward course, the leaders came from the
right side to the first mark, led by John Coumantaros’ Bambakou,
with a healthy four-boat length advantage. by the time the fleet
had reached the leeward gate, Coumantaros, assisted by tactician
Chris larson, had opened a 30-second lead, something that was
hard to break on a stable fresh day.
These fresh conditions brought broaches, loss of control when
gybing, spinnaker blowouts and even missed approaches at the
lay-lines. The next two boats, Crocodile Rock and Struntje Light,
both managing to stay clear at the front of the pack. Alexandra
Geremia’s Crocodile Rock made a late, high speed charge to the
finish but just missed out on taking the winning gun.
Then came the pack, and as with every contested mark
rounding, a different set of pretenders emerged. some exploited
opportunities to surge forwards, while others dropped back after
2003 Porto Cervo
Bambakou – John Coumantaros
Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma and
Antonio sodo Migliori
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
8 4
making boat-handling mistakes and this shook up the order of
the next 34 places. The skipper to extract himself best from this
was Phillips, steering Le Renard who clawed his way back to 4th
place.
In the second race, the fleet was spread evenly along the long
start line. Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad made the best start
from the committee boat end. Just to weather and slightly behind
was the morning’s winner, Bambakou. This pair set the pace for
the first lap of the course, with Coumantaros making all the
running, demonstrating enough extra boat speed to draw level
by the second weather mark. A slight boat-handling error by the
Bamabakou crew resulted in what had been planned as a close
port tack dip astern of Barking Mad with a stalled rudder and
an emergency tack to leeward of the leader. having committed
a foul in the process, Bambakou exonerated herself with a 3600
penalty turn. That kind of mistake costs places and as a result,
five boats sailed past.
one of the boats to slip through and eventually pass the leader
too, was Massimo Mezzaroma’s Nerone which added a win to a
13th place in the first race. Another was Phillips’ ever present Le
Renard, finishing 3rd, to post the best results of the day.
The second day was blessed with ideal sailing conditions. Three
full races in 19-23 knot winds were possible and the action was
again as tight as it can get in yacht racing. For the third race, legs
of 2.2 miles were set and while the course was further offshore
than the previous day, the left was still favoured.
The start saw the f leet bunched at the pin end with Nerone
moving out from the middle of the bunch half way up the beat to
round the mark in the lead, followed closely by steve and Fred
howes’ Warpath. These two dominated the front of the fleet for
the rest of the race battling all the way down the last run with
final honours went to Warpath.
The second race of the day started almost as soon as the last
boat had finished and ernesto bertarrelli’s Alinghi and Warpath
which had won the first race, were both recalled for premature
starts. The fleet was spread much more evenly along the line
this time although once again, the left seemed to be popular,
with Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad rounding the first mark in
the lead. The first run favoured those who found and worked the
puffs best, with most boats getting up to planing speed in the
stronger gusts. Michael Illbruck’s Nela moved into the lead and
proved impossible to catch for the rest of the race. The chasing
pack was led again by Mezzaroma’s Nerone, being guided around
a consistent day by tactician Vasco Vascotto. Nerone picked up
another 2nd place and moved into the lead overall.
Race five started into a building breeze, topping 24 knots in the
gusts at the top of the course. Most of the fleet opted for their
small no 4 jibs. Michael Illbruck placed his Nela at the leeward
end of the line for a perfect pin-end start, and kept the extreme
left hand side of the fleet for most of the beat. Two thirds of the
way up the leg, Kostecki called the tack that saw the German
Rrose La Vie - Riccardo bonadeo leads
the f leet at the top mark
opposite: Cacharaza - Marcus Vivian
20 03 P oRT o CeRVo
8 7
boat slip across the bows of three starboard tackers, the closest
being John Calvert-Jones Southern Star, to round the weather
mark with a four boat length lead.
Barking Mad had started well in the middle of the line and after
a long leg up the left hand side of the course, rounded in 2nd
place behind Illbruck. These two then sailed away into their own
private match race, swapping the lead on the first run and before
choosing the opposite sides at the leeward gate for the second
upwind leg. Illbruck again chose the left, Terry hutchinson
guiding Richardson on Barking Mad, felt the right was going to
finally come good. sailing away to the right for several minutes,
Barking Mad dropped back on to starboard to stay in touch with
Illbruck. At the end, the long awaited right hand shift of just a
few degrees came good, allowing Barking Mad to round the last
mark 1st but with a much diminished advantage. The final run in
the strongest winds of the day when the seas were running a one
metre swell, was a thriller. both boats planing and surfing down
the waves were locked in a battle to see who would make the
first mistake. Just yards before the finish, the advantage seemed
to have swung back to the German boat, but a last minute surf
saw the boats cross the line overlapped with the American just
ahead. Nerone with three top 4 places on the day consolidated
her overall lead.
With 25 knots blowing across the course by late morning and
more forecast for the afternoon, the fleet was sent to a more
sheltered part of the Costa smeralda coastline for the third day’s
racing. The course, with 1.9-mile legs, was set inside Caprera
Island with shoal water on one side and the physical extremities
of the landlocked bay on the other. The best option seemed to be
on the right hand side of the course, due to the shelter offered
from the current by the southern tip of Caprera Island. The same
piece of land also meant a tack back onto starboard below the
final weather mark lay-line, so the beat was indeed complex.
There was congestion at the committee boat end and Nerone
misjudged the approach and was blocked to weather of the line
at the gun, eventually crossing the start last. The left hand side
looked best, but half way up the leg those who had chosen the
right side started to feel the benefits of the sheltered current.
starting last proved to be far from fatal, for Nerone moved swiftly
through the fleet and back into contention.
Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad, consistently a leader at the first
mark throughout this regatta, rounded the top mark in the lead
again. next came Crocodile Rock and ernesto bertarelli’s Alinghi.
The run was fast with flat water and strong gusts propelling the
fleet straight downwind, gybing was difficult for some and many
broached out one way or the other.
by the first leeward gate, Tony DeMulder’s Victric VII had passed
Alinghi and then opted for the starboard hand leeward mark,
leaving Barking Mad and Crocodile Rock to head for the right
hand side of the course for the second weather leg. by now the
top ten had broken away from the following pack,
At the last weather mark, and with the wind building all
the time, Crocodile Rock and Barking Mad were effectively
Atalanti 11- George Andreadis ducks
Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma and
Antonio sodo Migliori
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
8 8
The port tack lay-line near the weather mark is always a
dangerous place to be. now firmly in the pack on the approach
to the top mark, Barking Mad on port, just crossed the bow of
Crocodile Rock before throwing in a hasty tack to windward.
Crocodile Rock promptly came upright in the wind shadow, the
crew on the weather rail could just watch as the mainsheet
trimmer on Barking Mad eased the sheet to accelerate, letting
the boom run along the side of the leeward boat, removing all
the stanchions and lifelines to the mast. Co-owner Alex Geremia,
the last crew member in the line sitting out to windward, also
collected the boom in her face. Crocodile Rock retired, Barking
Mad flew an ‘I’ flag accepting a 20% penalty, but the incident was
to cost Richardson dearly. When he ended up in the protest room
later, the subsequent disqualification lost him any remaining
chances of winning the championship.
back at the front of the fleet, onorato’s Breeze led all the way
down the run and opted for the port rounding of the gate and
the right hand side of the second beat. Breeze lost one place
on the second beat to eivind Astrup’s Norwegian Steam before
overlapped, with Barking Mad to weather. Jim Richardson
with a bit more speed on the spreader leg, rolled up beside the
leader who then luffed to keep the him behind. Victric VII, just
behind the two, used the opportunity to drive in to leeward and
hoist the spinnaker before the others. The three-way race for
the lead lasted all the way down the high speed run, the boats
reaching speeds of 18 knots at times in the puffs. Calling the
moment for the final gybe was key and boat-handling decided
the outcome. At the finish Crocodile Rock had escaped from
Barking Mad’s clutches and was concentrating on Victric VII,
which by now was up to 2nd.
Three races were run on the last day of the event, and
Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori’s team
on Nerone, which included tactician Vasco Vascotto, had
effectively won the regatta with a race to spare after posting
a 2nd and a 1st in the first two races. Wind conditions were
again near the top of the range although sunshine and
warm waters meant that spectacular action and enjoyment
was again to the fore.
starting an hour earlier than originally scheduled to get three
races in, the 37-boat fleet opted mostly for the left hand side of
the course, although the first two boats at the top mark, Crocodile
Rock and Michael Illbruck’s Nela found the right to be the side to
be on, rounding the first mark in the top two slots, with Nerone
following in 3rd place. The order remained the same for the next
lap until Mezzaroma’s boat again found overdrive on the last run
to collect a handy 2nd place.
At the second start, Barking Mad won the start at the committee
boat end and stormed off upwind. The points leader Nerone
starting further down the line, and Mark heeley’s GBR-25
all came together near the starboard tack layline for a long
stretch to the mark on port. With heeley to windward and
Nerone to leeward, Barking Mad was eventually squeezed
back into the pack, the former two rounding the mark in
good order behind Vincenzo onorato’s Breeze and Michael
Illbruck’s consistent Nela.
hasso Plattner at the helm of
Morning Glory
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
9 0
the second weather mark and then lost another four when the
spinnaker sheet became disconnected from the sail in the set.
Mezzaroma’s Nerone, along with Wolfgang schaefer’s Struntje
Light, pounced at this point and moved through to finish 1st and
2nd with Nela 3rd.
by now the battle was for 2nd place overall with Nerone having
only to finish outside the last three to collect overall honours.
Nela, with John Kostecki calling the shots, had started the regatta
slowly but had nothing but a string of single digit results from
the second day. ultimately it was John Coumantaris’ Bambakou
that collected 3rd overall, followed by ernesto bertarelli’s
Alinghi in 4th.
Results:
1. Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma and
Antonio sodo Migliori (ITA)14 1 2 2 4 7 2 1 18 51 points
2. Nela Michael Illbruck (GeR) 19 16 18 1 2 4 3 4 7 74 points
3. Bambakou John Coumantaros (usA) 1 7 6 12 8 26 9 17 6 92 points
4. Alinghi ernesto bertarelli (suI) 10.5 12 7 15 13 6 4 8 24 99.5 points
5. Southern Star John Calvert-Jones (Aus) 17 34 9 5 5 5 13 11 1 100 points
6. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA) 14.5 2 14 4 1 3 10 11 38 101.5 points
7. Morning Glory hasso Plattner (GeR) 13 20 3 7 3 17 8 22 9 102 points
Nela – Michael Illbruck
20 03 P oRT o CeRVo
9 3
Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori Nerone (ITA) 2003 World Champions
right: Massimo Mezzaroma & Antonio sodo
Migliori with a temporary trophy after the
World Cup had been held hostage in Customs
right: Massimo Mezzaroma & Antonio sodo
Migliori with a temporary trophy after the
World Cup had been held hostage in Customs
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
9 4
After five years, the Farr 40s were back on san Francisco bay
for the world championship and on the opening day, produced
a leader of the 31-boat fleet without professional crew, two-boat
programme or even a coach boat.
Norwegian Steam led after two races. In the first race Marco
Rodolfi’s TWT rounded the weather mark 1st ahead of Peter de
Ridder’s Mean Machine and eivind Astrup’s Norwegian Steam, but
at the leeward mark Norwegian Steam slipped ahead, a position
she clung to for the remaining three legs of the race. “We were
lucky in our choice of where we went on the course. We did more
right than wrong,” explained Astrup, “At the start we were on the
right side near the committee boat. We tacked over immediately
and had a good run out to the right. We had a small wind shift at
the end, so we overstood, but it was worth it. Then downwind, we
were catching the wind shifts and jibing on them well.”
Finishing 45 seconds after Norwegian Steam was TWT and
Takashi okura’s Sled. Mean Machine was close behind until
colliding with TWT at the weather mark. “We were coming
alongside TWT and tried to pass them at the top mark by forcing
them a little past it,” recounted Mean Machine’s tactician Ray
Davies, “The current was sweeping us up and when we tacked,
we had overlaid the mark and had to come back down. We
were having trouble getting the bow down and we hit TWT.”
Acknowledging their mistake the team performed a 720º penalty
turn, losing four places.
by the start of race two the westerly sea breeze had filled in
and was blowing 20 knots. Mean Machine had one of the best
starts, in the middle of the line. “There was a lot of sag in the
line and we had nearly a boat length on everyone around us,”
explained Davies. They continued to the left, the only occasion
today when this tactic paid, and rounded the top mark 1st ahead
of two Class favourites – Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad and
defending World Champions Antonio sodo Migliori and Massimo
Mezzaroma’s Nerone. Mean Machine extended her lead on the
run to approximately 200 yards ahead of all competitors as the
boats flew downwind in 25 knots of wind and an increasingly
choppy sea. From here de Ridder was untouchable, finishing one
minute ahead of Barking Mad.
The second race was one of mixed fortunes for the Norwegian
Steam team. After a poor start and picking the wrong side of the
first run, the team was down to around 25th place. They then
staged a remarkable recovery, getting to the right side of the
course on the second run, then hitting the left side aggressively
on the final beat to the finish 5th and take the overall lead.
The second day was one of sun, big breeze and a short lumpy
sea on san Francisco bay, conditions that were to prove ideal
We were lucky in our choice of where we went on the
course. We did more right than wrong.
2004 San Francisco
Riot – Marc ewing
20 04 sA n F R A nCIsCo
9 5Peregrine – David Thompson leads Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio
sodo Migliori, and Struntje Light - Wolfgang schaeffer to the top mark
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
9 6
for Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad. Richardson and his crew
set the tone by winning the first of three races and become
the only boat after two days to have a score line comprising
single-digit results.
The first race began in lighter conditions with the sea breeze
kicking in and building during the afternoon to more than 25
knots. Massimo Mezzaroma and Alberto sodo Miglori’s Nerone
finished 2nd followed by Mean Machine 3rd.
Peter stoneberg’s Shadow won the second race. “It was a perfect
race,” said tactician Peter Isler, “The right was favoured and we
were fast. We started in the upper third of the line, punched on
all the boats around us, and upped the speed. It was a classic
good start, our first of the regatta. We pushed for two minutes
and tacked over and I said to the boys ‘we could win this race.’
Then it all fell into place.” Richard Perini’s Evolution, then brand
new, won the third race. “We got a great start at the pin end and
were able to tack across pretty much straight after the start,”
described tactician hamish Pepper. “We had a good lead right
from the beginning. We jumped out at the start and had a good
lane across, then the breeze shifted to the left and gave us a nice
50-yard lead at the top mark. They don’t often come like that, but
when they do, it is fantastic.”
Three more solid results in the third day’s racing put Jim
Richardson‘s Barking Mad team into a nearly unbeatable position
going into the final day of the championship. With scores of 8-7-5,
Richardson‘s team had 38 points, leading Massimo Mezzaroma
and Antonio sodo Migliori’s Nerone by 35 points.
Barking Mad almost lost her comfortable lead at the start of
the second race when she was forced out to the left-hand side
of the course. When he tacked back, Richardson lost further
ground by ducking several right-of-way boats coming through
on starboard “We got around the buoy in 26th place while Nerone
was 3rd.” said Richardson. “We gybed right around the offset
mark and caught a great puff, so we gained probably 10-12
places on the run.”
Astra - Mary Coleman leads the fleet
20 04 sA n F R A nCIsCo
9 9
Barking Mad followed this with a better second beat and another
good run to finish 7th to Nerone’s 11th. “We saw the potential to
lose a lot of our lead to Nerone in that race, but the crew worked
really, really hard. We were sweating bullets trying to make the
boat go faster and make every manoeuvre as good as we could,”
added Richardson.
Despite a slow start in this regatta, onorato’s team had the day’s
best results, with a 2-1-6. ‘A good day at the office,’ as tactician
Adrian stead put it. In the first race Mascalzone Latino started
at the pin end and prospered from a shift and the tide up the left
side. At the top mark they led but were being chased hard by
Chuck Parish’s Slingshot and steve Phillips’s Le Renard. While
Slingshot pulled ahead to win the race, onorato’s team hung in
by winning a final dash to the finish line against Le Renard and
was 2nd.
Mascalzone Latino won the second race. she rounded the weather
mark in the top group and made gains on the run. “The key is
to get away fast at the top mark and put some distance on the
fleet,” said stead. “It takes so little to be at the back in this fleet.
We learned some pretty harsh lessons at the Pre-Worlds when
we wrapped ourselves around the windward mark twice. so we
did some work on short tacks – ducking and stuff like that – and
it has all helped.”
Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori
20 04 sA n F R A nCIsCo
101
The familiar logo of
Groovederchi – Deneen
Demourkas at the head of
the fleet
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
10 2
on John and Deneen Demourkas’ Groovederci, Deneen drove to
victory in the day’s final race. “We started where we wanted
to, at the committee boat, and immediately tacked right,” she
said. “It was the time of day to do that and we just kept going.
At the weather mark, Heartbreaker was to leeward of us and
came up underneath us.” Groovederci overtook Heartbreaker on
the run to take the lead, holding this until the end of the long
final beat to the finish.
The fourth day’s racing began with a shock for Jim Richardson
when Barking Mad was involved in a right-of-way incident
with Norwegian Steam at the end of the first beat. Tactician
Terry hutchinson took the wrap: “I screwed up on what I was
thinking.” Despite this setback that dropped Barking Mad into
the middle of the fleet, Richardson was able to recover to 7th
in a race won by stuart and Mary Gwen Townsend’s Virago
from scott harris and Alex Geremia’s Crocodile Rock with
John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti 3rd.
In the second race, Barking Mad was 5th round the first mark.
on the long final beat, with the san Francisco bay fog shrouding
the race course, the team lost the charge to be 1st to the finish
line by just 5-seconds. This did not matter to Richardson. “It
was close going up that last leg,” he said, “but it doesn‘t matter
whether you win by one point or one hundred.”
Richardson and his Barking Mad team became the first team in
the history of the Class to win the coveted world championship
title for a second time. “I’m very proud,” said a beaming
Richardson, clutching a glass of champagne minutes after his
boat reached the dock. “We’ve been working at this since the first
Worlds I won in 1998. It is hard to win this regatta and everything
came together perfectly for us. I had a teacher at school who said
‘you learn from doing and being done.’ We’ve been done enough
that we’ve started to learn some things from our competitors and
figured out ways to improve and it all worked out.”
With 47 points total and an exceptional single digit scoreline –
counting a 9th place in the first race was their worst finish – Warpath - steve and Fred howe cross behind Struntje Light - Wolfgang schaeffer
20 04 sA n F R A nCIsCo
10 3
optical illusion: Sotto Voce - Arien Van Vemde and
Peregrine – David Thomson, share a transom in close
quarter competition around the windward mark
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
10 4
Slingshot – Chuck Parrish the Barking Mad crew finished 40 points ahead of the defending
world champions Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo
Migliori’s Nerone.
Samba Pa Ti, top boat on the final day with a 3-1 score, was one
of the favourites before the championship, but early results in
this regatta were disappointing, including five uncharacteristic
finishes in the 20s. “We spent the week trying to get the tune
of the boat right,” explained tactician Paul Cayard. “We used a
brand new mainsail and it wasn’t what we thought it was, so it
took us a while to get things sorted out.”
Results:
1. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA) 9 2 1 4 2 8 7 5 7 2 47 points
2. Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma and
Antonio sodo Migliori (ITA)10 3 3 8 6 10 11 22 4 10 87 points
3. Warpath steve and Fred
howe (usA)15 5 2 11 17 5 18 8 11 11 103 points
4. Le Renard steve Phillips (usA) 17 10 2 26 9 3 6 14 6 12 104 points
5. TWT Marco Rodolfi (ITA) 2 16 20 23 3 4 3 10 20 8 109 points
6. Slingshot Chuck Parrish (usA) 16 9 15 5 7 1 13 3 10 6 110 points
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
10 8
We worked the committee boat end at the start and
went to the right in both races. The weather off Sydney
Heads does sometimes do the same thing twice, and
we thought going right could be a good move.
Kokomo - lang Walker
20 05 s Y Dn e Y
10 9
2005 Sydney
A move Down-under had a degree of inevitability about it – the
f leet on Australia’s east coast had grown considerably after
building of the Farr 40s had been established in Malaysia.
Appropriately, the Australian entry Ichi Ban skippered by Matt
Allen, tore up the race course outside sydney heads to win both
races on the first day and post a perfect score at the front of the
28-boat fleet.
having displayed awesome speed in the Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds
the previous week, Allen decided to stay with his tried and tested
mainsail in preference to hoisting the brand new replacement.
“From last week we knew that our upwind speed had taken a step
forward, so we went with an old main and new jibs,” he said.
Tactician Roger hickman said they had a hunch that the right
side of the course might pay off in the building north-easterly
breeze. “We worked the committee boat end at the start and went
to the right in both races. The weather off sydney heads does
sometimes do the same thing twice, and we thought going right
could be a good move.”
Ichi Ban took the first race, a two-lap, eight-mile windward/
leeward course, in comfortable fashion. The second finish –
when the wind had lifted to 16 knots – was a real nail biter as the
leader went gybe for gybe with Marco Rodolfi’s TWT. An error
with the spinnaker pole on TWT prevented her crew from having
the kite pulling properly out of the final gybe, and Ichi Ban won
by half a pulpit’s length. “but half a pulpit’s all you need isn’t it?”
commented Allen.
lying 2nd after two races was Richard Perini’s Evolution. Perini
held his nerve to finish 2nd in the opening race, but was shut out
at the committee boat end in the next, though still found a lane
out to the favoured right hand side, which pulled him back into
the competition to finish a useful 7th.
That morning, Paul Cayard’s advice for his skipper on steve and
Fred howe’s Warpath was: “Don’t hit any boats, don’t hit any
marks, and don’t get any alphabet.” by alphabet he meant to
avoid notching up any of those nasty three-letter acronyms on
the scoreboard, such as the dreaded DsQ for disqualification.
steve howe duly listened to his tactician’s advice and steered
Warpath to scores of 10-3, and place the boat 3rd overall. Cayard
was a recent signing for the Warpath team, and howe praised
him for his calm approach. “I’ve sailed with different tacticians
Don’t hit any boats, don’t hit any marks...and don’t get
any alphabet.
Shockwave – neville Crichton
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
110
Prince Frederik lost in a wave
Morning Glory - hasno Plattner Pegasus - Philippe Kahn crosses Norwegian Steam - Ivan Astrup
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
11 2
and everyone brings something different, but he is very thorough,
organised, and conservative. he doesn’t want to take high risks,
and it seems to work.” some other highly fancied boats would
have done well to heed Cayard’s simple but effective advice.
Reigning world champion, Barking Mad had to take a 720º penalty
at the start of the second race, and Jim Richardson and his team
did well to recover to 14th. however, this score combined with
a first race 8th, did not represent the start to his title defence
that Richardson would have wanted. World Champion from
2003, Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori’s Nerone,
also fell foul of a 720º penalty after infringing Evolution at the
leeward gate. lying 2nd at the time, the penalty spins saw Nerone
plummet down the rankings, and the best they could salvage was
11th place, followed by a more respectable 8th in the next.
Tactician Vasco Vascotto commented: “It is important to
remember that there is not only Barking Mad and Nerone on
the water. It’s also important to stay away from trouble, and
we got in trouble.”
Perini’s Evolution won the one race on a windy second day,
and moved into the overall lead. Perini started at the pin end,
hooked into a 10º left-hand shift in the building southerly breeze,
and rounded the windward mark 1st ahead of hasso Plattner’s
Morning Glory. The wind built rapidly from 13 to 26 knots an
hour later. Evolution turned on the afterburners and shot away
to a 30-second victory over neville Crichton’s Team Shockwave,
which in turn was 47 seconds ahead of Morning Glory. With
the wind building up to over 30 knots, racing for the day was
abandoned. Vincenzo onorato of Mascalzone Latino, described
the day as “the best race of the year”, after recovering from a
restart to score 4th, just 9 seconds behind Morning Glory. Despite
the high winds, this really was a race that demanded both
brawn and brains. There were plenty of passing opportunities,
and plenty of good decisions to be made – as well as the
fundamental need to keep the mast pointing towards the sky,
and the keel beneath the waves. Marco Rodolfi’s TWT shot up the
rankings with victories in two out of three races on the third day, Joe Fly – Giovanni Maspero
Twins – erik Maris
20 05 s Y Dn e Y
113
putting her just one point behind Evolution. TWT revelled in the
light eight-knot southerly of the first race to lead by 1 minute 40
seconds at the top mark and extend this to a winning margin of
2 minutes 33 seconds by the finish, an enormous lead in such a
tightly-fought Class. Tactician Tiziano nava explained the winning
strategy: “We sailed up the course before the race and found more
wind on the right. I also expected a shift to come from the right,
so we started at the committee boat end. All the fleet went to
the left hand side of the course, and it felt a little too risky where
we were. but when we tacked, we said: ‘believe, believe, come
on, come on.’ We tacked on 170º but soon we were on 180-185º,
so it was good for us.”
Brighton Star put in an excellent performance to finish 2nd,
11 seconds ahead of Team Shockwave, with british substitute
helmsman Mark heeley taking the wheel for the day while owner
neville Crichton was ashore.
Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad put her defence of the world title
in severe jeopardy by being the only premature starter in this
race. she turned back to restart, and did her usual amazing
recovery job to pull back to 14th by the finish.
The wind lightened for the next race; Giovanni Maspero’s Joe Fly
took up the running in the 6-7 knots of shifting southerly breeze
that wafted across the course. however, on the second beat, TWT
hooked further into a line of breeze towards the sydney shore and
overhauled Joe Fly. The final run was tense as the two engaged
in a gybing duel that left the result in doubt until the last few
metres before the finish. TWT came in to the finish on starboard
on a hot angle, and gybed around the mark to take the winner’s
gun. In the end, Maspero was fortunate to get Joe Fly across the
line ahead of the rapidly closing Warpath. Barking Mad climbed
from 13th at the first mark to 4th at the finish.
The f leet got away cleanly for the third race. Morning Glory
and TWT were forced to tack away from a second-row start,
but worst hit was Vincenzo onorato’s Mascalzone Latino,
which was last after the first lap. Emotional Hooligan – Marcus blackmore leads Norwegian Steam - Ivan Astrup and Mascalzone Latino - Vincenzo onorato
20 05s Y Dn e Y
115
If the world championship was awarded on how many boats
you could pass, then barking Mad would have won because
her ability to climb through the fleet was immense. But being
over early in one race and other errors, prevented a strong
defence of the title.
John Thompson’s Solution leads close friend
lang Walker - Kokomo around top mark
If the world championship was awarded on how many boats
you could pass, then barking Mad would have won because
her ability to climb through the fleet was immense. But being
over early in one race and other errors, prevented a strong
defence of the title.
John Thompson’s Solution leads close friend
lang Walker - Kokomo around top mark
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
11 6
I’ve sailed with different tacticians and everyone brings
something different. But he is very thorough, organised
and conservative... It seems to work.
Kokomo - lang Walker
Pegasus - Philippe Kahn Nanoq - Prince Frederik
Bobby’s Girl -
John Melville
20 05s Y Dn e Y
11 7Solution - John Thomson attacks
Fiamma - Alessandro barnaba
Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori
Brighton Star - David Gotze, chasing Barking Mad - Jim Richardson
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
11 8
At the front of the f leet, 2000 world champion John Calvert-
Jones was showing some of his old form with Southern Star,
sailing unchallenged to a victory of 1 minute 11 seconds ahead
of Marcus blackmore’s Emotional Hooligan and Evolution for an
all-Australian podium. Richard Perini’s Evolution reclaimed top
of the leaderboard at the end of the day.
Richard Perini’s Evolution won the championship by a hair’s
breadth from neville Crichton’s Shockwave. both teams finished
equal on 66 points, but it was Evolution’s race win in the windy
conditions of the second day that gave her overall victory.
TWT’s 6th place in the final race lifted her to 3rd, a further
point behind.
Three races were possible in light and fickle conditions. Evolution
extended her lead from the previous day of just 1 point to a much
healthier 12 points going into the last race, thanks to scores of
9-2. The championship seemed all but secured for Perini, but the
wind had reached its most unpredictable for the finale. Evolution
did not have a great first beat, and rounded the windward mark
15th, ten places behind Shockwave and three behind TWT. It was
expected that Perini would pull through the fleet and close out
the regatta, and it certainly appeared so by the leeward gate,
with Evolution pulling up to 13th, just two behind TWT and seven
behind Shockwave. neville Crichton’s boat did herself no favours
by yielding four places on the final beat to round in 10th place,
with TWT among those to have overtaken her.
but Evolution was having a terrible time in the conditions,
falling to 19th. she still led the championship at this stage but
could not afford any more mistakes. During the final run she
slipped again to 21st and scraped across the line just 7 seconds
ahead of Panther.
seven seconds later and Perini would have finished 3rd overall.
so close was the championship that Perini said it was a good 10
minutes after the finish before he knew that he had won. “We
like keeping the crowds in suspense,” he said, but admitted he
hadn’t enjoyed the last race one bit. Tactician hamish Pepper
20 05s Y Dn e Y
119
Richard Perini’s evolution won the championship by a hair’s
breadth from Neville Crichton’s Team shockwave. Both teams
finished equal... and it was evolution’s race win in the windy
conditions that gave her overall victory.
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 2 0
said: “Evolution didn’t spark up like she usually does. The stress
levels were pretty high, and we were just trying to figure out
what we needed to do down that last run.”
The Barking Mad crew earned themselves a consolation prize by
winning the final race by almost 2 minutes, but Richardson’s team
was deeply disappointed with the 6th place overall. Tactician Terry
hutchinson said: “I think we sailed better here than we did in san
Francisco. If the world championship was awarded on how many
boats you could pass, then Barking Mad would have won because her
ability to climb through the fleet was immense. but being over early
in one race and other errors prevented a strong defence of the title.”
“The Farr 40 Girls”- Kim Woodhouse, sam Crichton & Renee Mehl
Results:
1. Evolution Richard Perini (Aus) 2,7,1,1,6,3,9,,21 66 points
2. Team Shockwave neville Crichton (Aus) 4,17,2,3,15,6,4,6,9 66 points
3. TWT Marco Rodolfi (ITA) 14,2,9,1,1,8,16,10,6 67 points
4. Warpath steve and Fred howe (usA)
10,3,21,10,3,7,6,1,11 72 points
5. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA) 6,11,4,8,9,8,3,4,12 75 points
6. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
8,14,13,14,4,5,13,8,1 80 points
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 2 4
newport, Rhode Island and a light south-easterly breeze was
the scene for helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon to fire on all cylinders
while other leading lights stalled out during a tricky opening
day for the 38-boat f leet. The formula for Flash Gordon’s
success included helmut steering upwind then handing over to
his son evan, downwind.
In the first race of the day, Flash Gordon started at the pin end
of the line along with leading contenders like the 2004 world
champion, Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad, winner of the previous
week’s pre-worlds. Barking Mad tacked away to protect the
middle of the course, while Flash Gordon stayed on starboard tack
to round the first mark narrowly ahead of Vincenzo onorato’s
Mascalzone Latino. At the leeward gate, onorato had drawn level
with the leader and opted for the right-hand side while Flash
Gordon went left. This call paid off and Flash Gordon led for the
rest of the race, taking the win ahead of Mascalzone Latino and
Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori’s Nerone, the
2003 world champions.
The breeze had built to 13 knots for the second race. Flash
Gordon started near the committee boat this time, a strategy that
paid handsome dividends by the time she and Wolfgang stolz’s
Opus One had turned the top mark. behind them a battle ensued
for the next few places, with ernesto bertarelli’s Alinghi, which
continued to pick off boats around the course, and surfed past
erik Maris’ Twins to finish 3rd. helmut Jahn on board Flash
Gordon was delighted: “It was a dream day, we did exactly what
we wanted to do. We wanted to find a good spot on the line, and
get off the line cleanly, which we did. We’ve been working on this
for eight years”.
light and shifting winds brought massive changes to the leader
board on the second day. Mascalzone Latino put together the best
scores with a 4th in the first race and a 2nd in the next, to earn
the boat of the Day title, sponsored by new england boatworks,
hall spars, and new england Ropes. Those placings put Vincenzo
onorato’s team at the top of the scoreboard, four points ahead
“It was a dream day, we did exactly what we wanted to do. We wanted to find a good spot on the line and get off the line cleanly.
2006 Newport
Nanoq – Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
Cannonball - Dario Ferrari
Kim Woodhouse, Class cheerleader
since 2002
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 2 6
of Richardson’s Barking Mad crew. Flash Gordon by contrast,
suffered a difficult day after a series of bad starts, although
helmut Jahn’s two victories the previous day were sufficient
to keep them 3rd overall. Russell Coutts, the tactician aboard
Mascalzone Latino, highlighted the thin line between success
and failure in this 38-boat f leet. “Today we had some breaks,
some good starts, and if you can get off the line cleanly, it puts
you in the top 15.” he said adding, “but from there it’s a battle.
We didn’t make any big mistakes, compared to yesterday when I
didn’t manage that second race very well. I allowed ourselves to
get pinned out to the left and we rounded fourth last. In a fleet
this size you just can’t afford that.”
The first race of the day saw Alex Michas’ Phish Food gain a well-
timed start at the pin end and a good streak of wind on the left
side of the course to lead at the first mark. Phish Food had not
looked like a contender, but went on to score a very comfortable
victory over Dario Ferrari’s Cannonball. In the second race of the
day, Mascalzone Latino led around the first mark but allowed
eivind Astrup’s Norwegian Steam to slip by later in the race.
It wasn’t a spectacular day for Vincenzo onorato’s team on
Mascalzone Latino, but their lead in the championship increased
nevertheless. “The first race was very good, scoring a 3rd,”
commented mainsheet trimmer Adrian stead, “The second and
third races we were mid-line and going right – when the left
was paying – so they were recovery races. We also did a pretty
awesome recovery on the first beat to come back from 27th to
11th, although we later dropped back 15th. There were plenty of
snakes and ladders out there, and we did oK, probably 4th best
boat of the day, to extend our lead on Barking Mad.”
Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad clung on to second overall with
scores of 7-24-6. like Barking Mad, Mascalzone Latino also
retained her place on the leader board but behind them, all
sorts of place changing went on. The biggest beneficiary from
the tricky light air conditions was Dario Ferrari’s Cannonball
which posted a credible 5-5-3 scoreline to leap 11 places up
the rankings to 4th. Ferrari bubbled with excitement: “I have Ramrod – Rod Jabin
Mascalzone Latino – Vincenzo onorato
20 06 n e W P oRT
1 2 7
just decided to give up sailing, because after today I will never
repeat anything like that again,” he said adding; “This proves
what a fantastic Class the Farr 40 is. It shows that anyone can
win in this fleet.”
The third day brought forward three further winners: the first
by 2002 World Champion steve Phillips’ Le Renard, the next by
Wolfgang stolz’s Opus One, while the final race went to hRh
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark’s Nanoq.
Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine also looked set for a great
recovery from a poor start to the regatta, after posting 4-2 in the
first two races . he also made a great start at the committee boat
end in the final race, but a good start is not always a guarantee
to a good result, especially after a wind shift swung the balance
of play across to the opposite side of the course. While De Ridder
struggled to better 31st place, Alinghi bounced back with skipper
ernesto bertarelli notching up 2,13,8 to sit equal 3rd with Opus
One and Cannonball. “We had a very good first day, a bad second
day, and a very good third day,” said bertarelli. “now we need to
have a very good fourth day.”
In the end, it didn’t go bertarelli’s way. Instead the stronger
winds favoured Vincenzo onorato’s Mascalzone Latino team who
turned in a masterful performance to finally win the Rolex Farr
40 world championship title. “It was not easy,” admitted onorato:
“The most difficult thing in this kind of racing is how we handle
ourselves, because sometimes it is hard to stay confident. I have
tried to win this for many years, and finally I have succeeded.”
In the first race, eivind Astrup’s Norwegian Steam sailed to her
second win of the week, although the greater threat to onorato’s
overnight lead was Opus One, with Wolfgang stolz snatching 3rd
compared with Mascalzone’s 6th. In the next race, Evolution
came to the fore with defending champion, Richard Perini,
finally showing some of the form that earned him the world title
in sydney the previous year, only to then lose the lead in the last
minute to steve and Fred howe’s Warpath.
Mean Machine – Peter de Ridder
Piranha – David Voss
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 2 8
The greater interest however, was watching championship leader
Mascalzone Latino incur a 720º penalty at the first windward
mark. onorato’s championship hopes could well have disappeared
right there, but the determined skipper took 12 places on the next
downwind leg to recovered to 13th by the end of the race.
Meanwhile Opus One sailed another solid race and stolz’s 7th
place moved him to within three points of Mascalzone Latino.
unruffled by the penalty, onorato said the key to winning the
week was to remain “cool and concentrated”. he praised tactician
Russell Coutts for keeping the crew calm and focussed: “even if
things went wrong, I was not upset. before the last race, Russell
told me, ‘This is the time to win a race.’ I said, ‘Can we?’ And he
said, ‘of course!’ And he was right.”
In the final race, Mascalzone Latino struck out from the middle of
the start line in clear air to dominate from start to finish. having
scored 13-9 in the previous races, Jim Richardson on Barking
Mad was also in contention for 2nd place at least after rounding
the first mark behind onorato, but things changed dramatically
on the run back to the finish for this local newport sailor. As
the wind softened and shifted right, the boats that gybed early
profited most from the sudden change in conditions. Richardson’s
team dropped from 2nd to 12th, leaving Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban to
slip home 6th and steal 2nd overall. Allen was delighted. “We’re
ecstatic; it’s a great result. Vincenzo, Russell and the Mascalzone
Latino guys did a great job and never really opened the door for
anyone. They sailed a great regatta and deserved to win. “That
final leg was indicative of our whole regatta,” said Barking Mad
tactician Terry hutchinson, “obviously there was a shift and I
missed it. We sailed into a light spot, and the fleet sailed by. We
didn’t quite have it today or during the whole regatta, but it just
makes you appreciate how hard winning is.”
Barking Mad finished third overall, one better than Opus One,
which just missed out on the podium. Wolfgang stolz commented:
“The last run was a bitter disappointment, dropping 15 places,
after running out of breeze. but we’re very pleased to have got a
top 10 result.”
Results:
1. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA) 2,26,4,2,3,15,15,6,13,1 87 points
2. Ichi Ban Matt Allen (Aus) 4,22,17,4,6,7,20,10,5,6 101 points
3. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA) 10,14,6,8,7,23,6,13,9,12 108 points
4. Opus One Wolfgang stolz (GeR) 20,2,3,26,13,1,14,3,7,24 113 points
5. Warpath steve and Fred howe (usA) 17,11,10,23,30,4,5,20,1,4 125 points
6. Alinghi ernesto bertarelli (suI) 5,3,30,18,2,13,8,12,14,23 128 points
Flash Gordon – helmut Jahn
20 07 CoPe n h AGe n
13 5
2007 Copenhagen
It was once again the turn of europe for a world championship
and Copenhagen accepted the challenge with the race village at
the newly finished Royal Danish Yacht Club, home for 36 boats
from 13 countries. Jim Richardson won the pre-Worlds regatta.
The championship opened with a tough day on the oresund strait
with a shifting north-westerly breeze, but two Italian teams
emerged from the three races with the best scores. Massimo
Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori’s Nerone, posting 3-6-1,
finished the day with a single point advantage over defending
champion Vincenzo onorato’s Mascalzone Latino.
For Mezzaroma it was quite tricky, dealing with the shifts. he
said: “I’m glad we were here to sail for a while before the Worlds
– this Class is so tough.” That was evidenced by only three boats
keeping a double-figure result from their scores – Wolfgang
stoltz’s Opus One finished three points behind the leader.
olympic gold medallist, Tom King from Australia admitted:
“It was a question of holding one’s nerve and being patient.”
Tactician on Ivan Wheen’s Sputnik, King helped his skipper to
results of 5-30-3, he added: “There were always opportunities,
even when you were back in the f leet, to get back to
the front again.”
Three races were scheduled for the next day as well but the
weather had other ideas. The south-westerly breeze of 12-14
knots faded to 8 knots for the second race and then became so
light and fluky that the third race was postponed with the fitful
breeze threatening to drop further.
Vincenzo onorato’s Mascalzone Latino became the overall leader
at the end of the second day, after posting a 12th and then a win.
It proved that even the leaders were finding it difficult. Tactician
Adrian stead summed up their day: “The first race was pretty
tricky and our start wasn’t that brilliant. We went around the
top mark in about 15th place, didn’t have a very good run and
probably dropped back to about 19th. on the second run we got
ourselves from 20th at the top mark to 12th at the finish and
could see that every boat we got past made a lot of difference to
the overall result.”
I’m glad we were here to sail for a while before the Worlds – this Class is so tough!
Copenhagen’s famous statue.
Team Bergen – sverre Valeur
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
13 6
but Mascalzone Latino’s crew turned it around in the second
race, stead said, “I thought the left was pretty strong on the first
beat and we went for it and it paid off.” he added: “Alinghi sailed
brilliantly today. I think we were 4th boat on the day [on points]
and our goal has always been to be in the top five. halfway
through the regatta and I see that we’ve just got a small head
start.”
on the third day, it was cold and rainy, but as a compensation
there was some good breeze, sufficient for three races to be held,
even though two starts had to be postponed to enable the race
committee to alter the course to suit the shifting wind. once
more, there was a different winner for each of the races.
Consistency being the keynote for ultimate success, it was the
performance of onorato and his crew on Mascalzone Latino that
was to prove outstanding. Posting results of 3-5-5, the winner
in 2006 had a total of 37 points from the eight races and was 24
points clear of his nearest rival, Jim Richardson with Barking
Mad, on 61 points. Richardson had a score of 14-6-2 for the day
and led 3rd placed Alinghi on 75 points. The swiss team effectively
lessened their chances for 1st place when they were over early in
the last race of the day and had to return to restart.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
Calvi – Carlo Alberini
20 07CoPe n h AGe n
13 7
It was a question of holding one’s nerve and being patient....
There were always opportunities even when you are at the
back of the fleet, to get back in front again.
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
13 8
I feel wonderful. Mascalzone latino 1st. Alinghi 2nd. It’s my
dream. Next dream is to do that in the America’s Cup maybe.
Infinity – John Thomson
Barking Mad – Jim Richardson
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 4 0
Two races were planned for the last day, but as with the best laid
plans, it needed great patience on the part of the race committee
to run even one. Three hours of delay elapsed before the ninth race
began. It was all worthwhile for the locals, for hRh Crown Prince
Frederik of Denmark won the race from Wolfgang stoltz’s Opus One,
followed by John Thomson’s Infinity in 3rd. With Alinghi 7th and
Mascalzone Latino 10th, the first two places were settled and even
a 26th for Barking Mad didn’t keep Richardson off the podium.
onorato became the first skipper to achieve back-to-back
championship victories in the Class with a 35 point lead over
Alinghi. Barking Mad finished a further five points behind.
The winner, after being dunked at the dockside, said: “I feel
wonderful. Mascalzone Latino 1st, Alinghi 2nd. It’s my dream.
next dream is to do that in the America’s Cup maybe. Winning
and defending the Worlds is just a matter of luck maybe.”
he continued, “The secret was just to be relaxed. It is just a sail
race and you must stay relaxed all the time. When things are
happy you must not be so happy. When things are wrong you
must not be so unhappy. This is the secret to be successful. I have
wonderful people on board. This world championship does not
belong to me but to them. because I have this wonderful crew, we
won, and with this wonderful crew we will win again. I sincerely
mean that.” Alinghi sailed a great regatta – only an oCs in the
eighth race took them out of contention for the overall title —
especially good, given the team hasn’t been in the Farr 40 Class
for a while. ernesto is keen to continue in the Class and said to
me that he had plans to ship the boat to the us to race in Key
West Race Week and the next Worlds in Miami.”
Norwegian Steam – eivind Astrup Opus 1 – Wolfgang stolz
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 4 2
Results:
1. Mascalzone Latino
Vincenzo onorato (ITA)2,2,7,12,1,3,5,5,10 47 points
2. Alinghi
ernesto bertarelli (suI)18,5,4,2,5,5,2,34,7 82 points
3. Barking Mad
Jim Richardson (usA)
7,16,5,1,10,14,6,2,26
87 points
4. Sputnik Ivan Wheen
(Aus)
5,30,2,5,6,10,1,19,13
91 points
5. Opus One
Wolfgang stolz (GeR)
4,3,6,16,28,32,7,3,2
101 points
6. Nerone Massimo
Mezzaroma and Antonio
sodo Migliori (ITA)
3,6,1,11,18,21,37(DsQ),7,8,
112 points
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 4 6
Vincenzo onorato scored his third successive world championship
in the turquoise waters off Miami. his impact on the Farr 40
Class had not been dulled and his victory was the reward of
consistency despite an almost crippling setback before racing
even started. At the finish it was close and needed the successful
outcome of a protest against his closest rival, Giovanni Maspero,
to decide the issue.
on the day before the championship, onorato lost the services of
his long-term aide and tactician, Adrian stead, who was rushed
home for the early birth of his first child. It was a blow to the
whole crew, which regarded stead as a very special ingredient
within the Mascalzone Latino team. That evening onorato
declared, “My championship is over.”
Many of his 32 competitors were wishing his prediction would be
correct, but onorato was to prove himself wrong. he secured the
services of Morgan larson as a one day replacement for stead,
while John Kostecki re-arranged his life at short notice to attend
the championship. For a while the Italian must have wondered
whether his eventual choice was correct – larson left with the
latin Rascals leading on points and Kostecki’s first race saw the
team score its lowest result – a 14th.
Maspero and his Joe Fly team had been quite prepared to gloss
over a foul committed by a good natured Danish competitor at
the start of an earlier race when Joe Fly had barged in at the
committee boat. but a second protest, brought by Mascalzone
Latino, as a third party against Joe Fly for fouling Richardson’s
Barking Mad on the approach to the first windward mark of
the penultimate race, drew a fierce retort from Maspero, who
threatened to not only withdraw from the championship, but the
Class if vested interests caused him to lose the protest.
The problem, as far as the Italian was concerned, were the
bMW oracle Racing connections between the jury and the
Mascalzone Latino crew. In an open letter to the Race Committee,
Maspero stated: “everyone knows that Tom ehman, chairman of
the adjudicatory committee, works for the American bMW oracle
That evening onorato declared. ‘My championship is
over... Many of his 32 competitors were wishing his
prediction would be correct.
2008 Miami
Groovederci – John Demourkas crosses Nerone – Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori
Plenty – Alex Roepers crosses behind Nanoq - Crown Prince Frederik
20 08 M I A M I
1 47
team. likewise Richard slater, another member of the 2008 Farr
40 Worlds jury. Another judge present, henry Menin, worked for
the oracle Team in 2000. And John Kostecki, Mascalzone Latino’s
tactician in Miami, the person who formally lodged and argued the
case against Joe Fly, is also an employee of bMW oracle Racing.
The close links between Mascalzone Latino and bMW oracle
Racing are common knowledge.”
Maspero was grasping at straws and went into threatening
mode: “The conflict of interest is too blatant. This situation
led us to reject the Jury’s decision, whether or not an appeal is
possible. And it leads me to undertake whatever action I can,
in the interests of the Joe Fly team obviously, but above all for
everyone who invests in this sport, so that everyone may enjoy
equal rights, safeguards and dignity.”
history was not on Maspero’s side. When members of the Alinghi
team complained about ehman chairing the International
Jury at the 2007 world championship in Copenhagen, the
matter was referred to IsAF, which cleared ehman of any
conflict of interest. Maspero’s final dart thrown at the committee
was a press release issued two days after the championship had
finished, stating: “We are convinced that judgements and rankings
in this sport should come from the water and not an adjudicators’
room.” suggesting that the way in which the sport has been run
for over a hundred years was incorrect and implied that the
right-of-way rules meant nothing.
Filibustering aside, the rest of the fleet enjoyed some of the best
racing ever in the 11 year history of the Class. Robert hughes’
Heartbreaker won the first race from Takashi okura’s Sled,
followed by the defending champion Mascalzone Latino.
The second race went to Joe Fly from Atalanti steered by George
Andreadis’ son, stratis, with Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine 3rd.
Mascalzone Latino won the third race of the day from traditional
Italian rival, Massimo Mezzaroma and his Nerone crew, with
former champion, Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad 3rd. It was
enough to transport onorato to the top of the points table.
Nerone – Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori leads the f leet
Ramrod – Rod Jabin crosses Infinity – John Thomson
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 4 8
Mascalzone Latino
- Vincenzo onorato
powers upwind
Flash Gordon helmut Jahn
Morning Glory leads
Alinghi - ernesto bertarelli
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
15 2
With the northerly breeze forecast to veer, there was considerable
thought about the course on the second day and after a slight
delay, Wolfgang stolz’ Opus One led from start to finish and won
by 3 minutes 15 seconds ahead of Barking Mad, Rob Jabin’s
Ramrod and Martin and lisa hill’s Estate Master. significantly
Mascalzone Latino and Joe Fly were back in 14th and 15th.
A wind shift at the start of the fifth race had the whole fleet fighting
for position on the right hand side of the course. Mascalzone Latino
gained most and led around the first mark from hasso Plattner’s
Morning Glory and henrik Jansen’s Silver Bullet. once they were
heading downwind Silver Bullet flashed past the leader, and Nerone
also gained eleven places to round the bottom gate 3rd. At the
finish, Nerone won from Silver Bullet with the latin Rascals 3rd.
The sixth race was notable for the flashy starting tactics displayed
by the Mean Machine crew. skipper Peter de Ridder with Ray
Davies calling the shots, found a gap at the committee boat end
of the line, hit it at speed, tacked immediately into clear air on
port tack and was never headed. It was left to the rest to fight out
the lesser places. Joe Fly was 2nd ahead of ole van der heide’s
Asterisk with onorato 5th behind erik Maris’ Twins. Mascalzone
Latino finished the day top boat, one point ahead of Joe Fly and
one more from Barking Mad.
Day three witnessed two general recalls and then a Z flag start
(penalising any early starters 10%, or three points). This caught
out Twins – the only premature starter – which was unable
to recover and finished last. Estate Master led around the
windward mark but was passed by helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon
on the second windward leg. Jahn however could not sustain the
pressure and fell back to 3rd at the finish behind the Australian
yacht and Barking Mad. Joe Fly was 5th and Mascalzone Latino
6th, narrowing the championship lead to just two points.
The second race of the day again witnessed a general recall under
a Z flag. The second start saw two boats penalised - one of them
being ernesto bertarelli’s Alinghi which led throughout the race.
The swiss yacht was followed home by Joe Fly and Mascalzone
Fiamma – Alessandro barnaba
Goombay Smash – William Douglass
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
15 4
Latino, which reduced the championship leader’s advantage to a
single point. The penultimate race saw the protest incident that
led to Giovanni Maspero’s undoing and overshadowed Ramrod’s
start-to-finish win ahead of Mean Machine and Crown Prince
Frederik’s Nanoq. The bitter feelings between the two rival Italian
teams could easily have overflowed into the final race, especially
as only one point divided them at the top of the championship
standings. but to the credit of both Mascalzone Latino and Joe
Fly crews, neither tried to initiate a private duel.
In the end, Wolfgang stolz’ Opus One took up the front running
on the first downwind leg and held off all opponents to become
the only boat to win two races. Joe Fly’s 5th would have been
enough to win the championship had she not been disqualified in
the previous race, and the World Cup went instead to arch-rival
Mascalzone Latino which finished 9th to win the championship
for a record 3rd time in succession.
Results:
1. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA) 3,12,1,14,3,5,6,3,7,9 63 points
2. Joe Fly Giovanni Maspero (ITA) 9,1,8,15,6,2,5,2,34(DsQ),5 87 points
3. Mean Machine Peter de Ridder (Mon) 24,3,9,9,14,1,14,9,2,17 102 points
4. Nanoq Crown Prince Frederik (Den) 13,15,16,20,17,9,4,13scp,3,4 114 points
5. Calvi Network Carlo Alberni (ITA) 6,9,12,33,26,14,7,7,4,2 120 points
6. Alinghi ernesto bertarelli (suI) 8,14,6,6,7,20,9,4scp,32,15 121 points
*scp indicates an added scoring penalty.
Mean Machine - Peter de Ridder Calvi – Carlo Alberini
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
15 8
Great competitors: Barking Mad - Jim Richardson crosses
Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma & Antonio sodo Migliori
20 09 P oRT o CeRVo
15 9
Kokomo – lang Walker
2009 Porto Cervo
Porto Cervo laid on one of the feasts for which it is famous in
the sailing world. For the opening day. Jim Richardson’s Barking
Mad had a narrow three-point lead over Vincenzo onorato’s
Mascalzone Latino and Giovanni Maspero’s Joe Fly. These first
three races were held in 16-22 knot westerly winds and were all
won by boats that had started well.
Maspero and his Joe Fly team were competing in their first
regatta of the season and their performance after the previous
championship proved a show of force. but, the crew with the
biggest grins at the end of that first day were worn by the
Australians on Transfusion. skipper Guido belgiorno-nettis was
suitably impressed. “It was a wonderful day with tremendous
conditions. We made a few mistakes in the first couple of races
where we didn’t quite clear the start as we would like, but we’re
also here to figure out how it all works. This is the first time
we’ve competed against the big boys of the Class.”
Doug Douglass, owner of Goombay Smash, had to admit that a
bad start was responsible for a fall from grace in the third race.
he commented: “We were fast both upwind and down, but in the
last race didn’t find our lanes as nicely as the previous two. It
really helped to get a clear lane off a good start.”
In the first race Barking Mad led Joe Fly and Mascalzone Latino
round the first windward mark. by the second windward mark
Mascalzone Latino had overtaken Joe Fly and Maspero’s team
then fell further back, crossing the finish line 4th behind
Alessandro barnaba’s Fiamma.
The breeze then dropped to 16 knots for the second race. At the
first windward mark. Massimo Mezzaroma’s Nerone, with Vasco
Vascotto calling tactics, led the f leet ahead of Alberto Rossi’s
Enfant Terrible and lang Walker’s Kokomo. Nerone and Enfant
Terrible held their positions through the leeward gate but Goombay
Smash moved up to 3rd, then overtook Enfant Terrible during the
second windward leg to finish 2nd behind Nerone.
The winds developed into a true Mistral for the start of the
third race. Transfusion took the lead ahead of helmut Jahn’s
Flash Gordon and Barking Mad from the start. Flash Gordon
took over from Transfusion during the downwind leg and they
were followed into the gate by Mascalzone Latino. Transfusion
This is the first time we’ve competed against the big
boys of the Class.
Gianfranco Alberini - A good
friend to the Class.
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 6 0
then clawed back her lead on the final windward leg ahead of
Mascalzone Latino and Flash Gordon.
onorato commented: “We had the kind of conditions we like
today. The Mascalzone Latino team does well in brisk winds. We
took 2nd place overall today but there is still a lot of racing left in
this championship. I think we have made an error. We didn’t go
to sail on the Australian circuit where the winds are strong and
constant, so we haven’t fully completed our training for strong
wind conditions.”
Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad, Giovanni Maspero’s Joe Fly and
Massimo Mezzaroma’s Nerone held their nerve best during the
second heavy weather day of racing and led the fleet. neither race
got away cleanly. The first required two attempts, the second
three. In the first, two boats still had it wrong second time round
despite the threat of a Z Flag – which adds an irredeemable
three-point scoring penalty for boats over early. In the second,
eleven more sailed the course under the shadow of the penalty
flag. Those away cleanly had a relatively easy day. both Barking
Mad and Joe Fly led races from start to finish, Joe Fly having
the better day, posting a 4th, but Barking Mad had a 6th in the
second race, and remained 1st overall.
If those three were the movers, the shakers were Transfusion
for one, with a scoreline of 3-20, and Mascalzone Latino did only
slightly better, with 17 points, pulled down by a Z flag penalty
in the second race. Another potential front-runner, Alessandro
barnaba’s Fiamma totalled 34 points, which put a severe dent in
her championship challenge.
Positions only began to solidify during the third day of racing
when Barking Mad had a 6 point lead over Nerone with Joe Fly a
further 10 points adrift. Defending champion, Mascalzone Latino
appeared to be out of contention altogether but bounced back
with a win in the first race. It proved a false dawn, for two 13th
places later, any aspirations the Italians had of retaining their
championship were dashed. Barking Mad’s 6th kept her at the
front of the fleet, but Nerone had closed the gap.
Good Fellas – ettore Morace
Transfusion - Guido belgiorno-nettis
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 6 4
Nerone opened with a 2nd, then won the next race, but in the
building south-westerly breeze undid the thread by being over too
soon at the start of the third. In that race, Marco Rodolfi’s TWT
finally showed her true potential, passing helmut Jahn’s Flash
Gordon on the final leg to win. Jim Richardson’s crew on Barking
Mad pushed hard to limit the potential loss to Nerone. sitting
behind Goombay Smash and Flash Gordon at the first leeward
rounding, Richardson and his tactician Terry hutchinson worked
some special magic to pass first Doug Douglass, and then slip
in front of helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon at the second windward
mark.
Those two precious places meant the difference between
Barking Mad leading overall at the end of the race or seeing
her position eroded still further. The third race of the day
proved even more critical. Vascotto looked to seize the initiative
on Nerone appearing to hit the line perfectly and at speed.
but a few seconds later, Nerone was heading back to restart
- one of two boats to have been caught over the line early by
ever-vigilant race officials.
With the f leet heading left, Nerone went right. At the first
windward mark she was 19th and it looked game-over when
Barking Mad rounded 3rd, a position she never gave up. At
the finish Nerone recovered to 8th, but from Jim Richardson’s
viewpoint, the two-time world champion could not have been
better placed going into the last day. Richardson chose his
words carefully: “I think we are sailing very well. We are sailing
conservatively, not taking chances, sometimes starting at the
wrong end of the line to avoid getting congested or pushed over
the line.”
on the last day, two races were sailed in winds gusting up to the
mid-20s. Nerone put down a marker by winning the first race
of the day and set up a winner-takes-all final race. Mascalzone
Latino won the race, but significantly, Jim Richardson’s Barking
Mad crossed the line ahead of Massimo Mezzaroma’s Nerone to
secure the title for a third time – the first time an American boat
had won outside of home waters. Atalanti - stratis Andreadis
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 6 6
Nerone went out all guns blazing by taking the left side of the
course and, popping out from the pin-end of the line to steal the
left hand advantage up the first beat and lead Giovanni Maspero’s
Joe Fly and helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon to the finish. Barking
Mad, opted for the centre and rounded the top mark mid-fleet.
undaunted, Richardson’s crew dug deep to pull themselves back
up to 6th at the finish and retain a tenuous 1 point lead going
into the final race.
The significance of this was not lost on the 2nd placed Nerone
skipper: “Whoever come home in front in the next race will win
the championship. It rarely happens that after nine races with
250 points to win or lose, that just 1 point would divide us. It is
very exciting.”
At the start, Nerone headed left once more but on Barking Mad,
the lure of the left was not as strong. This was a conservative
crew after all. According to Richardson: “We just looked at each
other immediately before the start 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?”
After, Richardson confessed to some troubled thoughts: “I never
doubted my team’s capability, but leading wire-to-wire adds
extra pressure with each successive race. In 1999, we led going
into the last race and ended up 3rd, so that was in the back of my
mind. but I felt pretty comfortable that we were going to be able
to have a good start and get around the course in good shape. We
knew we had our hands full, and just had to sail well.”
At the end of the first beat, Barking Mad found herself in 2nd
place, hot on the heels of Alessandro barnaba’s Fiamma and
overtook the Italian boat at the offset mark with a textbook
spinnaker hoist. Counting back to Nerone, it was evident that the
left had not paid. All Barking Mad had to do was to keep in front.
“They gained on us on the second beat, but we were safe down
at the bottom mark” recalled hutchinson, adding : “From that
point it was about minimising damage and sailing a good clean
race to the finish.”
Mangusta Risk – Andrea Canavesio
Nanoq - Prince Frederik leads Flash Gordon - helmut Jahn
20 09 P oRT o CeRVo
1 6 7
Results:
1. Barking Mad
Jim Richardson (usA)1,6,4,1,6,6,3,3,6,2 38 points
2. Nerone
Massimo Mezzaroma (ITA)5,1,13,2,4,2,1,8,1,8 45 points
3. Joe Fly
Giovanni Maspero (ITA)4,5,5,4,1,19,2,6,2,5 53 points
4. Mascalzone Latino
Vincezo onorato (ITA)2,10,2,9,8,1,13,13,7,1 66 points
5. Flash Gordon
helmut Jahn (usA)
20,4,3,11,11,20,4,2,3,3
81 points
6. Plenty
Alex Roepers (usA)
12,13,19,13,10,4,15,5,4,7
102 points
For Richardson, it was 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 were 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. our basic philosophy
throughout the regatta was not to take chances, or risks. When
necessary we ducked boats rather than try to force an issue. our
point score is a tribute to how well we sailed the boat. our worst
race was a 6th and that is pretty good.”
Vincenzo onorato, the outgoing, three-time world champion,
laughingly remarked that his last race that year was also the
first race of his 2010 campaign. “This was a wonderful story for
the Class.” he added.
Vantas Cube – Martin strobel
Nerone – Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 7 0
Flash Gordon – helmut Jahn crosses
Transfusion – Guido belgiorno-nettis
2010 C A sA De C A M P o
1 7 1
2010 Casa de Campo
Australians Martin and lisa hill sailing Estate Master won the
five-race pre-Worlds at the Casa de Campo resort in la Romana,
Dominican Republic. They had spent a full week acclimatising after
their long trip to the Caribbean venue. hill was clearly enthused
about his team’s pre-Worlds victory but cautioned, “There’s always
a voodoo about winning the pre-Worlds. It’s bad luck, but then
I’m not into superstitions, and have got to take any international
regatta that I can. It is lovely – the wind, the sunshine, and just
being in the Caribbean – it’s just fantastic here.”
such enthusiasm was in stark contrast to attitudes elsewhere in the
world, for the economic recession led to a depleted entry of just ten
boats from four nations.
The first race was delayed by two hours while Race officer Peter
Reggio allowed a light south-south-westerly breeze to fill in – a
wise move when temperatures were approaching 350C.
Transfusion skippered by Guido belgiorno-nettis, led the pack
from the pin end. he admitted later, “We decided we wanted
to go conservative at the start – we found ourselves a nice little
lane. Then we just kept out of trouble, though Tom slingsby, our
tactician, must have felt it was just worth staying were we were,
for we didn’t do many tacks and we got to the top mark 1st. From
there we kept that gap all the way to the finish in very light, very
challenging conditions…It was very exhausting.”
The breeze increased slightly to 12 knots for the second race, and
the fleet became tightly packed at the pin end of the start line.
Massimo Mezzaroma’s Nerone was very close to being over early,
and clearly thought they were, for her crew turned the boat around,
sailed back and re-crossed the start line even though there was no
recall. so it was all the more impressive when Nerone clawed back
from last place to finish 5th. Vasco Vascotto, Nerone’s frustrated
tactician said, “When we came back (to restart) we gave a big
present to everyone. We had an opportunity to do better. The 4
points we lost today - I hope it is enough for the competitors!”
Transfusion won the second race too, after moving up from 3rd at
the first mark to lead at the start of the final run to the finish. by
the third race however, Guido belgiorno-nettis’ luck had run out,
along with the wind which dropped back to 6-8 knots. Instead, Doug
Douglass’ Goombay Smash led from the pin, followed by Estate
Master, Transfusion and Wolfgang schaefer’s Struntje Light on her
hip. It was only on the final leg that Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad
came into the equation. Richardson said: “The wind had lightened
up a bit, and people were getting cranky, having been out in the
heat all day. I thought our crew did a really good job of sailing in
those conditions. everyone kept their focus.”
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 7 2
Barking Mad was 2nd around the first mark and chose to round
the leeward gate while Goombay Smash and Nerone both opted for
the right hand side. heading downwind to the finish, Barking Mad
started to reel in Goombay Smash. Richardson recalled, “It’s hard to
defend downwind in light air, and we got inside of them with a bit
more pressure and sat on their air.” The finish looked too close to
call until just before they crossed. Barking Mad found a touch more
wind to cross the finish line by a short head.
Activities on the water were wiped out by a lack of wind on the
second day, and it was not much better on the third.
It appeared that Vasco Vascotto, Nerone’s tactician, might hold the
answer to the outcome in the palm of his hand. even when Nerone
appeared slow on the first beat, Vascotto pulled out all the stops to
take the Italian boat from 8th to 2nd in the day’s opening race.
In the next, Nerone went one better, winning convincingly from
Goombay Smash, having had the good fortune of watching from the
back of the fleet when a massive wind shift forced the first start to
be abandoned. After they re-started, everything went Nerone’s way.
4th at the first mark, and with Transfusion buried, the Italians even
overcame a sail handling error at the bottom mark that cost them
dearly. Vascotto explained: “Today was one of the most wonderful
days of the past few seasons. We had two 1sts, one 2nd and a 7th.
These are conditions that we like a lot. We found passing lanes,
we were ‘in phase’ with the shifts. now, only two points divide us
from Transfusion. Tomorrow will be tough, but it will be tough for
Transfusion too.”
not many tacticians could match that good fortune. Two-time
olympic silver medallist Ian Walker, the tactician on Doug Douglass’
Goombay Smash, was close to putting a gun to his head after
counting 7th and 10th places, but ending the day with two podium
places helped considerably. “It was not physically tough out there”
he said, “but it was mentally very hard. In the first two races we
were dreadful, just getting on the wrong side of some huge shifts.
There was a little bit more wind in the last two races, it was a bit
more regular, we sailed well and were rewarded with two 2nds.”
Goombay Smash - Doug Douglass
Enfant Terrible - Alberto Rossi
2010 C A sA De C A M P o
1 7 5
Transfusion was last at the Pre-Worlds, so heading into the final
day with a slender lead was a massive surprise bonus. no one was
taking anything for granted. slingsby headed for early bed: “I’m
not doing anything special tonight. Just sleep. The more sleep the
better! It could be an early start, so I’m just going to rest up and
hopefully the team will too.”
With three races needed to complete the series, Race officer Peter
Reggio brought forward the first signal to 10:00. happily the wind
was on his side.
The Australians had a two-point cushion at the start of the day,
but belgiorno-nettis knew it was not enough to feel comfortable.
he had to stay in front of Nerone. The Italians, however, had
proved wily foxes, capable of sniffing out an advantage from
the most improbable situations, and did so at the bottom mark
rounding during the day’s first race. Transfusion, running 2nd to
the eventual winner, helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon, rounded the
right hand gate mark and tacked almost immediately. Nerone,
charging down under spinnaker with the crew’s minds firmly
on a clean spinnaker drop, found themselves completely out of
position. Nerone fouled her Australian rival and was forced to take
a penalty turn. They did so, and limited the damage to 1 point
by the end of the race.
With the wind still swinging as it increased in strength, the next
race was all about keeping in phase with the shifts. Vasco Vascotto
managed to keep Nerone on the right track and did a better job than
Transfusion. The difference between the 1st and 5th places they
scored respectively, turned the balance in favour of the Italians
for the first time in the championship. Nerone now led by a single
point and the tactics from there on could not have been simpler.
As the breeze continued to build at the start of the last race, the
Italians went straight into match race mode. Transfusion slipped
their initial cover, gaining a good start at the committee boat end,
but the two seemed bound to each other around the marks. The
Australians had an additional problem; they needed another boat
between them and Nerone, and for a time it appeared that Enfant
Fiamma – Alessandro barnaba
Enfante Terrible - Alberto Rossi
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 7 6
Varied conditions in the Dominican Republic provided very challenging conditions... It was exhausting!
The need for a spreader
mark becomes obvious
Fiamma – Alessandro
barnaba and Enfant
Terrible – Alberto Rossi
2010 C A sA De C A M P o
1 7 7
Struntje Light – Wolfgang
schaefer leads Barking Mad
– Jim Richardson
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 8 0
Terrible might oblige. but twice the Nerone crew shut the door by
tacking on their fellow countrymen, leaving Barking Mad to sail
further away in the lead. As the breeze continued to increase, tension
mounted on the final downwind leg. Transfusion threw in a couple
of gybes, hoping to induce Nerone into a broach, but it was all to no
avail. Nerone rolled over the Aussies and won the championship by
a 2 point margin.
The final day was Jim Richardson’s. Barking Mad chalked up a 2-3-
1 score-line to take 3rd overall.
After losing the 2009 championship in the final race, Massimo
Mezzarona was ecstatic. “This world championship win has a lot
of meaning for us because Antonio sodo Migliori, my co-owner
and helmsman, had a very bad accident. We’ve done this for him
and simon, who’s been sailing with us for ten years. These two are
injured at home, so it was very important for us to get this result.”
Results:
1. Nerone
Massimo Mezzaroma and
Alberto signorini (ITA)
2-5-5-2-1-1-7-4-1-2,
30 points
2. Transfusion
Guido belgiorno-nettis (Aus))
11-1-3-3-2-6-5-3-5-3,
32 points
3. Barking Mad
Jim Richardson (usA)
4-3-1-10 -3-3-3-8 -2-3-1,
38 points
4. Estate Master
lisa and Martin hill (Aus)
7-2-10-8-4-9-1-5-2-7,
52.5 points
5. Fiamma
Alessandro barnaba (ITA)
5-7-6-1-7-1-10-6-6-4-6,
58points
6. Enfant Terrible
Alberto Rossi (ITA)
6 -10 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 4 - 4 - 7 - 8 - 4 ,
58 points
Nerone - Massimo Mezzaroma &
Alberto signorini
Fiamma - Alessandro barnaba
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 8 4
Flash Gordon – helmut & Ivan JahnHooligan - Marcus blackmore
leads fleet of the start line
2011 s Y Dn e Y
1 8 5
2011 Sydney
The racing in the 2011 world championship, held off sydney, could
not have been closer. While three boats shone on the opening day, it
came down to a battle between two of them for the outright honour.
That battle continued right through to the tenth and final race
when just 2 points separated them, and with no other challenger
for the title, the outcome remained in doubt until the finishing line
was crossed.
The die, however, was cast on the opening day in a north-easterly
airstream that increased from 8 to 15 knots – a pattern that was to
be maintained throughout the championship – with a reasonable
swell off the heads. From the outset, PRo, Peter ‘luigi’ Reggio, kept
the 20-strong class in order, tolerating no unnecessary premature
starting, preferring to identify the individuals at fault.
The defending champions, Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo
Migliori’s Nerone with Vasco Vascotto as tactician, made it readily
apparent that they were not going to relinquish the title easily.
While lisa and Martin hill’s Estate Master, guided by the three-
time laser world champion, Tom slingsby, took the first race,
Nerone was hard on their heels.
Then Nerone stamped her authority on the fleet in the second race
with a win to lead the series when Estate Master slipped to 8th.
Vascotto, who has been with this team for several years, said of the
crew that they had bonded so well over that time, that he admits
that even if he were given the opportunity: “I would not want to
replace any of the amateurs on board with professionals“. That
was no faint praise.
Guido belgiorno-nettis was displaying consistency in Transfusion
with a couple of 4th places. he had finished 2nd to Nerone at the
previous world championship and now was in the same relative
position to the Italians and a point ahead of Estate Master.
There was the most wind of the day for the third race and
Nerone was called over early and had to go back. This left Estate
Master and Transfusion to duke it out with Wolfgang and Angela
schaefer’s Struntje Light. The hills took the winning gun, but
Transfusion’s 2nd place put her on level points with Estate Master.
by recovering to 10th, Nerone was 3rd overall at the end of the
first day. belgiorno-nettis, who had swapped slingsby for John
Kostecki as tactician, must have been happy with his choice. The
olympian, who had won this championship twice before as well
as the America’s Cup and the Volvo ocean Race, is well known for
Enigma - David Gotze and Michael
Cranitch battle Struntje Light - Wolfgang
schaeffer
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
1 8 6
his strategic consistency.‘luigi’ delayed the start of the second
day’s racing to allow the sea breeze to fill in and began race
four with 10 knots from the north-east. An unlikely Vascotto call
saw Nerone starting at the pin end. It proved her undoing since
she finished 10th, a position that was subsequently improved by
two places when two boats that had finished in front of her were
disqualified on protest. Transfusion led all the way round to win
from helmut and evan Jahn in Flash Gordon with Struntje Light
3rd, but the German boat was one of those disqualified for an
incident at the weather mark first time round.
The next two races proved a triumph for the defending champion,
when Nerone led all the way round from Jim Richardson’s
Barking Mad with Andrew hunn and lloyd Clark’s Voodoo Chile
3rd. Transfusion, after being 3rd for the first round, slipped to
7th at the finish. The sixth race caused some grief for ‘luigi.’
The second general recall brought the radio comment from him:
“Come on guys, that’s as bad as I’ve ever seen you!”
This brought the fleet to heel and it was away cleanly the next
time. Active management of the race course is essential in
‘luigi’s’ view, “I have to be on top of the boats, watching their
angles. The race boats will tell me of a wind shift long before the
mark boats.” With the wind swinging from 070° to 035° during
the afternoon, more than once his team was forced into action,
shortening course lengths and resetting marks.
Nerone led from the committee boat end of the line all the way
around the course to win from Voodoo Chile and Barking Mad,
but a 4th for Transfusion was sufficient to keep belgiorno-nettis
at the front, just 1 point ahead of the Italians. Estate Master had
slipped slightly – 11 points further behind in 3rd place overall.
The championship was developing in a characteristic manner.
Conditions were much the same on the next day and first off
belgiomo-nettis made it clear that he wanted to win. Transfusion
led for the first round of race seven but allowed three boats to
slip in front before the finish. That finish could not have been
closer when Dougie Douglass’s Goombay Smash shaded out Estate Master – lisa and Martin hill
Flash Gordon - helmut and evan Jahn cross Transfusion - Guido belgiorno-nettis
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
19 0
Struntje Light by the thickness of her spinnaker on the line with
lang Walker’s Kokomo 3rd just ahead of Transfusion, which was
able to retain the overall lead from 6th placed Nerone.
The wind was almost due north for the 2nd race of the day and
reached 15 knots. It was tailor-made for Nerone, who led all the
way around from Barking Mad. Flash Gordon claimed 3rd just
ahead of Marcus blackmore with Holligan, in turn one place
ahead of Transfusion. At the end of the day Nerone led by 1 point
from Transfusion and then there was a 20 point gap to Flash
Gordon.
At the top, it was a reversal of the previous year when Transfusion
led by 2 points from Nerone, and this must have been in the back
of both skippers’ minds as they began the final day. When they
finished the ninth race 1st and 2nd, Nerone led by 2 points with
only the final race to come. And what a race that proved to be.
Nerone, abandoning her usual committee boat end start, was
blanketed in mid-line, and despite a 1.8 mile windward leg, this
appeared to seal her fate. Jim Richardson took Barking Mad into
the early lead, hotly pursued by Transfusion, Flash Gordon and
Estate Master. Nerone was 8th around the windward mark. The
two leaders held their positions on the run while Nerone slipped
to 10th after taking an early gybe.
The last windward leg was shortened to 1.6 miles. At the weather
mark, Barking Mad held a 15 second lead over Transfusion, while
Nerone had climbed to 7th. Could the Italians do enough to retain
their title? A 4th would have been enough to level the points and
for them to win on countback. Places were changing all the time
and it looked at one stage as though the mission impossible might
be made possible. but Transfusion held on to 2nd place behind
Barking Mad and then the Transfusion crew looked back to the
finish line to see Goombay Smash, Estate Master and Voodoo
Chile cross before Nerone.
Guido belgiorno-nettis and his crew leapt into the air in
realisation of their objective – reversing last year’s result and
Plenty – Alex Roepers leads Struntje Light - Wolfgang schaefer
Edake – Jeff Carter crosses Voodoo Chile – Andrew hunn and lloyd Clarke
2011 s Y Dn e Y
19 3
Results:
1. Transfusion Guido belgiorno-nettis (Aus) 4 4 2 1 7 4 4 5 2 2 35 points
2. Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma and
Antonio sodo Migliori (ITA) 2 1 10 8 1 1 6 1 1 6 37 points
3. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA) 15 10 5 9 2 3 10 2 5 1 62 points
4. Flash Gordon helmut and
evan Jahn (usA)11 2 9 2 8 5 11 3 4 9 64 points
5. Estate Master lisa and Martin hill (Aus) 1 8 1 5 9 10 12 12 8 4 70 points
6. Goombay Smash William Douglass (usA) 9 6 17 10 11 16 1 6 3 3 82 points
becoming the world champions for the first time. The skipper
admitted: “It is a big achievement, it’s still sinking in. I joined the
class in 2007 and in the first year we decided to have a shot at
the Worlds. It’s been a three year programme and it came down
to the last race. We certainly peaked at the right time.”
Though noticeably disappointed, Vasco Vascotto, Nerone’s
tactician was gracious in defeat: “Transfusion was the best boat
of the week. The way they recovered in the first race, for us, that
was the clear signal that they were still alive. It’s the reverse of
last year, which is good for the class.”
The 2012 World Championship will be held in Chicago.
Struntje Light - Wolfgang schaefer
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
19 6
Day one of the 2010 Farr 40 european Championship at Porto
Rotondo saw the ten yachts compete in two windward-leeward
races in light and tricky conditions. Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad
with hamish Pepper on tactics, led the overall classification at the
end of the day with as many as eight more races to be run. behind
Richardson was Plenty owned by Alex Roepers with Chris larson
calling tactics on equal points with Massimo Mezzaroma’s Nerone.
After a long wait, the first race started in 7 knots of east south-
easterly breeze. Plenty dominated from the start and was followed
round the windward mark and the leeward gate by Nerone, the
2010 Farr 40 World Champion, with Vasco Vascotto calling tactics.
on the second upwind leg both Plenty and Barking Mad chose the
left side and by the first mark Barking Mad had climbed through
to 2nd place ahead of Nerone. These three held their positions to
the finish.
by the start of the second race, the prevailing Mistral was blowing
off the coast at approximately 12 knots. once again, Plenty was
hot off the mark, led Wolfgang schaefer’s Struntje Light, Barking
Mad and Andrea Canavesio’s Mangusta Risk. Nerone and Fiamma
were over the line early at the start and the resulting penalty left
them well back in the fleet. on the second beat, the changing winds
handed the lead to Barking Mad, and Richardson’s crew rounded
just ahead of Mangusta Risk and Alberto Rossi’s Enfant Terrible,
with Plenty slipping back to 6th. Mangusta Risk took the lead on
the final downwind leg but in the fight to the finish, Barking Mad
managed to slip across the line inches ahead of her Italian rival.
Enfant Terrible, with Pietro D’Alì calling tactics, took 3rd and Nerone
recovered to 4th.
The changing winds handed the lead to barking Mad
on the second beat.
2010 European championship
Charisma – nico Poons leads the f leet from the middle of the start line...
... and looks to have a head start on the rest of the fleet
Vivian Rodriguez a good friend
to the class
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 0 0
Jim Richardson was understandably pleased with the day’s work:
“It was very shifty, but we did a pretty good job of being in the
right place on the course. It worked out pretty well.”
Talking about the second race Richardson added: “We rounded
the leeward gate 4th with Plenty leading Struntje Light and
Mangusta Risk, which then went to the left hand side of the
course, and we went right, Mangusta came back on us and ran
neck and neck with us all the way to the line.”
Italy’s Nerone, owned by Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio
sodo-Migliori with America’s Cup veteran Vasco Vascotto
calling tactics, led the standings after five races, followed by
Barking Mad and Plenty.
During the next three races, each approximately 6 miles long, the
fleet saw winds increase from 10 knots at the start of racing to
22 knots with gusts of 26 for the final legs of the third race. The
winning guns went to nico Poons’ Charisma, Struntje Light and
Alessandro barnaba’s Fiamma.
The third race of the series proved a hard-fought duel between
Nerone and Charisma which finally stole the lead on the second
upwind leg. Struntje Light finished 3rd.
The Mistral picked up to 18 knots for the start of the fourth race.
Nerone won the pin end but the Italians found themselves over early
and were quickly relegated to the back of the fleet once her crew
had completed their penalty turn. Remarkably, they recovered to
round the windward mark in 3rd place behind Struntje Light and
Charisma, positions they maintained to the finish.
helped by Kiwi sailors Ray Davies and Tony Rae, Alessandro
barnaba’s Fiamma shone through in the third race of the day
as she stormed round the course well clear of the rest of the
pack. Plenty, with Chris larson on tactics, moved up to 2nd place
on the first downwind run, leaving Struntje Light, Charisma,
Barking Mad and Nerone tightly packed behind to fight out 3rd,
a battle which Nerone won.
Fiamma – Alessandro barnaba leads at the top mark
Nerone – Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori.
2010 eu RoPe A n Ch A M PIonsh I P
2 01
Charisma – nick Poons crosses
Nerone – Massimo Mezzaroma and
Antonio sodo Migliori
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 0 2
Struntje Light - Wolfgang schaefer leads Barking Mad -
Jim Richardson and Enfante Terrible - Alberto Rossi
2010 eu RoPe A n Ch A M PIonsh I P
2 0 3
Porto Rotundo
Vascotto was quietly confident about the next two days racing:
“unfortunately we start early in at least one race a day! We are
sailing well though and are now leading by 3 points so we recover
well each time. I am very happy with the performance of the crew
and though Barking Mad, Plenty, Struntje Light and Charisma are
also sailing well, we are happy with what we are doing.”
Two windward-leeward races were held on the fourth and final day,
which brought the fleet to its full quota of ten races. sirocco winds of
15 - 18 knots, sunshine and a rising swell provided ideal conditions.
The battle for top spot was now between Nerone and Barking Mad,
and with the Italians scoring two bullets with Barking Mad right
on their tails, decided the issue. Antonio sodo Migliori was clearly
pleased with Nerone’s performance: “We are more than happy. We
set out to be cautious, just wanting to stay close to Barking Mad, but
it was one of those days when things go well. We were fast and we
found ourselves in front each time and we held on to that.”
Vasco Vascotto, Nerone’s tactician, explained how this victory
was one of the team’s most significant to date and marked the
return of their injured co-owner and helmsman sodo Migliori,
following a helicopter crash earlier in the year: “This was a very
important regatta for us because it was our first with Antonio
back at the helm. It was a miracle that he is still with us and
participating in the european championship was a motivation of
his over the past months.”
ed broadway - Hooligan, winner of the Corinthian Trophy
2010 eu RoPe A n Ch A M PIonsh I P
2 0 5
“The whole week was great,” he continued. “Today was particular
because we had to make sure we kept that 4 point lead. It was not
easy because you have to control your opponent and concentrate
on sailing well. I chose the pin end in the first race, which was a
mistake, I realized we were being pushed into a corner but we kept
our cool and went round the back of everyone to get back in the
middle of the course. It was our best move of the day. once we got
in front of Barking Mad, we just had to stay there. In the second
race everything went right for us and we were lucky.”
“Nerone sailed a very good regatta,” agreed Jim Richardson. “We
have been battling against them for ten years. sometimes we get
them and sometimes they get us. We had a pretty good regatta
here, we sailed well although a couple of moments could have
gone better. our hats are off to Nerone. They did better. Vasco and
Antonio and the Nerone crew have been sailing together for a very
long time and they’re very good. Struntje Light also did a good job
coming 3rd - there was a full on battle for 3rd place that came
down to the very end.”
Results:
1. Nerone
Massimo Mezzaroma (ITA)
3,4,2,3,3,5,1,3,1,1
26 points
2. Barking Mad
Jim Richardson (usA)
2,1,4,7,4,2,7,1,2,2
32 points
3. Struntje Light
Wolfgang schaefer (GeR)
8,5,3,1,7,1,5,2,6,3
41 points
4. Plenty
Alex Roepers (usA)
1,6,5,4,2,4,4,6,4,7
43 points
5. Charisma
nico Poons (Mon)
6,8,1,2,5,7,2,8,3,5
47 points
6. Fiamma
Alessandro barnaba (ITA)
5,7,7,9,1,6,3,4,7,6
55 points
Monick –
David brae-holm
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 0 6
2010 north american championship
Rod Jabin and the crew of Ramrod dominated the 2010 Rolex Farr
40 north American Championship, taking the first two races at
Annapolis from the defending champion helmut Jahn with Flash
Gordon. In the third race, Jahn reversed the order and raised the
hopes of the other seven competitors for the next two days.
With Chris larson in charge of tactics, Jabin destroyed those
hopes conclusively, winning all three races the next day and the
two on the final day to post 9 points from the eight races. “It’s
pretty remarkable to have won; we’ve never done so consistently
well,” said Jabin, who had owned Ramrod since 2005, and had
won the recent Annapolis nooD Regatta. “We had a solid crew;
the rig was good, the sails were just right,” he added, pointing
out that his crew has been together “for some time,” with larson
joining earlier in the year. Endorphin – erik Wulff
Nightshift - Kevin McneilYellow Jacket – larry bulman and Jeff scholz
2010 noRT h A M eR IC A n Ch A M PIonsh I P
2 11
Results:
1. Ramrod
Rod Jabin (usA)
1.1,2,1,1,1,1,1
9 points
2. Flash Gordon
helmut Jahn (usA)
2,2,1,3,4,2,2,4
14 points
3. Nightshift
Kevin Mcneil (nZl)
4,5,3,2,2,3,3,6
16 points
While the first two days of racing challenged teams with 18-25
knot winds on Friday, increasing to 20-30 on saturday, sunday
served up a more moderate 10-15 knots of breeze. Ramrod showed
slick crew work throughout, sometimes making winning look
easy by leading at all marks. At other times, however, it wasn’t
so straightforward. “In both races on sunday, we got pushed
back pretty hard by Flash Gordon,” said Jabin. “We were lucky
to sneak out from under them and be able to weave our way back
through the fleet. Then it was like a big rubber band; we’d go
forward and come back, forward and come back, and whoever
got the last shift won.”
Kevin Mcneil’s Nightshift also demonstrated good crew rapport,
resulting in two strong 2nd place finishes on day two, as well as a
3rd in a photo-finish with Flash Gordon, to end the championship
3rd overall.
Bellerophon - Rick and skip sinclair crossing Yellow Jacket - larry bulmam and Jeff scholz
Rod Jabin and his winning Ramrod team
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 1 2
2011 australian championshipWorld champions Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori
sailing Nerone, stamped their authority on the 2011 Australian
Championship and announced their intention for the World
Championship that followed, by winning with a 7 point margin
from former world champion, Jim Richardson. Mezzaroma was
absent, but the crew dedicated the victory to their joint skipper.
“We are a little sad with no Massimo,” said tactician Vasco
Vascotto, “but last year we sailed without Antonio and hopefully
we will all sail together soon.”
The Nerone scoreline of 6,1,6,1,1,1,6,3 was one of brilliant consistency
across a range of wind speeds on the offshore courses. The final
race was shortened when the already light wind showed signs of
disappearing altogether.
Wolfgang schaefer won the Corinthian division with the always well-
sailed Struntje Light, repeating the performance of the German team
in the earlier summer sprint series. “It was a tough competition and
some of the best sailing in the world,” said schaefer.
The opening day saw a southerly breeze that peaked at 17 knots,
over a course set on the Macquarrie Circle off sydney’s south head,
and ended with two boats tied on points after three races for the 20
boats. Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad and Guido belgiorno-nettis’
Transfusion had each scored 9 points, but Richardson, who won
the opening race from belgiorno-nettis, led after the countback.
Antonio sodo Migliori and Massimo Mezzaroma’s Nerone was a
further 4 points further back; they had won the second race from
helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon, while brett neil’s White Cloud won the
3rd from Transfusion.
The second day was a total triumph for the Italians who scored
three bullets. It couldn’t have been better. no one could come near
Barking Mad closing on the windward mark - Jim Richardson
Hooligan - Marcus blackmore
2011 AusT R A l I A n Ch A M PIonsh I P
2 15
to matching the Nerone performance and the world champions took
over the lead. “It was a perfect day today. We wish we could have a
day like this at the Worlds,” remarked Nerone crewman, Massimo
bortoletto.
There was a consistent 20-25 knot north-easterly breeze on the
Manly Circle, north of the heads and Nerone reversed the points
situation with Barking Mad to lead by 4 points after six races.
helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon moved to 3rd after Transfusion fell off
the pace and trailed the leader by 19 points in fourth place.
It had been planned to sail the two final races inside sydney
harbour but PRo, Peter ‘luigi Reggio decreed otherwise. “We
could not guarantee a fair race inside. The breeze was too
unstable.” he admitted. lisa and Martin hill’s Estate Master
clawed her way back onto the podium in 3rd place after a 1st
place in the morning behind Nerone and Barking Mad, which
gave the hills the Australian Farr 40 Circuit victory. “It was
again down to the wire with Transfusion,” said hill, “racing with
the regulars and welcoming old faces back to the class.”
Results:
1. Transfusion Guido belgiorno-nettis (Aus) 35 points
2. Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori (ITA)
37 points
3. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA) 62 points
4. Flash Gordon, helmut Jahn (usA) 64 points
5. Estate Master lisa and Martin hill (Aus) 70 points
6. Goombay Smash William Douglass (usA) 82 points
Estate Master - lisa and Martin hill crosses Sputnik - Ivan Wheen
Nerone - Massimor Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori lead Goombay Smash - William Douglass around the bottom mark
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 1 6
Raced between America and Canada by clubs situated on the Great
lakes, this great event dates back to 1896 when a challenge was
issued by the lincoln Park YC of Chicago to Canadian yacht clubs.
The first match, won by the appropriately named Beaver from
the Royal Canadian YC, was held off Toledo. subsequently the
trophy became known as the Canada’s Cup, and was presented
to the Royal Canadian YC as a perpetual challenge for friendly
competition between yacht clubs of the two nations bordering the
Great lakes.
Competition has been both fierce and friendly for more than a
century, and since 2001, has been sailed in Farr 40 Class boats.
It has necessitated slight alterations to the class rules with regard,
particularly, to the owner/driver situation, which is not appropriate
for the event, but the limit of four professional crew is retained.
The Farr 40 has proved to be the perfect vehicle for match racing,
producing a series of incredibly tight finishes. Maximum excitement
has been maintained and many of the races have finished with the
two boats overlapped on the finish line with only seconds separating
them. The classic was in 2007 when bob hughes’ Heatbreaker for
the usA was level with Alek Krisajic’s Honour at 4-4, and finished
their deciding race with less than half a boat’s length separating
them as they crossed the line overlapped. Winning deltas of less
than 10 seconds have been common on the four occasions (40
races) when the Farr 40s have been employed.
When the first Farr 40 Canada’s Cup was held, the RCYC had the
distinct advantage of having Terry Mclaughlin, one of the most
experienced match racing skippers in the world, to lead the team
in the best-of-13 match. Mclaughlin, sailing Defiant against the
defender, Robert hughes of bayview YC with Team Saturn, took the
series 7-5 and returned the Cup to Canada in grand style.
The same two skippers met again two years later and Mclaughlin
retained the Cup with a similar scoreline. The next defence, by
Krisajic, saw challenger Robert hughes from the bayview YC
squeak the decision in the 9-race series. The Cup was back with
the united states for the 12th time.
After another three-year break, the Cup was defended by Don
Wilson’s Convexity from the Chicago Match Race Centre YC
against Grant hood’s Vincere from the Port Credit YC. Wilson had
canada’s cup
Vincere – Grant hood (CAn) crosses Convexity – Don Wilson (usA)
C A nA DA’s Cu P
2 1 7
established the Match Race Centre YC very close to where the
original challenger, lincoln Park YC, is situated on the Chicago
shore. It was a well-planned regatta, with races set with target times
of 60-75 minutes using four windward/leeward round courses.
Day one on the 2010 event was all Wilson’s. The 11-18 knot north-
westerly provided a lumpy sea that best suited the home team
and the united states posted a 3-0 score. Despite the scoreline,
the racing was close with plenty of match racing action. The next
day, Grant hood swung back into the battle, winning the 1st race,
but Wilson took the next. The last race of the day was Canada’s.
having won the start, they controlled the opponent to make the
score 4-2.
More lumpy seas on the final day gave the defenders the initiative,
despite the challenger proving the faster downwind. Wilson
maintained control to the finish where only half a boat’s length of
clear water separated the two for the united states to win by 5-2.
Macatawa bay YC will host the 23rd defence in 2011.
Year Yachts helmsman Club series Winning Yacht Country
2001Defender Team Saturn Robert hughes bayview YC
best of 13Defiant
(7-5)Canada
Challenger Defiant Terry Mclaughlin Royal Canadian YC
2003
Defender Defiant Terry Mclaughlin Royal Canadian YC
best of 13Defiant
(7-5)Canada
Challenger Heartbreaker bob hughes bayview YC
2007Defender Honour Alek Krisajic Royal Canadian YC
best of 9heartbreaker
(5-4)united states
Challenger Heartbreaker bob hughes bayview YC
2010
Defender Convexity Don WilsonChicago Match Race Center
YCbest of 9
Convexity
(5-4)united states
Challenger Vincere Grant hoodRace Center YC Port Credit
YC
Win standings since 1896 to 2010: usA 13, Canada 9
Convexity – Don Wilson (usA) leads Vincere – Grant hood (CAn)
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 1 8
Terry hutchinson has seen many aspects of yacht racing in the
widest variety of boat from the America’s Cup to J24s, and was
winner of the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year award in the united
states in 2008. In that year, when he contributed to many other
winning yachts, he was only able to record an 8th aboard Jim
Richardson’s Barking Mad at the world championship. he was,
however, able to help Barking Mad redress the balance in 2009
in Porto Cervo. After that win, hutchinson was cheerfully able
to comment on the Class and some items of special interest. he
began with whether he had found the championship any different
to what he might have anticipated.
“It wasn’t really much different than expected. Three Italian
boats, Nerone, Mascalzone, and Joe Fly were all very well
prepared and fast. Probably the biggest surprises were the fact
that TWT and Calvi were not at the front since they were very
fast in Capri. We did have slightly different conditions though, so
maybe that had something to do with it. other teams that showed
a lot were Americans Alex Roepers’ Plenty and helmut Jahn’s
Flash Gordon. both came on strong at the end.
“our strength was that Barking Mad was able to stay in the
top 6 for all ten races; only Joe Fly, which was 3rd, came close
to that consistency, although they had a 19th. We believe we
know what the main factors we possessed to help us avoid any Terry hutchinson ‘high-fiving’ with Jim Richardson after winning the world championship.
The tacticians have their say
T h e TAC T IC I A ns h AV e T h eI R sAY
2 19
Struntje Light - Wolfgang schaefer, Twins - erik Maris,
Transfusion bow 16 - Guido belgiorno-nettis and Estate
Manager - Martin and lisa hill in close mark rounding
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 2 0
big score that would ruin our regatta – it was boat speed. We
were bloody quick and inevitably in the situations that were
tough to hang, our boat speed carried us. I always banged on
about being as smart as we are fast, and this was one of those
regattas. next was the fact we started well, conservatively
away from traffic.
A lot of times we were giving up line bias to guarantee we could
go straight off the line. but again, that goes back to the fact that
we were confident in our speed. The final point would be that our
teamwork was as consistent as the result. Inevitably it takes all
the pieces to be in place and the team to be rock solid.
“The Farr 40 Class is healthy. The 2011 world championship saw
20 boats and 5 countries represented in an economic environment
that nobody was very positive about. To me that speaks volumes
about the Class, the owners, and the competition.
“one of the reasons for this is the stability of the Class, its rules
and the owners’ determination to see that these are adhered to. It
is all very streamlined. occasionally there are little measurement
items like a shackle here and there, but for the most part
everybody knows the rules and complies. A lot of it comes from
the fact that the Class management does good work at keeping
everybody honest. You cannot underestimate the importance of
Enfant Terrible - Alberto Rossi,
Kokomo - lang Walker and
Goombay Smash - Doug Douglass
round top mark
T h e TAC T IC I A ns h AV e T h eI R sAY
2 2 1
that with any class, and the fact that the Farr 40 is going strong
is a good indication of the owners association and leadership
from stagg Yachts.
“The Class has always had one crew weigh-in prior to each
event. For us on Barking Mad, we chose to sail with ten, which
inevitably means a smaller team, but an extra set of hands in
a lot of the manoeuvres can be more beneficial. Inevitably the
need for smaller people means that we choose to have women
with us on the boat. linda lindquist-bishop and Derby Anderson
have been with the team for a while and we are very fortunate
to have them.”
The Class uses its own system of rule observance by umpires, of
which hutchinson approves. “The on-the-water umpire system is
in place not to access penalties, but to let the competitors know
when the judges have witnessed a foul or situation.
by blowing a whistle it lets competitors know that the judges
have seen something and that somebody should do a penalty.
It can be fairly busy at these event because the race track is
often left-hand biased. That inevitably leads to 85% of the fleet
coming into the top mark on port tack. however, all in all, it is
a good system since it avoids late nights in the protest room for
all involved.”
Adrian stead (standing) - the
thinking man’s tactician.
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 2 2
Goombay Smash - William Douglass close
with Enfant Terrible - Alberto Rossi, chasing
Kokomo - lang Walker
T h e TAC T IC I A ns h AV e T h eI R sAY
2 2 3
Adrian stead, with three world championship victories to his
credit, is the most successful tactician the Class has known and
he was keen to outline what crucial talents were of importance
for a tactician in the Farr 40 Class. “not only are you a tactician
in the Farr 40 Class, you are also the owner’s coach and mentor.
The primary reason why the owners are in the Class is to have
some fun and great racing.
“From Vincenzo’s perspective, he lives for it. It’s his release
from work. It’s about getting owners out on to the race track and
helping them to be as successful as possible. We also have our own
job, trying to get good starts and judging the wind shifts right.
That’s why, when you look at the most successful partnerships in
the Farr 40 Class, the tacticians and their owners end up being
very good friends. You need to understand the person you are
advising – what makes him tick. I know Vincenzo knows what
makes me tick, so that he gets the best out of me.
“not only that, but we have to interact well with the other nine
or ten people on the boat. so, there’s a lot on top of the normal
tactician’s job. You can’t take anything for granted; you are the
tactician, coach, and team motivator. You have to get the best
out of some very good amateurs, as well as the professionals on
board. It’s a challenging but very good role. If you get it right,
Barking Mad tactician look ahead
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 2 4
the satisfaction is almost better than sailing on an all-pro-team.
In the Farr 40 Class we are trying to juggle between getting the
best out of your owner’s abilities and getting the balance right
between having fun - and improving the whole time.”
stead believes that it is all a question of balance in the
relationship with the owner, the crew and the tactician that
makes the difference. he says: “When you look back at the most
successful teams, the majority of the crew has been together from
the beginning. Take Gerry Mitchell and myself. The first time
we sailed together was with Jim Richardson at block Island in
1998, when fresh off the Volvo ocean Race yacht Silk Cut. That
relationship has continued through Barking Mad and Victric, and
for the last four or five years on Mascalzone Latino. The Italians
in the crew have been there for years, Matteo savelli, for example,
has improved and matured as we’ve sailed with him, and now you
see him as a potential team manager of an America’s Cup team.
There’s more to the relationship if it is to function correctly.
“The whole thing begins well before the start of the regatta
– it’s having a good rapport with the team, so that when you
are sailing the boat, you are already ticking together.” says
stead, adding. “What is most important is getting comfortable
with the conditions. on race day, we try to get out and develop
a real feel for going upwind and downwind, so that the owner
is happy with it.
“The daily preparation – a lot of it is about instilling confidence in
the whole team, not just the helmsman. With Mascalzone Latino
that came with time in the boat and having the confidence.
Winning the first regatta was the hardest one because after that
we had the confidence to believe we could win. It was achievable.
so, in terms of our pre-start, it’s a case of sailing around, getting
used to the conditions, and trying to paint a picture of what you
are going to do up the course.
some people like different conditions; some like strong winds,
others prefer lighter breezes. on Mascalzone Latino back in 2003,
sailing in strong winds was not the team’s strong point, but I have
always loved sailing in a breeze and we very quickly turned that
on its head. We called it ‘hooligans’, which was effectively how
we sailed the boat; and ‘ballerinas’ in the light. When racing was
cancelled because it was too heavy, we would still go out and
blast around, just to show people that we could. We enjoyed it.
“When Russell Coutts came to sail with us in 2006, he made
a real inroad in terms of Vincenzo’s confidence. Indeed, in
september 2005 when we knew that Russell was coming with us
the next year, we won our first regatta. That and the addition of
Tim burnell to the crew, made a huge difference.”
“When a crew reacts symbiotically, the actual sailing becomes
less difficult, but there is also an overriding need for careful
planning. “The prime thing is where you want to go up the beat
and to place the boat on the start line to be able to do that. Farr
40 scoring is such that there is no discard; every mistake and
everything that you do right counts in the end.
“so it comes down to how much you want to win the start, or
win an end versus getting a clean start, and letting crew-work
and boat speed work itself out around the course. Also, when
courses are set with PRos of the calibre of Peter ‘luigi’ Reggio,
who understand whether it is going to pay to the left or right up
the first beat, they set the line at a skew so that there are options
all the way along the line. It is great, but more often than not all
the usual suspects are still crowded together at the top mark,
even after 2.2 miles.
“Keeping clean is ultra-important and tacticians and crews
are mature enough not to put our owners in tricky positions.
Instead, we sail to our strengths and not port tack the fleet every
start. There is always a balance, and if you have a bad first beat,
the guys who knuckle down and know how to sail up through
the fleet will come through and get themselves into a regatta
winning result.”
Terry hutchinson is adamant that while boat speed is vitally
important, extra boat speed is never easy to obtain in a one-
T h e TAC T IC I A ns h AV e T h eI R sAY
2 2 5
offset mark in action, an idea
pioneered by the Farr 40 Class
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 2 6
Peter de Ridder for example, was an owner/driver of Farr 40,
then went to the TP52 circuit and won it. so this is the level they
have reached now, the Farr 40 Class.”
he was magnanimous about his involvement with a successful
team: “It is down to the team. This is a group that is ten years
together. every single person knows exactly what to do on the
boat. here we have four professional sailors on board, but even if
I have the opportunity to sail with the ten professionals sailors, I
do not think I will change my crew with anybody, because, right
now, all these guys are doing exactly what professional guys can
do. This is the reason why we are competitive - ten years in this
class. so it is a matter of a good crew all together.”
Vasco Vascotto watches carefully for the helmsman of Nerone
design Class. Adrian agrees with Terry: “Yes, definitely. The best
thing about a one-design Class is that it highlights how successful
your team is in terms of creating speed and sail development.
You might have the best sails, but if the mainsheet trimmer does
not have that relationship with the helmsman that encourages
him to get 100% out of the boat in terms of speed, then you are
not going to be at the front.
“The most successful people are not the newcomers to the Class,
they are people who have spent time understanding how to get
the best out of the boat in all conditions. For example, the Nerone
guys have been racing together since 2000; both Vincenzo and
Jim have been there since 1998. When you look back at them
and realise that Jim has now probably done 75 regattas in the
Class, that’s an awful lot of experience, sailing the same boat
over the last seven or eight years with the majority of the same
guys. that experience counts. It gives you that extra 10 feet when
approaching the weather mark and carries you a little higher up
the ladder.
“It’s all those little things that mount up and bring out an amazing
team dynamic that gets the best out of the boat. You are sailing
with four pros and six amateurs, the success of the amateurs is
what gets you the results.
“speed is always good. The only venue we have sailed at where
speed was probably the least important was at the Worlds in
Denmark. There, it was very shifty and there were opportunities
where you could have got away with not being too quick.”
Vasco Vascotto, another of the championship winning tacticians,
believes that unlike the professional circuit, it is only fair to
give the guys who pay the money the chance to play with their
boats, “This kind of guy has the opportunity to sail with the
professional sailor. They train a lot, they are not just sailing. We
do sundays of training all day. We did in the past, speed tests. We
did everything that we are doing normally with the professional
guys. I do not want to say that they are professional, but they are
good enough to beat professional guys. Can you imagine that,
T h e TAC T IC I A ns h AV e T h eI R sAY
2 2 7
Southern Star - John Calvert-Jones & Damien King caught
in a close-quarter duel with Kokomo - lang Walker
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 2 8
hull # oRIGInAl oWneR CuRRenT oWneR CuRRenT boAT nAMe CounTRY/ReGIon
buIlT bY CARRoll MARIne
40001 steve Garland Tosh neminsky Ohana usA - West Coast
40002 Ken bruneflod Ken bruneflod Hurrycane 3 sweden
40003 lorenzo Galmes Andrea Canvesio Mangusta Risk Italy
40004 John Thomson William Francis Solution usA - Great lakes
40005 Phillip Tollhurst Mauro Puddu Cacharaza Italy
40006 George Carabetta leif sigmond & Marcus Thymian Norboy usA - Great lakes
40007 Yuji narumi nishida Ryutaro Ninja XI Japan
40008 steve Kaminer on Deck Racing Predator usVI
40009 Irvine laidlaw united states naval Academy Seawolf usA - east Coast
40010 edgar Cato John leman Bobby’s Girl Australia
40011 Doug Taylor Zoltan Katinski White Knight usA - West Coast
40012 Jim Richardson Grant larsen Wolfpack norway
40013 noT buIlT
40014 bill Ziegler us Coast Guard Academy Gem usA - east Coast
40015 bill steitz Frederic scheer Farr Niente usA - West Coast
40016 butch Tompkins on Deck Racing Bandit usA - Virgin Islands
40017 Graham Walker Per Arne nilsen Happy Happy norway
40018 shigeyuki suzuki shigeyuki suzuki Swing XI Japan
40019 Josephine emery hughie lewis Eurocentral Australia
40020 John Calvert-Jones eric Moog Dynamo Canada
40021 Walt logan Matthew short Short Shipped Australia
40022 skip PurcellGürsel ozturk, Ayhan Karaca,
Taner halacoglu 7 Bela Turkey
40023 eric sissener Michel Tiberini Hagakure France
40024 John Kilroy lumijarvi/linnovaara Siragusawa Finland
Farr One Design - register40
FA R R on e DesIGn - R eGIsT eR
2 2 9
hull # oRIGInAl oWneR CuRRenT oWneR CuRRenT boAT nAMe CounTRY/ReGIon
40025 Peter Tong Jeff Carter Revolution Edake Australia
40026 Tony buckingham Rob Goddard FarrFalina uK
40027 Alexis Michas Arnd Frohne Glorious Dream Germany
40028 Mario Ikeda Yoshio Jimbo Mario Express Japan
40029 Vincenzo onorato erik Wulff Endorphin usA - east Coast
40030 Mark healy Tom Parker Stressless usA - West Coast
40031 borys Jaymowycz Christian Gremion French Kiss Mexico
40032 Mark bregman larry bullman & Jeff scholz Yellow Jacket usA - east Coast
40033 Jack Woodhull Wes huston Wooly Bully usA - West Coast
40034 John Ryan on Deck Racing Swordflounder usA - Virgin Islands
40035 George Andreadis startis Andreadis Atalanti XI Greece
40036 Dickie scruggs stuart Townsend Virago usA - Great lakes
40037 brian Jackman Dirk Freeland Skain Dhu usA - West Coast
40038 steve Mash Chris Whitford Hot Lips usA - Great lakes
40039 Mike Condon Kinoshita Javelin Japan
40040 stuart brotz suzan Zinth Albablu Germany
40041 Richard Grunsten Chuck brewer Heartbeat usA - West Coast
40042 John Delaura henrik Jansen Silver Bullet Denmark
40043 Warren levins Gary beer Sundance usA - east Coast
40044 helmut Jahn steve ellis Splash Gordon Australia
40045 Tom neill Rob Ruhlman Spaceman Spiff usA - Great lakes
40046 Kevin boyle Tony Pohl Twisted usA - West Coast
40047 Richard Marki Jeff Janov Dark Star usA - West Coast
40048 Philip Dowd Philip Dowd Inferno usA - Great lakes
40049 Kouichi Agatsuma Kouichi Agatsuma Dottoressa Japan
40050 Alan Field Ray Godwin Temptress usA - West Coast
40051 eduardo Ramos Jacob l'orsa Farrig norway
40052 oscar strugstad Mark Cloutier Shazzam Canada
40053 Rennie Miller Johann-Philipp Reith Hobbytry Germany
40054 stuart Greenfield & David Murrin ergin Imre Provezza 5 Turkey
40055 John Calvert - Jones bero Vranic Damaco Croatia
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 3 0
hull # oRIGInAl oWneR CuRRenT oWneR CuRRenT boAT nAMe CounTRY/ReGIon
40056 hasan besneli ergin Imre Provezza 6 Turkey
40057 Deneen Demourkas steve Murphy JoAnn usA - West Coast
40058 hank Mchale Alek Krstajic Honour Canada
40059 eduardo Ramos JP Delmotte Sarastro France
40060 Rick Woodworth Joe Carter & Dennis Rosene Radical Departure III usA - West Coast
40061 Peter Wright & Todd Cozzens Mclaughlin & Phelan Defiant Canada
40062 Philippe Kahn David harris Psycho Circus hong Kong
40063 Dave Carrel Anthony lobb PT 73 Australia
40064Antonio sodo Migliori/Massimo
Mezzaroma ebbe elmer nielsen Magic Mazda Denmark
40065 Anthony Demulder Martin & lisa hill Estate Master Australia
40066 Jim Johnson Rick & skip sinclair Bellerophon usA - east Coast
40067 noT buIlT
40068 Zarko Draganic & hank lammens Pieralberto setti Shear Terror Italy
40069 Robert shaw Joaquin brockman Mexico
40070 hasso Plattner Destroyed
40071 John oswald Carlo Alberini, Renato Morsiani,
Francesco Picaretta Calvi Italy
40072 Dario Ferrari on Deck Racing Madina usA Virgin Islands
40073 Chris Doscher Royal Danish Yacht Club APM Denmark
40074 Tom hill stephen boyes Wired Australia
40075 Jim Richardson David brae-holm Monick Denmark
40076 Phil schoeller Kevin Mcneil Nightshift usA - east Coast
40077 Vincenzo onorato howard lambourne Lambourdini Australia
40078 Mark heely Vasyl Gureyev Arctur ukraine
40079 Mary Coleman Mary Coleman Astra usA - West Coast
40080 Alberto signorini Rolf Auf der Maur Kajsa II switzerland
40081 John Coumantaros Matt Allen & Walter lewin Bandit Australia
40082 Tony buckingham h2o Charters Creative Play 2 uK
40083 Don hughes Destroyed
40084 Takashi okura Mark Cloutier Abracadabra Canada
40085 Phillip Tollhurst ed broadway Hooligan uK
40086 bruno Tronchetti Provera Pieralberto setti Shear Terror Italy
FA R R on e DesIGn - R eGIsT eR
2 3 1
hull # oRIGInAl oWneR CuRRenT oWneR CuRRenT boAT nAMe CounTRY/ReGIon
40087 noT buIlT
40088 Renato Mazzeschi Martin stroebel Vanitas Cube switzerland
40089 hughes lepic hughes lepic Aleph France
40090 bill helming John Chuang Shout usA - east Coast
40091 Mark Timbrell Alberto Rossi Enfant Terrible Italy
40092 bob hughes/Wally Tsuha bob hughes Heart Breaker usA - Great lakes
40093 Michael Illbruck Royal Danish Yacht Club MMM Denmark
40094 Robin Patterson Robin Patterson Katanga Caribbean
40095 owen Kratz oak Cliff sailing Center Nimbus Black usA - east Coast
40096 John Kilroy Charles swingland Dark Side uK
40097 noT buIlT
40098 George Andreadis George Andreadis Atalanti Greece
40099 Takashi okura Preben ostberg/bud Dailey/
/Todd olds Tsunami usA - east Coast
40100 Vincenzo onorato Vincenzo onorato Mascalzone Latino Italy
40101 hasso Plattner Donald Wilson Convexity usA - Great lakes
40102Antonio sodo Migliori/Massimo
Mezzaroma Armando Pierdomenico MP30+10 Italy
40103 Arrivabene/bocchini Magnus Goertz Jolly sweden
40104 John Coumantaros helmut Jahn Flash Gordon usA - Great lakes
40105 Peter de Ridder David Voss Piranha usA - West Coast
40106 Fred & steve howe oscar Krinsky Chayah usA - West Coast
40107 Fred & steve howe sverre Valeur Team Bergen Denmark
40108 Giovanni Maspero Giovanni Maspero Joe Fly Italy
40109 noT buIlT
40110 noT buIlT
40111 noT buIlT
40112 noT buIlT
buIlT bY usWATeRCRAFT
40113 John Kilroy Grant hood Vincere Canada
40114 Richard Perini Guido bellgiorno-nettis Transfusion Australia
40115 Jim Richardson Jim Richardson Barking Mad usA - east Coast
40116 Wolfgang stolz Guido bellgiorno-nettis Transfusion Australia
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 3 2
hull # oRIGInAl oWneR CuRRenT oWneR CuRRenT boAT nAMe CounTRY/ReGIon
40117 noT buIlT
40118 Vincenzo onorato Vincenzo onorato Mascalzone Latino Italy
40119 noT buIlT
40120Antonio sodo Migliori & Massimo
Mezzaroma
Antonio sodo Migliori & Massimo
MezzaromaNerone Italy
40121 lang Walker lang Walker Kokomo Australia
40122 Alessandro barnaba Alessandro barnaba Fiamma Italy
40123 eduardo Ramos bermardo Minkow Flojito y Cooperando Mexico
40124 hRh Prince Frederik hRh Prince Frederik Nanoq Denmark
40125 erik Maris Jeff Carter Twin Edake Australia
40126 hasso Plattner hasso Plattner Morning Glory Germany
40127 Matt Allen John Demourkas Groovederci usA - West Coast
40128 Vasyl Gureyev Vasyl Gureyev Arctur ukraine
40129 lang Walker lang Walker Kokomo Australia
40130 Peter de Ridder Wolfgang schaefer Struntje Light Germany
40131 William Douglass William Douglass Goombay Smash usA - east Coast
40132 Dario Ferrari ergin Imre Provezza 7 Turkey
40133 Alex Roepers Alex Roepers Plenty usA - east Coast
40134 Fred & steve howe nico Poons Charisma belgium
40135 John Thomson Doug DeVos Heritage usA - Great lakes
40136 ole van der hyde hasip Gencer Uno-Asterisk Turkey
40137 Michele & Gianluca Perris Alberto Rossi Enfant Terrible Italy
40138 noT buIlT
40139 Vincenzo onorato Maurizio Guglielmo Irina Italy
40140 helmut Jahn helmut Jahn Flash Gordon usA - Great lakes
buIlT bY MCConAGhY boATs
40201 lawrence shannon lucas & Kent Down Ex Young Australia Australia
40202 Richard Perini bruce staples Ex Corinthian Doors
(Ex Norwegian Steam)Australia
40203 John Calvert-Jones Rod Jabin Ramrod usA - east Coast
40204 Warren Wiekmann Warren Wiekmann Leroy Brown Australia
40205 Marcus blackmore Michael Cranitch & David Gotze Enigma Australia
FA R R on e DesIGn - R eGIsT eR
2 3 3
hull # oRIGInAl oWneR CuRRenT oWneR CuRRenT boAT nAMe CounTRY/ReGIon
40206 Richard Perini Ivan Wheen Sputnik Australia
40207 brian northcote oak Cliff sailing Center Nimbus Blue usA - east Coast
40208 Michael Quinn Chris Way Easy Tiger II Australia
40209 shane Tyrell noel Murphy Ex Terra Nova then Southern Star Australia
40210 steve ellis brett neill White Cloud new Zealand
buIlT bY DK YAChTs
40211 lang Walker Doug Coulter Komodo Australia
40212 Kevin Miller ed Psaltis AFR Midnight Rambler Australia
40213
40214 David urry Wayne banks smith War Games Australia
40215 Dennis McDonald Rob Robertson Craklin Rosie Australia
40216 Rob skinner Ivan Resnekov Impi Australia
40217 Phil Coombs Russell McCart Night Nurse Australia
40218 Ivan Wheen Michael Cooper Prince of Wales Australia
40219 lang Walker Andrew hunn & lloyd Clark Voodoo Chile Australia
40220 Philippe Kahn Phil Arnall Anger Management Australia
40221 Wolfgang schaefer Alberto Franchi FarrMarmo Italy
40222
40223 steve o'Rourke steve o'Rourke Panther Australia
40224 schle Wood Ismet ozbakir
- Istanbul sailing Academy Zall Turkey
ReGIon (19 CounTRIes) # oF boATs
America/Canada/Mexico 55
Australia/new Zealand/Japan 39
Italy 17
europe excl Italy 38
Destroyed 2
In build 1
Total built 152
boAT nuMbeR bY buIlDeR
Carroll Marine 104
usWatercraft 26
DK Yachts 12
McConaghy boats 10
Total 152
Total built 152
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 3 4
roll of honour
2002 World Championship
1. Le Renard steve Phillips (usA)
2. Crocodile Rock Alex Geremia & scott harris (usA)
3. Grooverderci Deneen & John Demourkas (usA)
4. Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy (usA)
5. Nerone, M Mezzaroma & A Migliori (ITA)
6. Pegasus Philippe Kahn (usA)
1999 World Championship
1. Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy (usA)
2. Mascalzone Latino V. onorato (ITA)
3. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
4. Southern Star J Calvert-Jones (Aus)
5. Flyer Doug Mongeon (usA)
6. Blue Chip Walter logan (usA)
1998 World Championship
1. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
2. Southern Star John Calvert-Jones (Aus)
3. Wired steve Garland (usA)
4, Hissar edgar Cato (usA)
5. Solution John Thomson (usA)
6. Alliance skip Purcell (usA)
2000 World Championship
1. Southern Star John Calvert-Jones (Aus)
2. Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy (usA)
3. Atalanti George Andreadis (GRe)
4. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
5. Solution John Thomson (usA)
6. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA)
2001 World Championship
1. Alinghi ernesto bertarelli (suI)
2. Southern Star J Calvert-Jones (Aus)
3. Warlord VII, Philip Tolhurst (GbR)
4. Victric, Tony de Mulder (GbR)
5. GBR25, Mark heeley (GbR)
6. Aleph, hughes lepic (GbR)
2003 World Championship
1. Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma & Antonio sodo Migliori (ITA)
2. Nela Michael Illbruck (GeR)
3. Bambakou John Coumantaros (usA)
4. Alinghi ernesto bertarelli (suI)
5. Southern Star John Calvert-Jones (Aus)
6. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
2004 World Championship
1. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
2. Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma & Antonio
sodo Migliori (ITA)
3. Warpath steve & Fred howe (usA)
4. Le Renard steve Phillips (usA)
5. TWT Marco Rodolfi (ITA)
6. Slingshot Chuck Parrish (usA)
2005 World Championship
1. Evolution Richard Perini (Aus)
2. Team Shockwave neville Crichton (Aus)
3. TWT Marco Rodolfi (ITA)
4. Warpath steve and Fred howe (usA)
5. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA)
6. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
2006 World Championship
1. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA)
2. Ichi Ban Matt Allen (Aus)
3. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
4. Opus One Wolfgang stolz (GeR)
5. Warpath steve & Fred howe (usA)
6. Alinghi ernesto bertarelli (suI)
Rol l oF honou R
2 3 5
2011 World Championship
1. Transfusion Guido belgiorno-nettis (Aus)
2. Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma & Antonio sodo Migliori (ITA)
3. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
4. Flash Gordon helmut & evan Jahn (usA)
5. Estate Master lisa & Martin hill (Aus)
6. Goombay Smash William Douglass (usA)
2007 World Championship
1. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA)
2. Alinghi ernesto bertarelli (suI)
3. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
4. Sputnik Ivan Wheen (Aus)
5. Opus One Wolfgang stolz (GeR)
6. Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma & Antonio sodo Migliori (ITA)
2008 World Championship
1. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA)
2. Joe Fly Giovanni Maspero (ITA)
3. Mean Machine Peter de Ridder (Mon)
4. Nanoq Crown Prince Frederik (Den)
5. Calvi Network Carlo Alberni (ITA)
6. Alinghi ernesto bertarelli (suI)
2009 World Championship
1, Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
2, Nerone Massimo Mezzaroma & Antonio sodo Migliori (ITA)
3. Joe Fly Giovanni Maspero (ITA)
4. Mascalzone Latino Vincenzo onorato (ITA)
5. Flash Gordon helmut Jahn (usA)
6. Plenty Alex Roepers (usA)
2010 World Championship
1. Nerone nerone Massimo Mezzaroma & Alberto signorini (ITA)
2. Barking Mad Jim Richardson (usA)
3. Struntje Light Wolfgang schaefer (GeR)
4. Plenty Alex Roepers (usA)
5. Charisma nico Poons (Mon)
6. Fiamma Alessandro barnaba (ITA)
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 3 8
There was some serendipity in the thing. The 40 foot size turned out to be
manageable for a lot of owners, and straightforward to sail in mechanical
terms. One of the key decisions was going with the runner-less rig so the boat
could be more or less bullet proof.
T h e FA bu l ous 4 0 s
2 4 0
acknowledgmentsPresidents Roll of Honour
Irvine Laidlaw, Mon, Oui Fling 1997 - 1998
Steve Garland, usA, Wired 1998 - 1999
John Calvert-Jones, Aus, Southern Star 1999 - 2002
Jim Richardson, usA, Barking Mad 2002 - 2011
Martin Hill, Aus, Estate Master 2011 -
Life Members
John Calvert-Jones, Aus, Southern Star 2008
Jim Richardson, usA, Barking Mad 2011
The Farr 40 class would like to acknowledge the assistance of all those who have made this book possible:
The four stakeholders: John Calvert-Jones, Jim Richardson, Lang Walker and Vincenzo Onorato.
Rolex for their long-standing support of the Class and supply of photographs in this book.
Bob Fisher for the words and editorial contribution.
Geoff Stagg for his motivation, diligence and attention to detail.
Barry Pickthall and his team at PPl for picture research, design and illustrations.
The photographers:
Kurt Arrigo/Rolex: 2, 13, 146, 18, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 39, 41, 42, 47, 148, 157, 158, 159,
160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 216, 217,
218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227
Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex: 8/9, 10, 15, 17, 20, 22, 38, 44, 46, 59, 73, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91,
106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138,
139, 140, 142, 143, 196, 238/239
Farr Yacht Design: 16, 24/25
Bob Fisher/ PPL: 11, 34, 48, 49, 50, 51
Daniel Forster/PPL: 14, 20, 21, 28, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 72
Daniel Forster/Rolex: 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 122, 124,
125, 126, 127, 128, 130, 131, 132, 133, 136, 137, 138, 141, 142, 144, 145, 150,151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 166,
167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 204, 206, 206, 207, 208, 238/239
Andrea Francolini/DPPI: 210, 211, 213
Dallas Kilponen: 186, 212, 214
Kos Picture Source: 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71
Ian Mainsbridge/PPL: 40
Francesco Nonnoi: 194, 195, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202
Isao Toyama: 214, 215
Onne Van Der Wal: 74, 75, 76. 77. 79