2014 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship – Day 2 Update

2014 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship

St Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco 16 October 2014 – Day 2

Plenty of Australians in top six

The AP flag was flying again this morning with a one and a half hour postponement. Conditions were extremely light and boats sat on the dock waiting for the wind to pick up. Race 4 kicked off again on Berkeley Circle in the vicinity of Alcatraz and Treasure Island at 1.35PM with 12 knots.

Once again, the Australian’s proved they can mix it with the best sailors in the world with Estate Master earning a 2nd place closely followed by Transfusion in 4th.

Farr 40 International Class President, Martin Hill could not wipe the smile off his face this afternoon after his crew blitzed another day on the water holding their podium position with a 2nd, 10th and 6th. “It was good to come out of the blocks first up. The fleet is so tight that the 10th was always going to happen at some stage of the regatta.”

“All the Australian boats have lifted. Voodoo and Kokomo are going well and Transfusion is always good which is exciting for the Australian Class. It wouldn’t surprise me if all the Australian boats will be in the top five”.

Martin’s wife Lisa Hill, who is normally a crew member aboard Estate Master, decided not to compete at this regatta due to an injury gained at a recent regatta.

“Lisa pulled the pin after the last regatta. We had an incident with another boat where it was blowing 25 knots and the main went over and the mainsheet got caught around her neck on the last run, resulting in a lot of rope burn. Poor Lise, we would love to have her here, but she hasn’t been home since the big boat series, so obviously she is having a wonderful time”.

Collisions were a plenty and Farr 40 social media director, Sarah Proctor tweeted “We are seeing more action in Race 4 than we have seen all year on the circuit”.

For long-time Kokomo member and double Olympic gold medallist, Mal Page it was an unpredictable day on the water and a change for the crew not having Lang at the helm.

Kokomo scored a 10th in Race 4, won Race 5 and had a 4th in Race 6, again proving anything can happen in Farr 40 racing. “Obviously from the crew’s perspective it is very sad not to have Lang here. He is the leader of the team, so it’s a pity. In saying that, Jim has slotted in really well. I can see why he has won three world championships. He is a very good helm. I’m not so sure he understands our slang totally yet but he is getting a lot more “Aussie-fied” as we go on”.

When asking Mal if Lang will be invited back onto his own boat he said, “We were actually saying that the other day. Not sure how Jim is going to sell this campaign to Lang. I can just see the next regatta coming up and Jim might ask Lang for a new sail. Not sure how that will go down. Hopefully when we get back to Australian Lang will be back in the swing of it”.

The breeze kicked in in between Race 5 and 6 at 18 knots. All boats went to heavy sails and there were a few collisions. One boat split a mainsail in half and there was a lot of equipment damage.

Defending Farr 40 World Champion, Alberto Rossi and the crew from Enfant Terrible are creeping their way up the leader board and are in 4th place, tied at 33 points with Transfusion in 2nd and Estate Master in 3rd. Voodoo Chile is just one point behind with 34 points. However, the protest committee have a rough night ahead, so results could change.

The Farr 40 Owner’s will be attending a private dinner party this evening hosted by Rolex and held at the St Francis Yacht Club before another gruelling day on the water for Day 3 of the 2014 Rolex Farr 40 Worlds.

RESULTS Link: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=979 W: www.farr40worlds.com