Estate Master leads after day one – 2010 Farr 40 Australian titles
Published on in News
The highly competitive Farr 40 class put everything on the table today when the fleet sailed four races on day one of the 2010 Farr 40 Australian Championship. Defending champion Guido Belgiorno Nettis and his team on Transfusion started the day out with a win in the first race.
Lisa and Martin Hill’s Estate Master, who is in the lead after the four races, won the second and fourth race of the day. The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron race committee set the harbour course with Sydney’s famous Taronga Zoo as a backdrop for the start line.
The fleet sailed a windward leeward course across the harbour to Point Piper in a breeze that fluctuated between East South East and South East and increasing in strength over the afternoon to reach 17 knots. The flat water harbour racing will be in contrast to the offshore swell that the fleet will race in for the next two days.
‘We’ve had four really close races today and we only have the lead by one point so it will be tough competition tomorrow and Sunday. Both ourselves and Transfusion are travelling to the Dominican Republic next month for the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds and this event is a great opportunity for us in preparation’, said Hill after racing.
The strict one design class rules of the Farr 40’s has developed very capable owner drivers who are ‘rock star’ helmsmen in their own right. Being able to steer a Farr 40 while following the directions of the tactician produces extremely close one design racing and with every result counting towards the final point score every manoeuvre on the course needs to be perfect and the smallest mistake can be costly.
New Zealander Brett Neill, who is chartering a boat for this event, won race three of the series leading the fleet from start to finish. Neill and his White Cloud team finished third in the Australian Championship in 2009 are enjoying their return to class racing after some time away.
Racing continues tomorrow with the fleet heading offshore to race off Sydney’s heads. The course the fleet will race on offshore will be the race course for the 2011 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship which the Australian fleet will host next year.
2010 Farr 40 Australian Championship Day 1 Provisional Results:
1 Estate Master Lisa & Martin Hill MHYC 7
2 Transfusion Guido Belgiorno-Nettis MHYC 8
3 Easy Tiger II Chris Way RPAYC 12
4 White Cloud Brett Neill RNZYC 14
5 Edake Jeff Carter MHYC 19
by Sam Crichton