Rolex Farr One Design Invitational in Miami - Day 1
by Dana Paxton 20 Nov 2003 08:19 GMT
The Farr 40 Nerone, owned by Mezzaroma/Sodo Migliori of Italy reaches the weather mark at the Rolex Farr One Design Invitational in Miami © Dan Nerney / Rolex
Day One Opener Sets Pace for Regatta in Three Classes
There is nothing like warm Florida sunshine and steady 15-knot breezes to knock the cobwebs out of that portion of the brain responsible for sailing a boat. Many of the international sailors competing in the Rolex Farr One Design Invitational have come from as far away as Brazil, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway and have not been on a racecourse since the end of the summer season. For the 27 teams competing, a spin around the buoys just off Miami's South Beach provided a welcome start to the winter sailing schedule. This first-ever event combines class starts for the Rolex Mumm 30 and the Rolex Farr 40 North American Championships where winners will be awarded specially engraved Rolex timepieces. An open class for Farr 395s is also being run by the Storm Trysail Club Race Committee. The 11-race series that continues through Sunday, November 22.
In the Farr 40 class, Virago, owned by Stuart Townsend of Chicago, Ill., opened with a 3-4-2 and leads the highly-competitive 17 boat fleet, but at this stage it's anybody's game and all of the owners, tacticians and crews will have their work cut out for them. Atalanti, owned by George Andreadis of Athens, Greece is in second with Samba Pa Ti, owned by John Kilroy of Los Angeles, Calif. in third.
Andreadis, vice-president of the International Sailing Federation, explained the trouble that led to a eighth place in the first race. "We had a little problem with weed on the propeller shaft," he said. "We think that was the problem. We cleaned it and then did much better." Atalanti then went on to score two third places. Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Ed Baird serves as tactician onboard.
Six of the Farr 40s participated in the Rolex Farr 40 Match Race earlier this week with Jim Richardson's Barking Mad taking honors. Richardson of Boston, Mass., credited the two days and 10 races of that event working on boat speed and crew work as the key to his winning today's first race. "We got off to a really good start," he said. "We had good boat speed and sailed the course the way we wanted to. But it was close. There were a lot of boats nipping at our heels!"
The Mumm 30 class is led by Off the Gauge, owned by Jack Lefort of Stuart, Fla., who considers this week a fun sailing vacation for him and his friends. They finished fourth in the first race, but went on to a second and ended the day with a win. Lucky for Lefort, his "friends only crew" includes two-time Rolex Yachtsman of the Year and America's Cup sailor Ken Read sailing as tactician.
"As you can see from our scores today, "rusty" was our middle name," Read joked. "Jackie did a great job driving out bunch of old buddies."
Peter Davidson's Farr 395 Shades of Gray is leading the Farr 395 class with three straight wins.
Title sponsor is Rolex Watch U.S.A. Organizers include the Storm Trysail Club, Mumm 30 and Farr 40 Class Associations. Avalon Majestic Hotel is the official hotel. North Sails and Lewmar are supporting sponsors.
Day 1 Results:
FARR 395
Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, Race 1, Race 2, Race 3-Total
1. SHADES OF GRAY, Peter Davidson, 1,1,1-3
2. SPINAL SHOCK, Gordon Donald, Fairhaven, N.J., DNC, DNC, DNC-9
FARR 40
Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, Race 1- 2- 3, Total
1. VIRAGO, Stuart Townsend, Chicago, Ill., 3-4-2, 9 points
2. ATALANTI, George Andreadis, Athens, GRE, 8-3-3, 14
3. SAMBA PA TI, John Kilroy, Los Angeles, Calif., 2-1-12, 15
4. SHADOW ROCK, Geremia /Stoneberg, Orinda, Calif., 13-2-1, 16
5. BARKING MAD, Jim Richardson, Boston, Mass., 1-11- 4, 16
6. NERONE, Mezzaroma/Sodo Migliori, Rome, Italy, 4-7-6, 17
7. BAMBAKOU, John Counmantaros, Athens, Greece, 11-8-5, 24
8. TWINS 2, Erik Maris, Paris, France, 6-10-11, 27
9. GOOD TIMES, Eduardo Ramos, Sao Paolo, Brazil, 5-14-10, 29
10. NORWEGIAN STEAM, Eiviind Astrup, Oslo, Norway, 10-6-13, 29
11. MEAN MACHINE, Peter de Ridder, Monaco, 17-5-8, 30
12. SOTTO VOCE, Arien van Vemde, Netherlands, 7-16-9, 32
13. RIOT, Mark Ewing, New York, N.Y., 12-17-7, 36
14. SOLUTION, John Thompson, Port Washington, N.Y., 9-15-15, 39
15. PHISH FOOD, Alexis Michas, Stonington, Conn., 14-13-14, 41
16. FLASH GORDON, Helmut Jahn, Chicago, Ill., 16-9-17, 42
17. Le RENARD, Steve Phillips, Annapolis, Md., 15-12-16, 43
MUMM 30
Place, Boat Name, Owner, Hometown, Race 1- 2- 3, Total
1. OFF THE GAUGE, Jack Lefort, Stuart, Fla., 4-2-1, 7
2. USA65, David Pyles, Easton, Md.,1-3-7, 11
3. TRAMP, Tom Ritter, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., 6-1-5, 12
4. TEAM INTERMEC, Dan Cheresh, Holland, Mich., 2-6-4, 12
5. GO FIGURE, Dave Koski, Highland Heights, Ohio, 3-7-3, 13
6. TURBO DUCK, Bodo/Nick von der Wense, Annapolis, Md., 5-4-6, 15
7. TEAM BOLD, Nelson Stephenson, Southport, Conn., 8-8-2, 18
8. CYGNET, Rick Swann, Fairfield, Conn., 10(DNC)-5-8 , 23
9. CHAMPOSA, Jonathan McDonagh, 7-9-9, 25