Farr 40 World Championships Overall

Southern Star Crowned New Farr 40 Class World Champion

In a highly impressive display of consistency in one of the toughest regattas of the year, John Calvert-Jones and his mixed team of Australians and Americans on Southern Star have won the 2000 boats.com Farr 40 World Championship. The World Cup trophy awarded annually to the class' World Champoin will now reside with Calvert-Jones in Sydney, Australia.

Southern Star led going into the final two races of the competition today, but needed to preserve its 6-point margin over defending World Champion John Kilroy on Samba Pa Ti. However, the points spread among the top five in the standings were so close that anyone could win.

A classic Newport smoky sou'wester provided 15-18 knots in the first race, accompanied by ocean swells and 2- to 3-foot seas. Race managers from the Storm Trysail Club once again set two, 8-mile windward-leeward courses off Brenton Reef, and like yesterday, the first race started with several boats called over early. Two U.S. entries, Alexis Michas' Phish Food and Mark Bregman's Total Eclipse, rounded the top mark overlapped after having successfully played the favored right side of the first beat. At this point, the series' final outcome was still very much in doubt, because even though Southern Star was just ahead of John Kilroy's runner-up Samba Pa Ti, the two were well deep in the pack, as was Vincenzo Onerato's Mascalzone Latino.

By working the shifts and the few available lanes of clear breeze, Calvert-Jones and tactician Grant Simmer did an amazing job of picking their way through the pack to climb back into third at the finish, just behind fellow Aussie Marcus Blackmore in Emotional Hooligan and race winner Phish Food, and only moments ahead of rival Samba Pa Ti.

The stage was now set for Southern Star, but it was still not over. Samba lurked only seven points back, and in Calvert-Jones' words, "If you're not off the start line, you're dead." The wind abated to 14-16 knots, with oscillations keeping the tacticians busy. Once again, Simmer picked the correct sides, rounding the top mark third behind two U.S. entries, Phillippe Kahn's Orion and 1998 World Champion Jim Richardson on Barking Mad, with Samba three places back.

Throughout the remainder of the race, Southern Star sailed not just to cover Samba, but to try and hold its position in the highly competitive fleet. Only Richard Marki's Raging Bull got on the final run to finish behind Orion in second, but a fourth place by Southern Star was more than good enough to win the World Cup.

An ecstatic Calvert-Jones credited the race managers, the event organizers and sponsors, and his team. "This regatta was very tough, as we have more boats and more competition than ever before. Our team was fantastic, and Grant did a superb job of getting us around the course."

The Southern Star crew included Australians Adam Beashel, Mark Walsh, Carston Schon, Glenn Attrill, Richard Cameron and Glen Ferguson, joined by Americans Rebecca Pancera and Peter Stalkus.

Calvert-Jones also had high praise for the Farr 40 Class, the class of which he is the International President. "This class started three years ago when we had only two international entries, and now after much hard work and success we've got nine countries in our World Championships, over 100 boats worldwide, and I think the most successful big-boat class of modern times."

Calvert-Jones is no newcomer to success, having campaigned successfully not only in this class, but also the Mumm 36 Class, at the Admiral's Cup and at other high-profile events.

Title Sponsor of the boats.com Farr 40 World Championship for the World Cup is the premier online resource for all things boating and launches in the Summer of 2000. Boats.com is a place where boaters, manufacturers, resellers and experts in the field can gather to share information and create new ways to fulfill your boating needs and enhance your boating experience.

Contributing Sponsors include: Lewmar Marine, the sport's leading supplier of winches and deck hardware to the great ocean racing fleets of the world; Fleet Boston Financial, the eighth-largest financial holding company in the United States, offering a comprehensive array of innovative financial solutions; B&G, which has set the standard of excellence in marine electronics; and Caroll Marine, U.S. builders of the Farr 40 One Design. Supporting sponsors include North Sails, Edson International, Joule Yacht Transport, European Ocean Freight and New England Boatworks, which provided the daily Boat of the Day trophies.

Overall Results:

More Information:

• Farr 40 Website