Rolex Farr 40 Worlds at San Francisco - Day 3
by Dana Paxton 11 Sep 2004 20:11 BST
10 September 2004
Action from Day 3 of the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds © Dan Nerney / Rolex
Three more solid results in today's races on San Francisco Bay put Jim Richardson's (Boston,
Mass./Newport, R.I.) Barking Mad team into a nearly unbeatable position going into the final day of the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds. With a scoreline of
8-7-5, Richardson's team now has 38 points overall, leading 2003 world
champion Nerone owned by Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio sodo Migliori
(Rome,
Italy), which is in second place with 73 points. Going into the final
day
Italian boats hold three of the top four positions, with Marco
Rodolfi's
(Comasco) TWT in third and America's Cup boss Vincenzo Onorato's
(Milan)
Mascalzone Latino one point behind in fourth.
Barking Mad almost lost its comfortable lead at the start of the second
race
when it was forced out to the left-hand side of the course. When it
tacked
back, Richardson's team lost further ground by ducking several
right-of-way
boats coming through on starboard tack.
"We got around the buoy probably in 26th place and Nerone was third or
something," said Richardson. "We jibed right around the spacer mark and
caught a great puff, so we gained probably 10-12 places on the run."
They
followed this with a better second beat and another good run to finish
seventh 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 trying to make
every
maneuver as good as we could," continued Richardson.
While Nerone is still hanging on to second place, tactician Vasco
Vascotto
admitted that today was one of the worst days of their entire Farr 40
campaign. "Come back for the Italians? It was a comeback into last
position
for us," said Vascotto. "We did a really bad job. The other Italians
did a
good job. In the second race we were third and we hit a mark. So we did
a
360 and lost some positions, but worse, we lost control." Vascotto
added
that the mark they hit was one of the leeward marks, and at the time
there
were no other boats around. "That was the stupid thing," he said. "We
did a
lot of stupid mistakes, which is why we are a little upset."
Despite a slow start to this regatta, Onorato's team had today's best
results, with a 2-1-6. 'A good day at the office' as British tactician
Adrian Stead put it. In race one they 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 (Hillsborough, Calif.)
Slingshot,
on which local expert Dee Smith is calling tactics, and Steve
Phillips's
(Arnold, Md.) Le Renard, with Olympic medallist and Rolex Yachtsman of
the
Year Mark Reynolds on board. 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 took second.
Mascalzone Latino won the second race. The Italian team 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 last weekend 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."
On John and Deneen Demourkas' Farr 40, Groovederci, Deneen drove to
victory
in today'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 we were both laying and they came up underneath us."
Groovederci overtook Heartbreaker on the run to take the lead, holding
this
until the end of the usual long final beat to the finish.
The Demourkases first met through sailing in Santa Barbara. This year
John,
one of the founders of Nexxus Haircare Products Co., has only managed
to
helm 'their' boat when Deneen was in Europe this past summer competing
in
the month long Tour de France a la Voile in their Mumm 30. "I wanted to
buy
a boat that we could share," recounted a resigned husband, "but the
sharing
didn't happen and it got to the stage where she had way too much
experience
at the helm." On board they sail with New Zealander Stu Bannatyne as
tactician, a former crewmember on illbruck when it won the Volvo Ocean
Race.
Deneen said that she doesn't get any breaks being a woman in this
fleet. "I
try threatening them: 'woman driver - look out!' But they don't buy
it," she
said. On the subject of why there aren't more women drivers in this
fleet
she said, "I don't know. I have never understood why there aren't more.
I
guess it is not a role that women are accustomed to in sailing. It
takes
some money to do, particularly in this fleet. But I would encourage
them
that if this was something that they ever thought they wanted to do,
they
should do it."
Two final races are due to be held tomorrow at the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds
and
the Barking Mad crew will be playing it safe. "The key to winning is by
not
making mistakes," said Richardson. "We are not celebrating yet."
At a Farr 40 Class Association meeting yesterday, the creation of a
Corinthian trophy for all Farr 40 racing, set for introduction in 2005.
"Boats will race within the Farr 40 class rules, with the additional
restrictions that only two professionals will be allowed and the
allowance
of three new sails per year in order to qualify for the trophy," said
Renee
Mehl, Farr 40 class secretary. "Regional fleet growth is expected and
enthusiasm is high amongst both current and potential owners."
Two races are planned for tomorrow, the fourth and final day of racing.
Day 3 results, three races held September 10, 2004 (31 entries)
1. James Richardson, Boston, Mass./Newport, R.I., Barking Mad, 9-2-1-
4-2-8-7-5, 38
2. Massimo Mezzaroma, Rome, Italy, Nerone, 10-3-3-8-6-10-11-22, 73
3. Marco Rodolfi, Comasco, Italy, TWT, 2-16-20-23-3-4-3-10, 81
4. Vincenzo Onorato, Naples, Italy, Mascalzone Latino,
21-25-13-7-8-2-1-6,
82
5. Steve & Fred Howe, San Diego, Calif., Warpath, 15-5-2-11-17-5-18, 84
6. Steve Phillips, Arnold, Md., Le Renard, 17-10-2-26-9-3-6-14, 86
7. Peter De Ridder, Monaco, Mean Machine, 7-1-10-12-4-26-19-11, 90
8. Chuck Parrish, Hillsborough, Calif., Slingshot, 16-9-15-5-7-1-13-3,
94
9. Erik Maris, Paris, France, Twins 2-5-3-6-10-25-12-8-17, 95
10. Richard Perini, Sydney, Australia, Evolution,
12-11-11-20-1-13-4-24, 96
11. Robert L. Hughes, Ada, Mich., Heartbreaker, 13-22-7-14-14-19-9-2,
99
12. Marc Ewing, Glencoe, Ill., Riot, 8-19-8-6-10-11-26-12, 99
13. Eivind Astrup, Oslo, Norway, Norwegian Steam, 1-5-21-18-19-5-21-19,
108
14. Giovanni Maspero, Milan, Italy, Joe Fly, 20-8-18-17-18-23-2-4, 109
15. Peter Stoneberg, Orinda, Calif., Shadow, 11-6-24-1-12-14-28-16, 111
16. Scott Harris/Alex Geremia, Santa Barbara, Calif., Crocodile Rock,
14-26-16-11-16-7-16-21, 126
17. Philippe Kahn, Soquel, Calif., Pegasus, 6-27-4-3- 30-21-23-15, 128
18. Deneen & John Demourkas, Montecito, Calif., Groovederci,
25-14-25-9-
24-18-14-1, 129
19. John Kilroy, Los Angeles, Calif., Samba Pa Ti,
26-4-9-22-22-24-20-9, 135
20. Arien van Vemde, Loosdrecht, Holland, Sotto Voce,
19-29-14-16-5-22-10-25, 140
21. Takashi Okura, Tokyo, Japan, Sled, 3-17-22-13-17-16-25-29, 141
22. David Thomson, Woodside, Calif., Peregrine, 31-15-17-15-26-9-17-27,
156
23. Wolfgang Schaefer, Luneberg, Germany, Struntje Light,
22-23-23-30-15-20-12-13-, 157
24. John MacLaurin, Los Angeles, Calif., Pendragon V,
27-28-12-24-23-30-15-7, 165
25. Mary Coleman, Los Gatos, Calif., Astra, 30-7-26-21-20-6-27-31, 167
26. Lang Walker, Sydney, Australia, Kokomo, 29-24-28-25-21-15-18-8, 167
27. Stuart & Marrgwen Townsend, Chicago, Ill., Virago,
28-20-29-19-13-29-24-20, 181
28. Alan Field, Los Angeles, Calif., Temptress, 4-21-19-28-27-27-31-26,
182
29. Tom Neill, Berkeley, Ill., Nitemare, 24-18-27-27-29-25-29-30, 208
30. Helmut Jahn, Chicago, Ill., Flash Gordon, 18-30-32-29-28-28-30-23,
217
31. David Voss, Marina del Rey, Calif., Piranha,
23-32-30-31-31-31-22-28,
227
