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But This Regatta Goes to Eleven

Posted 11 months, 6 days ago

But This Regatta Goes to Eleven
Despite the intensity of the match racing regatta we sailed on Tuesday and Wednesday, I have a feeling that event will turn out the more relaxed of these two Farr 40 regattas this week off South Beach. The match racing, after all, was basically a fun event that offered a great chance to test crew work under pressure situations. For the team on Rod Jabin's Ramrod, it was certainly all of that, as we had to run through our maneuvers on a short course and often with no margin for error. We'll head into the racing today with a lot of confidence in our boathandling. The fleet race, however, could be seen as the opening weekend of the chase for the 2008 Farr 40 World Championship, which will be decided on these same waters in April. While there are likely to be nearly double the 19 entries for this regatta at the World Championship, it's a good bet the eventual winner will come from this group. Every team is looking to hit the ground running, that much is apparent from the impressive collection of talent assembled here for the regatta. Each boat can sail with four Category 3 professional sailors and I believe every boat has pushed that limit to the max. Among the famous names walking the docks of the Miami Beach Marina are Ian Walker, Vasco Vascotto, Terry Hutchinson, Ray Davies, Chris Larson, Gavin Brady, David Dellenbaugh, and Dean Barker. And that's just the tacticians. The trimmers and bowmen—generally Farr 40s will position their pros as the tactician, main trimmer, headsail trimmer, and bowman—are equally as credentialed, if slightly less famous. Judging from past results, and the match racing, Jim Richardson's Barking Mad team and the Nerone boat from Italy, which is being driven by co-owner Antonio Sodo Migliori, will be two teams to watch. The defending world champion, Mascalzone Latino, will be here with America's Cup syndicate head Vincenzo Onorato at the tiller and Adrian Stead calling the shots, and should be at the head of the pack. It'll also be interesting to see how the new teams do. Two owners have moved over from Swan 45s, Alex Roepers, on Plenty, and Doug Douglass on Goombay Smash. There's also a new team from Great Britain, Darkside with owner Charles Swingland at the helm. A wild card is Hunt Lawrence's Nimbus, a boat that was until recently sailed by the students at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. While the boat has seen better days, and is in need of a paint job, the sails looked quite fresh and I think just about anybody would trade fresh sails for a faded paint job. One final note that may be of interest: While walking the docks during this regatta, I observed that nearly every Farr 40 here has switched to the tiller. In fact, of the boats in this event, Helmut Jahn's Flash Gordon is the only one with a wheel. Full Story »

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