Chasing puffs in Key West

TheDailySail's Andy Nicholson sailing on Bambaku reports on the past two days of action in the Farr 40 class

Four races down in the Farr 40 class and as usual it is as tight as ever. Steve and Fred Howes’ Warpath is leading the charge with a 7,1 today to head the 23 strong fleet with 24 points - although tied with Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad.

Conditions yesterday saw a consistent swinging breeze to the right which, to be honest, the race committee struggled to cope with. Problems have been exacerbated by the three fleets sailing on the same course - the Swan 45, Farr 40 and Mumm 30 - but well spaced. This meant that the mark boats were under some pressure to move the course for the different classes.

We’re not bitter on Bambaku, but we did find ourselves at the rough end of the outcome when the left hand bottom mark (we have two marks that make up a gate) was hurriedly put down in the closing stages of the run. This ended up being heavily biased, and by this time we were pinned out to the right hand mark - which resulted in several boats being lost.

Today the breeze has been out of the north, which resulted in a chilly breeze and oilies being put on. The sun is still shining though. The whole race course today was characterised by streaks of breeze, if you were in one life was good. The holes, although not too deep, were tough to deal with and if you were in one for too long (either upwind or downwind) you could quickly lose your lane. At various stages of the day both sides of the race course paid dividends, but the top marks were difficult as the breeze became more puffy and shifty at the top of the course.

Boat of the day was Pendragon who completed an impressive 1, 3 which has moved them up to fifth overall. We managed a fourth in the first race and then were caught OCS on the second start of the day - with six others. A blinding run, with Ian Walker our tactician calling for a glamour gybe out to the left hand side, got us right back into the frame and ultimately up to third place. The final beat however was brutal for us, not initially looking too bad, we got caught the wrong side of a big shift that sucked us back into the main fleet.

This racing is so close. On the finish line, after three windward and two downwind legs of 2 miles each, we crossed the line with three other boats within seconds of each other. For us we had to take being fourth out of this bunch on the chin. So a 13th place has put us in 11th overall. If only – another fourth would have us in fourth overall. Still, plenty of racing to come and as long as you keep out of the big teens…

The fall from grace of the new Italian boat Joe Fly has been humbling. On the conclusion of the racing yesterday they led with a handsome lead, after their first ever day of Farr 40 racing. This prompted the owner Maspero Giovanni to come up with the killer line; "The difference with Farr 40 racing is that it is so easy". They have previously been racing in the Melges 24 and Mumm 30 classes. This quote appeared this morning in the Key West Race Week News, a small daily newspaper handed out as the boats leave the dock. It had almost all of the Farr 40 crews choking on their cornflakes when they read it.

The comment may have been misinterpreted through translation from the Italian, but there were more than a few wry smiles from the rest of the boats following today. Joe Fly ended up taking a 40% penalty for a rule infringement (within two boat lengths of a mark) yesterday. Then today they scored a 19, and another 19 in the 23 boat fleet to leave them in 14th with 52 points after four races. So easy indeed.

The Swan 45 class has been full of activity. With eight boats racing, there were seven protests at the end of racing yesterday. Spare a thought for Goombay Smash, who had to suffer the indignity of hooking the windward mark good and proper on the last race today. Starting 15 minutes ahead of the 40s they finally had to drop all their sails to get off the mark. We all rounded a new windward mark within earshot of Goombay Smash, still hooked up.

So it all looks pretty open for the Farr 40s. If Warpath can continue with another good set of results then they could be in good shape. Barking Mad, has had all sub-eighth places, which considering on occasion they have been down the clag makes them favourites at this stage. Other than that I am sure it will come down to the last race, as it always does.

Pos	Boat	Helm/owner	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	Total
1	Warpath	Steve & Fred Howe	10	6	7	1	24
2	Barking Mad	James Richardson	2	8	6	8	24
3	Crocodile Rock	A Geremia/S Harris	9	2	8	9	28
4	Samba Pa Ti	John Kilroy	3	13	11	4	31
5	Pendragon V	John MacLaurin	8.7 avg1	22	1	3	34.7
6	Sotto Voce	Arien van Vemde	5	14	9	7	35
7	Atalanti	George Andreadis	8	1	10	17	36
8	Mean Machine	Peter De Ridder	6	7	18	5	36
9	Riot	Marc Ewing	18	12	3	6	39
10	Virago	Stuart Townsend	7	17	14	2	40
11	Bambakou	John Coumantaros	12	11	4	13	40
12	Breeze	Vincenzo Onorato	19	3	5	15	42
13	Twins 2	Erik Maris	15	18	2	10	45
14	Joe Fly	Maspero Giovanni	10 p40	4	19	19	52
15	Nitemare	Tom Neill	4	21	16	14	55
16	Solution	John Thomson, Jr.	14	15	17	12	58
17	Sled	Takashi Okura	11	20	13	18	62
18	Dynamo	Eric Moog	20	5	22	16	63
19	Le Renard	Steve Phillips	22	19 p40	12	11	64
20	Flash Gordon 4	Helmut Jahn	21	9	20	20	70
21	Kokomo	Lang Walker	16	16	21	22	75
22	Phish Food	Alexis Michas	23	23	15	21	82
23	Impetuous	Paul Zabetakis MD	17	19	23	23	82