Wild conditions

Nerone moves into the top spot at the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds

The 37-boat Rolex Farr 40 World Championship has been blessed for the second day in a row with ideal sailing conditions. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's Race Committee, headed by Peter Reggio, got off three full races in 19-23 knot winds that blew steadily all day from the northwest. The action was again as tight as it can get in yacht racing, the big winner of the day being Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone, now holding an eleven point lead over John Coumantaris' second-placed Bambakou.

Race three got off on time at 11:40 with a 2.2 mile long weather leg. The course had been set slightly further offshore than the day before but still the left hand side seemed to be the dominant option. The first start saw the fleet bunched at the pin end with Nerone moving out from the middle of the bunch half way up the beat. The Italian boat rounded the first mark in the lead, followed closely by Steve & Fred Howes' Warpath and these two dominated the front of the fleet for the rest of the race battling all the way down the last run with final honours going to Warpath. Other new faces at the front of the fleet included Takashi Okura's Sled and Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory.

Race Four started almost as soon as the last boat had finished and Ernesto Bertarrelli's Alinghi and Warpath that had won the first race were recalled for premature starts. The fleet was spread much more evenly along the line this time although once again the left seemed to be favoured with Jim Richardson's Barking Mad rounding the first mark in the lead. The first run favoured those who found and worked the puffs the best, most boats getting up to planing speed in the stronger gusts. Michel Illbruck's Nela moved sharply into the lead and proved impossible to catch for the rest of the race. The chasing pack was led again by Mezzaroma's Nerone, being perfectly guided around a consistent day by tactician Vasco Vascotto. Nerone picked up another second place and moved into the lead overall on points.

Race Five started just after 3pm into a building breeze, topping 24 knots in the gusts at the top of the course. Most of the fleet opting for their small No 4 jibs. Michael Illbruck placed his Nela at the leeward end of the line for a perfect pin end start, keeping the extreme left hand side of the fleet for most of the beat. Two thirds of the way up the leg, Kostecki called the tack that saw the German boat slip across the bows of three starboard tackers, the closest being John Calvert-Jones' Southern Star, and off to the
right to eventually round the weather mark with a four boatlength lead.

Starting well in the middle of the line was Jim Richardson's Barking Mad and after a long leg up the left hand side of the course rounded in second place behind Illbruck. These two then sailed away into their own private match race. Enthralling the spectator fleet the pair swapped the lead once on the first run and then chose opposite sides at the leeward gate for the second upwind leg. Illbruck again chose the left, Terry Hutchinson guiding Richardson on Barking Mad, felt the right was going to finally come good.

Sailing away to the right for several minutes, Barking Mad dropped back onto starboard to stay in touch with Illbruck. But half way up the last leg Hutchinson felt he had blown it and that Nela would cross ahead again. The long awaited right hand shift of just a few degrees came good at the end allowing Barking Mad to round the last mark first but with a much diminished advantage. The final run in the strongest winds of the day and with by now a one metre swell, was a thriller. Both boats planing and surfing down the waves were locked in a battle to see who would make the first mistake. Just yards before the finish the advantage seemed to have swung back to the German boat but a last minute surf saw the boats cross the line overlapped with the American just ahead.

"There are always close races wherever you are in the fleet," said Barking Mad's Jim Richardson. "If you make an error it doesn¹t take long before you pay the price. Often you think you have buried the opposition and you look up again and they are right back in it. Our stated objectives before this regatta were to not lose this regatta in the first two days of racing. After today's races we are still in the hunt and we feel pretty good about that."

For the second race in a row German boats were dominating with Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory picking up third. But the Italian Nerone was still there. Picking up its third top four place of the day and consolidating the overall lead in the process.

"This is big fun. It is a dream to be in this position right now," commented Nerone's Massimo Mezzaroma. "I think only Olympic classes racing could be better than this. The idea of this class is the real winner today. We have put in a lot of work over the last two years. We have sailed every race and have spent a lot of time two boat tuning with other boats. Our philosophy is to remain in the top ten in every race. Take no risks and stay out of the protest room."

Friday will be Day Three of the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. The weather forecast is for 30 plus knot winds.

Rolex Farr 40 World Championship - Provisional Results after five races

More of Carlo Borlenghi's exceptional images can be seen on the following pages

Pos.	Sail no	Yacht Name	Owner	Tactician	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total
1	ITA1972	NERONE	Migliori/Mezzaroma	Vasco Vascotto	14	1	2	2	4	23
2	USA52104	BAMBAKOU	John Coumantaros	Chris Larsen	1	7	6	12	8	34
3	USA50955	BARKING MAD	Jim Richardson	Terry Hutchinson	15	2	14	4	1	35.5
4	GER40101	MORNING GLORY	Hasso Plattner	Dee Smith	13	20	3	7	3	46
5	GER931	NELA	Michael Illbruck	John Kostecki	19	16	18	1	2	56
6	GBR7040R	GAME ON	Oswald/Bainbridge	Anthony Haines	11	11	16	8	10	56
7	ITA2272	ALINGHI	Ernesto Bertarelli	Russell Coutts	11	12	7	15	13	57.5
8	USA69	WARPATH	Fred/Steve Howe	John Cutler	22	8	1	20	11	62
9	AUS1770	SOUTHERN STAR	John Calvert-Jones	Grant Simmer	17	34	9	5	5	70
10	ITA1161	SEVEN	Alberto Signorini	Tommaso Chieffi	8	10	15	14	24	71
11	GER5055	STRUNTJE LIGHT	Wolfgang Schaefer	Michael Coxon	3	18	11	13	27	72
12	NOR40	NORWEGIAN STEAM	Eivind Astrup	Herman Horn Johannessen	5	19	13	23	12	73
13	GBR9040R	WARLORD	Philip Tolhurst	Chris Main	10	4	19	24	18	74
14	USA46957	GROOVEDERCI	Deneen/John Demourkas	Mark Reynolds	7	30	10	6	21	74
15	GRE42	ATALANTI	George Andreadis	Rod Davis	17	15	17	11	14	74
16	USA40076	LE RENARD	Steve Phillips	Kevin Hall	4	3	23	23	23	76
17	GBR8888L	KATANGA	Robin Paterson	Ian Walker	18	9	22	10	19	78
18	NED40105	MEAN MACHINE	Peter De Ridder	Stuart Bannatyne	24	38	8	3	9	82
19	USA46999	CROCODILE ROCK	Harris/Geremia	Vince Brun	2	38	31	9	7	87
20	FRA29039	HAGAKURE	Michel Tiberini	Francios Brenac	22	5	28	18	15	88
21	ITA4038	MADINA MILANO	Dario Ferrari	Thierry Peponnet	18	13	12	38	26	107
22	GBR25R	GBR25	Mark Heeley	Iain Percy	9	6	34	30	29	108
23	GBR5R	VICTRIC 5	Tony De Mulder	Adrian Stead	6	31	12	36	28	113
24	ITA13711	TWT	Marco Rodolfi	Tiziano Nava	12	38	21	25	17	113
25	JPN5095	SLED	Takashi Okura	Yutaka Takagi	30	24	4	32	25	115
26	ITA1	BREEZE	Vincenzo Onorato	Flavio Favini	29	25	27	22	20	123
27	ITA103	BOTTADICULO	Arrivabene/Mincione	Sergey Chestov	28	21	32	38	6	125
28	ITA4080	RROSE	Riccardo Bonadeo	Gabriele Benussi	37	32	24	19	16	128
29	USA50051	SARASTRO	JP Delmotte	Marc Bouet	32	14	25	29	32	132
30	GBR46R	ALEPH	Lepic/Detroyat	Luc Pillot	35	17	35	26	22	135
31	AUS8888	KOKOMO	Lang Walker	Roger Hickman	27	23	30	21	35	136
32	FRA9383	FARRFELU	Alain Bompart	Alain Fedensieu	26	28	26	28	33	141
33	USA40040	ALBABLU	Renato Irrera	Francesco Bruni	31	29	20	33	30	143
34	ITA0091	SHINING SR.	Domenico Cilenti	Mitja Kosmina	33	22	33	27	38	153
35	ITA4088	ZZENZERO	Renato Mazzeschi	Michael Ivaldi	25	26	37	34	31	153
36	GBR8940	FARRFALINA	Rob Goddard	Nick Meadow	34	34	29	31	34	162
37	AUS69R	CACHARAZO	Marcos Vivian	Nick Haigh	36	35	36	35	38	180