Perini again

Sam Crichton reports on the Evolution crew's continued domination of the Australian Farr 40 class

Richard Perini and his Evolution crew have taken out the fourth regatta in the Australian Farr 40 2004-05 calendar. The fleet were racing in the Savills SORC regatta hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club in Sydney over the weekend. Racing was conducted on the southern offshore circle off South Head outside Sydney Harbour, which will be the same race track for the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds in March 2005.

Australian Circuit point score leader Perini sailed well on day one to finish with a first and second. Perini recovered well in race two after being forced out on the start line and having to gybe around to cross the start line. His crew showed how valuable their training has been to finish a close second in race two behind Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban with Lang Walker sailing consistently to take his second third place for the day aboard Kokomo.

Marcus Blackmore’s Emotional Hooligan won both races on day two. The Farr 40 fleet managed to catch the Sydney 38 fleet at the marks and both fleets rounded at the same time which made for interesting mark roundings and tactical manoeuvres. Perini again sailed well during day two and South Australian David Urry’s crew on War Games are improving each time they race with the fleet.

David Gotze’s Brighton Star crew, sailing with Volvo Ocean Race Amer Sports Too crew member Abby Seager on bow, have maintained their podium finish performance from the Rhodes Waterside regatta. The first three places in this regatta mimicked the results from the last Farr 40 regatta.

Racing has been close during the series with seconds separating boats as they round marks and cross the line. Ichi Ban and War Games finished on equal points for this series with Ichi Ban taking fifth on a count back. The Australian fleet will be joined by Neville Crichton’s Team Shockwave and John Calvert Jones’s Southern Star II at the next regatta.

The next regatta in the Farr 40 Australian calendar is the Rolex Trophy Series being hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia 11-13 December. A number of the overseas entries planning to race in the Rolex Farr 40 2005 Worlds will be racing in this regatta as a practice before the 2005 regattas including current Farr 40 World Champion Jim Richardson and his crew on Barking Mad.

Final results:
1 Evolution (R.Perini – RSYS) 1,2,2,3 8
2 Emotional Hooligan (M.Blackmore - RPAYC) 5,4,1,1 11
3 Brighton Star (D.Gotze – RBYC) 2,6,3,2 13
4 Kokomo (L.Walker – CYCA) 3,3,6,7 19
5 Ichi Ban (M.Allen – CYCA) 8,1,4,8 21
6 War Games (D.Urry - CYCSA) 7,5,5,4 21 7 Belle Property (C.Meehan – LWYC – NZ) 4,7,7,6 24 8 Panther (S.O’Rourke – CYCA) 6,8,8,5 27 9 Marsim Weapon (A.Offord – CYCA) 9,9,10,10 38
10 Short Shipped (M.Short – RMYCPH) 10,10,9,9 38