Nerone on song

First Farr 40 regatta in Sydney goes to 2003 World Champions

2003 Rolex Farr 40 World Champions, Nerone, won the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron Farr 40 Sprint Series this weekend. The sprint series, which was run on both the offshore course off north head and in Sydney Harbour, gave the fleet a chance to size up the competition for the upcoming Australian and World titles. The fleet raced in predominately Southerly breezes with the top of 15 knots creating picture perfect racing conditions.

15 boats from Australia, USA, Italy and New Zealand raced on tight one mile sprint courses with both days having five races. Consistency was the name of the game and day one had the top three boats separated by two points and each race being won by a different boat. Local experience helped three Australian boats win three out of the five races on day one. Day two and Nerone hit their title winning form to win two out of five races and placed second, third and fifth in the remaining three races of the day.

Local Richard Perini and his crew on Evolution maintained their current form to finish second overall with a win on both days of racing. "We enjoyed the chance to see how we are measuring up against our overseas class mates" commented Perini.

Using the regatta as a chance to race on the waters planned for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship were Philippe Kahn’s Pegasus and current Farr 40 World Champion Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad. "We are racing with the exact crew that won the 2004 Worlds" remarked Richardson. Pegasus finished in third overall with Barking Mad close behind in fourth.

Racing for the first time in the Farr 40 fleet were the two New Zealand boats, John Melville’s Bobby’s Girl and Brett Neill’s Venom. Both boats raced well and managed to climb the learning curve in a very competitive fleet. "We are having a ball and enjoying the close racing" said Melville.

Next on the Farr 40 calendar is the Hamilton Island Farr 40 Australian Championship on February 18-20 with the fleet expected to increase to 25 boats and a number of the overseas teams planning to race. The Rolex Farr 40 Pre Worlds will be on February 24-26 and the 2005 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship on March 1-4. Following the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship the final regatta in the Australian Farr 40 season will be the Alfa Romeo Twilight Series on March 14-17.

Final Results:

1st Nerone (Mezzaroma Massimo/Antonio Sodo ITA) 41
2nd Evolution (Richard Perini AUS) 49
3rd Pegasus (Philippe Kahn USA) 57
4th Barking Mad (Jim Richardson USA) 60
5th Team Shockwave (Neville Crichton AUS) 64
6th Emotional Hooligan (Marcus Blackmore AUS) 65
7th Ichi Ban (Matt Allen AUS) 65
8th Kokomo (Lang Walker AUS) 67
9th Southern Star (John Calvert-Jones AUS) 69
10th Sputnik (Ivan Wheen AUS) 84
11th Bobby’s Girl (John Melville NZL) 92
12th Belle Property (Chris Meehan AUS) 99
13th Venom (Brett Neill NZL) 109
14th Brighton Star (David Gotze AUS) 130
15th Short Shipped (Matthew Short AUS) 149